Coulter Argues With Hannity Over GOP Decision Not To Shut Down The Government
Someone must have gotten Sean Hannity's talking points cross wired this week, because for once he wasn't reading straight from the script the Republican leadership sends over to him every morning. He didn't seem to happy when Ann Coulter of all people challenged him after he complained about the Republicans unwillingness to shut down the government and instead pass another stopgap measure to keep the government funded.
Despite Hannity's apparent belief that the entire country hates President Obama as much as he does and that opposing everything he does is somehow a good governing philosophy, most of the country would not look kindly on Republicans for this sort of brinksmanship.
Sean Hannity tonight said Congress should not have passed a continuing resolution on the budget earlier today, arguing that the GOP needs to take a stand if it is going to successfully repeal Obamacare. Ann Coulter disagreed vehemently with Hannity, saying that the Republican party needs to prioritize winning elections over “passion and principle” until they have clear majorities in both the House and Senate. [...]
Coulter argued that the government shutdown under Bill Clinton actually hurt Republicans, but Hannity shot back by saying the GOP held onto the House after it. She rolled her eyes at the idea of shutting down the government just to spite the president, saying that the party runs the risk of looking “impotent.” Hannity said that once Obamacare is fully implemented, it will be even harder for the GOP to fight for repeal. Coulter agreed that the health care law is horrible, but said the GOP needs to win in 2014 and 2016 if it wants to be in a better position to deal with it.
Hannity argued that “the single best thing” the Republican party can do to energize the base is to “take a stand against Obama,” citing the public response to Rand Paul over his drone filibuster. Coulter said that was more a consequence of the media happening to be in agreement with a Republican on something, though she admitted she personally loves drones.
Yeah, that nonexistent liberal media that's always beating up on Republicans. The only "principle" that the Republicans actually care about is not raising taxes on rich people and they don't care about deficits until there's a Democrat in the White House. Partial transcript below the fold.
SEAN HANNITY: So Paul Ryan comes out with a budget. I'm glad we are going to balance it in ten years, a lot of things I like in there. It still has growth, liberals can't say you're cutting because we're increasing spending every year for ten years. Now, they want to repeal health care. The problem is, it's not going to happen through the Ryan budget. That means the House Republicans, they've got to hold the line and be willing to "shut down" the government and deal with the president demagoguing.
ANN COULTER: I'm not sure that's a good idea.
HANNITY: Alright, we're going to disagree. I like this. But, Ann, we won't get to a balanced budget unless we rid of this monstrosity.
COULTER: I agree, but I think what we have to concentrate on is winning. As the last series of elections have shown us, passion and principle is great --
HANNITY: But that is passion and principle.
COULTER: -- but we need to win elections and that's how you actually change stuff. I mean, Obama is not going to sign the repeal of Obamacare and I was working for the U.S. senate after the 1994 election, because I thought things wouldn't change if real right-wingers didn't go and work there and I remember what happened. I mean, things were going gang busters, first Republican congress in 40 years, we cut taxes, that is what gave us the magnificent economy that Clinton brags about and yet, that government shut down, in the end of 1995, our first, the Republicans first term there. It really, really hurt Republicans because it looks like we didn't can't care about the things weren't being --
HANNITY: Wait a minute, they still hung on to the House.
COULTER: -- weren't dealing with the deficit
HANNITY: They hung on, they won. And not only that, but that's how we got to a balanced budget.
COULTER: They hung on, it hurt us, it hurt us trying to push other things and this is -- repealing Obamacare, yes, keep talking about it, yes keep putting it in. But the idea of shutting down the government unless Obama signs a repeal of Obamacare, isn't going to work.
HANNITY: But that's symbolic.
COULTER: No, it isn't.
HANNITY: That means Obamacare will never be taken out.
COULTER: No, I'm planning on winning the Senate back in two years.