Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory

The Republicans in the House had been warned - by business interests, by President Obama, by other Democrats, by other Republicans, even - not to shut the government down over health care reform.  Now that they've done it, they've tried to deflect blame away from themselves - but to whom? who knows? - as the shutdown proves to be as unpopular as feared.  The Republicans had public opinion against the health care law and its labyrinthine complexities on their side, and they could have found another way to stop it.  Instead, they tried to blackmail the White House into not letting it go through, and thus . . . let the law go through.  Now, enrollment in the exchanges is so successful (just as the Republicans had feared) that the Heatlhcare.gov Web site is completely overloaded, as people realize it's not the 405 car wreck the GOP insisted it would be.  So, guess who's going to blamed for trying to stop this reform? 

Meanwhile, Cory Booker is in trouble.  Noted fascist Steve Lonegan is gaining on Booker in the New Jerrsey special U.S. Senate race - he's behind the Bookman by twelve points in one poll, though he was once behind by much more - by attacking the mayor of Newark for seeming to be more interested in getting elected to the Senate as a stepping stone to something bigger than in the chance to represent New Jersey in Washington.  I think Booker is going to blow the election.  I hope I'm wrong about that, but he seems to think he's entitled to the late Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat just because he's the Democratic nominee in this race, and he's acting like Martha Coakley in Massachusetts - like he's already been elected.

I'm just glad the election is on October 16.  If it were held any later - say, November 5 - Lonegan would have even more time to catch up to Booker in the polls and then Booker would really be toast.