Jackie Calmes: The House Republicans' shutdown politics are dumb and dumber
For years, I stalked the Capitol halls amid Congress' fiscal-year-end follies, waiting with other reporters for a breakthrough to end the latest faux crisis. I'm hard-pressed to recall a budget fight so politically self-defeating as the one now cleaving the House — waged for stupid reasons by stupid people.
And lest that sound too harsh, I defer to New York Rep. Mike Lawler, speaking to reporters about his fellow Republicans who've provoked the current chaos: "This is stupidity," Lawler . "It's a clown show," he added, the inevitable result of
