Shutdown, Day Three

President Obama met with Congressional leaders at the White House last night, but there was no resolution, as Republicans flatly refuse to budge on funding the Affordable Care Act:

After more than an hour of talks, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said Obama refused to negotiate, while House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid accused Republicans of trying to hold the president hostage over Obamacare.

Reid said Obama told Republicans "he will not stand" for their tactics.

...Republicans have tried to tie continued government funding to measures that would undercut Obama's signature healthcare law. Obama and his Democrats say that is a non-starter.

"The president reiterated one more time that he will not negotiate," Boehner told reporters after the White House meeting. "All we're asking for here is a discussion and fairness for the American people under Obamacare."

..."Am I exasperated? Absolutely I'm exasperated. Because this is entirely unnecessary," Obama told CNBC television in an interview before meeting the congressional leaders. "I am exasperated with the idea that unless I say to 20 million people, 'You can't have health insurance,' these folks will not reopen the government. That is irresponsible."

Irresponsible is about the nicest word I can think of to describe what the Republicans are doing.

Meanwhile, House Republicans continue to do their damnedest to turn this into a story of "two sides who refuse to compromise" by passing piecemeal funding legislation, which they know Democrats will not support, only to then accuse Democrats of harming the people directly affected by that funding.

Representative Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) precisely called out their cynical strategy: "Any time they see a bad headline, they're going to bring a bill to the floor to make it go away." And then use the media momentum around that issue to accuse Democrats of failing the people.

My contempt for this shit cannot be measured on a scale fathomable by human intellect.