Noreen Malone at TNR asks, “Is This The Single Most Ridiculous Thing That’s Been Said During the Government Shutdown?”
On Sunday, Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz converged on Washington, D.C., to co-headline a protest against the federal government’s closure of the World War II Memorial. It is perhaps not surprising that one of the more cynical and patently ridiculous statements made by a politician during the shutdown emerged out of that occasion. (It IS mildly surprising that Sarah Palin didnt say it.) Cruz, the junior senator from Texas asked the crowd “a simple question” that in fact included a very complex layer of sophisty. “Why is the federal government spending money to erect barricades to keep veterans out of this memorial?”
Let’s unpack that:
1) Ted Cruz, prom king of the Tea Party, is a major reason the government is shut down.
It’s only two weeks into this. Give it time.
And if you pointed this out to Ted Cruz-ader, he still wouldn’t get it.
Indeed.
He didn’t stop to ask whether the Park Rangers he was haranguing for doing their jobs were getting paid, did he? Because after all it’s his party that’s holding up their paychecks. They’re out there doing the work they’re currently not paid to do, and he’s up there grandstanding while still drawing a Senator’s salary.
Maroon.