Shutdown: Who's to blame? And the winner is ...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...adline-government-set-to-partially-shut-down/​

Now, given all this, who is to blame? The liberally biased media will tell you it's the Republicans. The conservative biased media will tell you it's the Democrats. Whose telling the truth?

Let's look at the facts:

Friday, Sept. 20

The Republican majority House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through the middle of December as well as defund the Affordable Care Act.​

So far, so good ...

Monday, Sept. 23

The House’s resolution is called up by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and a motion is filed to set up initial votes on the measure.​

Still no real problems, though Reid could have set this in motion much faster.

Tuesday, Sept. 24

Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, began a more than 21-hour speech on the Senate floor, speaking out against Obamacare. Senate procedures would force Cruz to yield the floor by Wednesday afternoon, and he stopped his marathon speech at noon.​

First problem: Cruz's only purpose was to kick his presidential campaign off. He built his email list, his financial foundation, and accomplished absolutely zilch.

Wednesday, Sept. 25

At 1 p.m. the Senate unanimously voted to defeat the first filibuster attempt and proceeded to consideration of the bill passed by the House that would keep the government open past Monday.

Senate rules allowed for 30 more hours to debate the motion before formally approving the start of debates, but at about 8 p.m. the Senate approved the start of the debate after a voice vote. Reid then filed a second motion setting up the next vote on Friday to prevent any further filibuster attempt by opponents of Obamacare.

If the vote received 60 ayes, a time for the final vote on the House bill would be set.​

Second problem: If Reid's purpose was to keep the government open, instead of foment the possibility of a shutdown, Senate rules could have been suspended, brief debate approved, and a vote could have been taken that day, instead of nearly 60 hours later. Reid tipped his hand: The Democrats wanted a shutdown which they hope to blame on the GOP.

Thursday, Sept. 26

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, presented a strategy to get the government through a series of deadlines to avoid a first-ever default on national debt.​

It was a great strategy. Unfortunately, the moderates in the GOP wouldn't go along, and the idea had to be scrapped.

Friday, Sept. 27

In a 54-44 vote the Senate approved restoration of ACA funding. All republicans voted against it. Moments later, with the same 54-44 vote, the overall bill was approved.

Afterward, President Obama lectured GOP leaders that the easiest move forward would be to approve the Senate’s adjustments.​

Democrats didn't want anything to move forward. They want the shutdown. They believe it will tip the scales in the 2014 elections, which early polling indicates is going to go heavily Republican, perhaps at the cost of the Democrats' hold on the Senate. (For those of you who doubt this, check this out: http://www.nationaljournal.com/maga...cans-to-take-over-the-senate-in-2014-20130829 -- the site shows a recent poll in which 62% of Democrats think there is a moderate to strong chance they could lose the Senate.) Also, Democrats apparently think they can dictate to the "minority party" be having this slim four-vote majority. They have adopted an unprecedented "no compromise" attitude to force an unpopular program -- the laughably named ACA -- down the throats of a reluctant electorate.

Saturday, Sept. 28

In a rare Saturday session, Boehner and House Republican leaders issued a statement detailing three main changes to their legislation:

• A one-year delay of all elements of the Affordable Care Act.
• A permanent repeal of the device tax that funded portions of the law.
• Funding for the government through mid-December

Reid spoke out against the Republican’s new legislation, vowing that the Senate would once again reject the House Bill. The House passed the new amendment in a 231-192 vote, forcing the Senate to debate legislation that would not include funding for the Affordable Care Act.​

Again, the Democrats tipped their hand. The proposed changes to the legislation were perfectly reasonable, especially given that, over the weekend, the administration began playing down enrollment expectations for the exchanges, saying they expected it to be "slow" to get off the ground. They are having to acknowledge that most Americans think the ACA is a bad idea, and delaying it might have given the Democrats the opportunity to fix all the brokenness in the program. Now, they're stuck with it.

Early this morning, the exchange website crashed about 7.45 a.m. CDT. Before that, it was barely hanging on to its ability to stay up, and delays were reported up to four hours in getting "online chat help" with enrollment. Many people say they have "just given up" trying to use the system.

Monday, Sept. 30

Congress had until midnight to come to an agreement to avoid the first government shutdown in 17 years. As predicted the Senate once again removed the House’s amendment regarding the ACA. This would send the bill back to the House to approve or change the Senate’s amendments.​

And here we are. Look at the above events. Who moved? Who attempted to reach an agreement? Who compromised?

Hint for liberals: It wasn't the Democrats.

Here are the simple facts: The American people do not want the ACA. Recent polls show 54 percent of Americans oppose the law, 53 percent want opponents to “continue trying to change or stop it,” and 56 percent want to return to what we had before -- imagine that, endorsement of a free enterprise system. What a concept!

The American people also don't want a shutdown, but in the end, they are going to want the ACA even less, and the Democrats had a chance to step back, examine their "landmark legislation" (more like a pending landmark fiasco) and change or dump it. They didn't take the opportunity. By the first of the year, if this crap law isn't delayed at least, if not repealed, people will be ready to see heads roll, and Harry Reid is likely to be their first target. Looking forward to November 4 of next year, get used to hearing the word "landslide."