“Government shutdown: Deal or no deal?” in POLITICO’s Arena Grover Norquist responds:
“It isn't complicated or nuanced.
Republicans wish to roll back the explosion of spending of the past two years. Democrats hoped to further increase that spending. Because they lost the 2010 elections, they now hope to maintain the hike in spending. They realize they cannot continue to increase domestic discretionary spending.
At some point the Obama administration will close down the government rather than sacrifice their "hard earned gains" of the higher spending limits. They hope to lock in those higher levels of spending.
Democrats believe Clinton "won" the government shutdown. Clinton was reelected in 1996. Republicans won the House and Senate in 1996.
Obama's interests, like Clinton's, are not the same as that of his party. But the governors, hundreds of state legislators and dozens of congressmen he threw under the bus in 2010 already know that.”