OK, now they're starting to scare me...

[Tonus]

The next elections are in a year or so. It really depends on a lot of other factors, including how popular a particular congressman is in his home state. If you sell a shutdown as a necessary evil in the battle against the opposition, you can maintain a pretty solid base.

[_xenu_]

I envisage a great many "Congressmen" out of a job come the next elections

I wouldn't count on it, their seats are quite safe from anything but primary challenges due to gerrymandering. Thats actually the root of this entire problem.

[DeistPaladin]

I wouldn't count on it, their seats are quite safe from anything but primary challenges due to gerrymandering. Thats actually the root of this entire problem.

It's the "moderate" (such as they are) Republicans in not-so-safe districts who'll be most likely to lose their seats. That's why they're freaking out and threatening to caucus with the Dems on this issue. Hence, Boener had to short-circut that possibility with his new one-man-filibuster powers. If I were a non Tea-brained Republican, I'd switch parties to "independent". They need to get the GOP stink off of them, fast.

[Ryantology]

I wouldn't count on it, their seats are quite safe from anything but primary challenges due to gerrymandering. Thats actually the root of this entire problem.

It's the "moderate" (such as they are) Republicans in not-so-safe districts who'll be most likely to lose their seats. That's why they're freaking out and threatening to caucus with the Dems on this issue. Hence, Boener had to short-circut that possibility with his new one-man-filibuster powers. If I were a non Tea-brained Republican, I'd switch parties to "independent". They need to get the GOP stink off of them, fast.

Nothing would benefit America more than a fractured Republican Party. Demographic creep will consume the moderates more quickly that way.

There's been a lot of cautionary talk about the Teahadists being safe in their districts. This would be important, except that the Tea Party caucus itself is nowhere near large enough to ever constitute a majority in any branch of government, so once they can no longer wag the tail of moderate Republicans (or, once the numbers of those moderates dwindle to the point where the GOP as a whole can no longer hold a majority of seats), they'll just be a marginalized group of foaming lunatics who can't do anything more than harm their own constituents.

[Minimalist]

The problem is that Republicans know they don't have that kind of power any more. The only thing they can do is hold the budget hostage.

Which is deliciously ironic, given that they spew constantly about strict interpretation of the Constitution and the rule of law... except it's doing so much harm to our citizens, as well as panicking governments abroad.

They also claim to be for freedom...except when it comes to shoving an ultra sound probe up a pregnant woman's twat.

[Ryantology]

They also claim to be for freedom...except when it comes to shoving an ultra sound probe up a pregnant woman's twat.

Weird, almost like how they only hate deficit spending when they're not in power and the money's not being wasted on defense spending and corporate subsidies.