Shut down the government? Yes, please.

Two of Planned Parenthood's best congressional lackeys have demanded that Congress call off its investigation of the giant fetal parts wholesaler citing no evidence of wrong doing. Reps. Elijah Cummings and John Conyers  wrote a letter to the chairmen of the Judiciary and Oversight committees on Thursday calling on them to call off the investigations, or at least expand it to include the group behind the recent undercover videos.  Who can blame them? They have the odious task of defending the indefensible before what may turn out to be of the most viewed hearings in the history of C-SPAN. While the Republican leadership has assumed its usual supine pose claiming that it lacks the votes to defund the fetal parts merchant conservatives want this fight. Republican voters in early primary states will view it as a test of the candidates. Let one of them oppose the defunding effort and they will not be so much as a blip in the next poll. This is the good fight and it will make for good theater too. This is Trump's first and last chance to prove his new found conversion to Republican principles.
Will there be a government shutdown? Yes, of course. While the Washington establishment views any cessation in the flow of funds to its vote buying machine as catastrophic the rest of the country views these temporary flirtations with fiscal sanity at worse to be a mixed blessing. They're good while they last but they don't last long enough. Sure there will always be naysayers but when seventy percent of the population thinks government is failing it's simply good politics to drive that point home. It is not just presidential candidates who must prove themselves. Congressmen have primaries too and it is still early enough to recruit replacements for any weak sisters. This will be the acid test and the electorate is in no mood to start grading on the curve. Bring it on!