Democrats’ responsibility for the ongoing federal government shutdown has forced them to perform some hilarious mental gymnastics.
For instance, Thursday on C-SPAN, Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum of Oregon first refused to answer interviewer Greta Brawner’s question and then, when properly pressed on her non-answer, accused Brawner of pinning blame for the shutdown on Democrats, who, in point of fact, have repeatedly refused to vote to end it.
Indeed, throughout the interview Bynum took an absurdly evasive approach to the interviewer’s direct questions.
To begin, Brawner noted that funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will expire on Saturday.
“Should Democrats pass a stand-alone bill to fund SNAP benefits?” the interviewer asked.
Bynum replied with tedious pablum about how Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House. She also added platitudes about making sure children do not go hungry.
“Is that a ‘yes,’ then, that there should be a vote on the stand-alone legislation?” Brawner asked.
“I’m here; my Republican colleagues are on vacation. We want to make sure that we stand up for American people,” Bynum responded before blaming House Speaker Mike Johnson.
In other words, the interviewer saw from the beginning that the Democrat congresswoman would not give a straight answer.
Is the shutdown hurting Democrats’ future election prospects?
Moments later, Brawner tried another question. This time, Bynum grew flustered.
“[Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee] made the argument that Democrats in previous situations avoided government shutdowns by voting thirteen times for so-called ‘clean’ continuing resolutions that would fund the government at the previous year’s funding levels,” Brawner said. “Why not agree now?”
Bynum responded by posing as someone who operates above politics, demanding a clean bill.
“They did have a clean CR vote on Sept. 19 in the House,” Brawner said. “Did you vote for it?”
“I disagree with your characterization,” Bynum replied, “and want to make sure that we’re very clear about what Republicans have been doing. Any bill that they put forth, they’ve always had some extra stuff to it. There’s always been a poison pill to it. So I disagree with your characterization.”
“What were the poison pills of the clean CR, or the continuing resolution — you say it’s not clean — that was voted on in the House in mid-September?” Brawner asked.
Incredibly, Bynum then accused the interviewer of having an agenda.
“Here’s what’s important,” the overmatched Democrat congresswoman replied. “I think what you’re trying to do is shift the responsibility to Democrats.”
Bynum proceeded once again to blame Johnson. By then, of course, she had made it clear that she had no intention of answering Brawner’s question.
Readers may view the entire remarkable exchange in the video below.
Bynum’s non-answers, of course, spoke volumes.
It seems that modern Democrats have no purpose besides exacting revenge on President Donald Trump for repeatedly humiliating them.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in fact, has made it clear that he regards the shutdown as a political move.
Pressure from erstwhile allies and defections from within, however, show that Democrats have lost the shutdown’s optics.
In short, Bynum’s cringe-worthy inability to answer Brawner’s “poison pill” question merely confirmed what we already knew. All that remains is for Senate Democrats to admit as much by voting to reopen the government.
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