Folks, you’ve heard me say many times that the left
will always tell you who and what they fear. Well,
Democrat hysteria began the instant the Class of ’94
Republicans exercised their Constitutional power of
the purse to thwart government growth. And that is
key. Nothing scares Democrats (and, by extension,
establishment Republicans) more on this green earth.
Truth About the ’95 Shutdown
“
““The 1995 shutdown was a certifiable disaster for
Gingrich and the GOP,” noted Salon.com’s Steve
Kornacki in 2010. “It did not work [for the GOP],
and it did not work in spectacular fashion,” agreed
Philip Bump in The Atlantic on 8/9/13. That’s been
the conventional-wisdom narrative for 18 years: the
1995-96 government shutdowns were Armageddon for
Republicans, pointless, reckless, politically
suicidal, blah, blah, blah.
I’ll never forget the sob stories launched back
then to whip up public outrage. The federal
work-force wouldn’t be able to afford their Thanksgiving
turkeys. No welfare checks would go out. No flu
shots. A guy with a sleigh ride concession in
Yellowstone Park went on CNN to complain that
the shutdown idled his sleigh business. That has
been a hilarious budget-melodrama memory for me
ever since.
And here we
go again. The
Beltway is in
a tizzy over
a group of
conservative
senators’ strategy
to defund
Obamacare via the
“continuing
budget resolution”
that must be passed by September 30. Establishment
Republicans are furious, calling the tactic “a
temper tantrum,” “really dumb,” and “the dumbest
idea I ever heard.” Karl Rove calls it a “political
loser,” claiming that in 1995 Republicans “lost
badly in the court of public opinion.” But did they?
Let’s look at the facts.
dealing with the budget deficit, [though] more blame the GOP
than Democrats for bringing about the partial government shutdown this week, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup
Poll.” — CNN, 11/15/95
DEM DIRTY TRICKS
GOP STRENGTH
If the 1995 shutdown were the political loser that the Wizards of
Smart say, none of the following would have happened:
“President Clinton cleared the way for a complete lifting of the
22-day partial shutdown Saturday by bowing to a key Republican
demand: submitting a seven-year balanced budget plan scored
by the Congressional Budget Office … Clinton had been under
pressure from many Democrats to present a plan using the CBO
figures because they were worried…” — “RECORD-BREAKING
FEDERAL SHUTDOWN ENDS,” CNN, 1/6/96
“[T]he 1995-96 government shutdown … shifted the political
discourse to the right … [T]he budget deal restored many of the
Republicans’ proposed cuts in domestic spending [and] Clinton
adopted a more centrist position for the remainder of his
Presidency. Clinton’s move to the right was exemplified in his
State of the Union Address of January 23, 1996, in which he
declared that ‘the era of big government is over.’” — “1995-96
Gov’t Shutdown,” Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley
“First, we must balance the budget … I’ve been working with
Republicans and Democrats in Congress to forge a balanced
budget … Republicans and I have enough cuts in common to
balance the budget in seven years and to provide a modest tax
cut…” — Bill Clinton, radio address, CNN, 1/27/96
FALLOUT
“[I]n March 1995 [Gingrich] rallied the entire Republican
House caucus behind the idea of eliminating the deficit within
seven years. Skeptics said it could not be done in seven years.
The GOP did it in four.” — Cato Institute, 10/8/98
“Internal documents from both the [Clinton] Administration
and [federal employee] unions reveal close coordination between
the unions and Mr. Clinton in developing a strategy of confron-
tation with Republicans over the spending bills needed to keep
the government open and prevent hundreds of thousands of
government employees from being furloughed. The unions …
urged Mr. Clinton to veto the bills and shut the government
down for weeks rather than compromise with Republicans.”
“Harry Reid said to ‘ask Newt’ about the 1995 government
shutdown. Here’s what you should know: four balanced bud-
gets, 8. 4 million new jobs created, first Republican majority
reelected since 1928, welfare reform.” — Newt Gingrich,
Facebook, 7/30/13
In 1996, the Republicans held the Senate with a net gain of two
seats, and also held the House after making historic gains to take
control of Congress two years before, in the ’94 elections, after
40 years of Democrat rule.
— The Washington Times, 3/24/96
“[A]t the end of the day, because Republicans stood strong in
1995, we saw year-after-year of balanced budgets, and some of
the most fiscally responsible policies Congress has produced in
the modern era.” — Sen. Ted Cruz (R, TX), 1/7/13
TO
HO
OCKP
“[T]he unions provided critical political cover for the
Administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill by waging an
extensive public relations campaign designed to blame the confrontation and shutdowns entirely on the Republicans, particularly on the House’s 73 freshmen.” — The Washington Times,
ST
3/24/96
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13
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O
HOT
P
Despite the high-level political and media slime, the left did not
entirely win the PR battle. “Americans have shifted toward the
Republicans in the question of who has the best approach toward
