Shutdown? Really?

A few days before the midterm elections, National Journal's Major Garrett wrote that the Republicans who were destined to take control of the House probably wouldn't be keen on shutting down the government next year to drive home their opposition to President Obama's agenda. After all, the GOPers tried that after the 1994 elections, and the results weren't pretty.

"I don't think America is looking for a shutdown situation," Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor told Garrett. "It sends the wrong signal that there aren't adults in charge in Washington. We are going to hold the president and his administration accountable [for its previous spending], but I'm not interested in shutting things down just to shut them down."

Cantor, though, was a bit more coy when asked on "Fox News Sunday" yesterday whether he could assure there wouldn't be a shutdown on the GOP's watch. That, he said, was as much up to the president as the new congressional leadership. "The president's got a responsibility as much or more so than Congress to make sure that we are continuing to function in a way that the people want," Cantor said.

Today, the Atlantic Wire does a roundup of reaction from around the blogosphere to the possibility of a repeat of the great shutdown of 1995.