Scenes from the back of the lemming pack

Here's how your representatives are coping with the situation:

Congressman confronts park ranger

A congressman accosts a park ranger for doing her job by shutting down a national monument; when the crowd defends her by pointing out Congress has shut down the government, he blames the President and then walks away. Look at the face of the chubby staffer at the very end, when he is looking at the bicycle rider who spoke up: I see fear, loathing, contempt, and even possibly a little bit of confusion.

Inside the mind of the angry gop
A phone interview with a congressman which displays startling paranoia combined with unbelievable thickness. Notice what lengths the congressman goes to to avoid answering simple questions. Notice how he constantly says "I don't know what your looking for." In my experience the answer to that question is generally "the truth," and the other party already knows that, which is why they're hedging. But the takeaway moment is this: after explaining that "I do not want the federal government interfering in the healthcare of average Americans," the congressman is asked:

What does that mean for Medicare then?

And his answer is:

What does that mean for Medicare? What does that have to do with anything?

Rand Paul thinks they're going to win
A live mic catches Rand Paul explaining that because Obama keeps saying he won't negotiate, the Republicans will win the messaging fight. It is extraordinary to me that the people who claim to love the Constitution think that Congress should have a line-item veto over every piece of legislation. I mean, separate from the power they already have by passing or repealing it in the first place. And of course controlling funding at this micro-managent level is essentially an executive power.

But the key point is that Rand Paul, who is already being touted as a Presidential favorite, thinks they're going to win this fight. Just like Romney really, really thought he was going to win his. This is the caliber of political genius the Republicans have to offer.

Congressman explains what it is really all about

"We're not going to be disrespected, We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is."

EDIT: And here's a congressman explaining why he's going to keep drawing his paycheck during the shutdown.

"I've got a nice house and a kid in college, and I'll tell you we cannot handle it. Giving our paycheck away when you still worked and earned it? That's just not going to fly."

Never mind the 800,000 federal works who are going without pay. He doesn't know any of them, and besides, they don't have nice houses or kids in colleges, right?