Wash. Times' Kuhner Advocates For Government Shutdown

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

In a March 29 Washington Times column headlined, “Shut the government down,” Jeffrey Kuhner advocated for a government shutdown, writing: "[I]f the budget crisis leads to a government shutdown, so be it. It will be Mr. Obama's fault. He is the one who is bleeding the country white. A shutdown will unmask the destruction he is wreaking upon America."

From Kuhner's column:

It's time Republicans play political hardball. If they do not, they will soon dangerously alienate large chunks of their conservative base. Negotiations have stalled. A fiscal showdown is looming. Congressional Republicans and Democrats are trying to pass a budget to fund the government for the current fiscal year. Two short-term appropriation extensions have been enacted. The latest one is set to expire April 8. Both sides are beginning to dig in their heels. If a budgetary agreement is not reached, the government will shut down.

[...]

America is at a watershed. It desperately needs bold, principled leadership - a fiscal Winston Churchill, someone who is willing to tell the country that real sacrifices must be made if the American experiment in self-government and liberty is to survive.

The difference between now and 1995 is simple and stark. We live in a different age. Amid a decade of peace and prosperity, a government shutdown struck voters as juvenile and senseless.

Today, however, it will serve to highlight the dire predicament the country faces. Shaving a billion here and a billion there is simply a drop in the proverbial bucket. It only makes Republicans complicit in America's fiscal collapse. Tea Party activists, rank-and-file conservatives and independents will rightly conclude the GOP is not serious about rolling back the federal leviathan and runaway spending. They may bolt and form a third party in 2012, fatally wounding the Republicans.

Hence, if the budget crisis leads to a government shutdown, so be it. It will be Mr. Obama's fault. He is the one who is bleeding the country white. A shutdown will unmask the destruction he is wreaking upon America.