Columnist Pat Buchanan declared, “Republicans are not going to vote to shut down the government. [Sen.] Harry Reid (D-NV) and his gang will do it” on Friday’s “McLaughlin Group.”
After fellow panelist Eleanor Clift said, “it didn’t work out too well for the Republicans the last time it happened. And if they’re stupid enough to take us over that brink, and cost the country billions of dollars, and disrupt people’s lives, they’re going to pay for it in the election.”
Buchanan cut in to counter, “They’re not going to shut down the government. The Senate will shut it down by refusing to pass a continuing resolution.”
Clift dismissed it as “a very convenient way.” She added, “We know who’s behind the push to shut down the government because they don’t want to fund Planned Parenthood.”
Buchanan objected, “They’re not shutting down the government. They’ve never voted to shut down the government. Never.” Clift dismissed this argument as a “technicality,” and stating that the Republicans were the ones that got blamed for the previous shutdown.
While Buchanan agreed that Republicans took the blame for the most recent shutdown, “the Democrats are in the tank for Planned Parenthood. They’re going to be united on this issue, and Republicans are not going to vote to shut down the government. Harry Reid and his gang will do it.”
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