Give Us What We Want Or We Won't Do What We Know We Should Do

Imagine that a basketball team wins a really hard fought game. The losing team decides it wants a rematch, and each subsequent game, the opposing team loses. Badly. This happens well over forty times. Then that losing team decides to send the winners an ultimatum. They demand that they be allowed to win, or at least delay a loss one year, or government employees will not be allowed to work (most of them, anyway), museums will be shuttered, national parks closed and local economies will suffer as a consequence.

This picture helps to convey the metaphor created to
describe the government shutdown situation. However,
unlike the metaphorical basketball games, this really happened.

The winning basketball team does not believe that this request makes sense. They say no and demand that the losers allow government employees to work. Instead of accepting this loss, the losers stand their ground, all the while insisting that they really do want those now furloughed employees to return to work. The losers even go so far as to accuse the winners of disallowing those frustrated government workers to do their jobs.

Unless you have difficulty understanding the term "metaphor," you probably have realized that this is indeed one.

Yes, the winners are Democrats in the House and Senate and the dude in the White House who made the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, or, as it is known to Republicans, The OBAMAWANTSTOKILLALLAMERICANS Socialist Act Of 2010, the law of the land. The losers are congressional Republicans.

This would the scariest
animal. Ever.

In general, I'm talking about the government shutdown.

If you think this sounds absurd, that's because it is. #duh

It's about as absurd as a shark/bear hybrid. And it is basically just as scary.

Republicans insist they don't want the shutdown to persist but have set up a scenario that is akin to a hostage situation. House GOPers are demanding that Democrats delay Obamacare or vital government run organizations, tourists, couples who planned on tying the knot at national landmarks, children who need to eat to survive and the economy, in addition to the those aforementioned government employees, will be screwed. Or in other words, gives us what we want or we won't do what we know we should do and say we want to do.

A baby reacts upon hearing learning of
Ted Cruz's beliefs. All of them, basically.

Some Republicans **cough, cough, Ted Cruz (R-Crazytown), cough cough** don't think that this situation will reflect poorly upon the Republican Party, which is just so cute, isn't it? But it already has.

A Fox News poll released last week found that 59 percent of Americans disapprove of Republicans in congress. Let that sink in. A FOX NEWS poll. And as SNL's Seth Meyers points out, "that's like the real news saying it's three thousand percent."

So, Republicans, good luck with that basketball game next year. I'm not sure you're going to get a chance to play.