2013: The Year in Political Screw-Ups
If anything defined 2013, it was the political misstep. There were so many gaffes, flaps, scandals and ill-advised moves that voters were often left scratching their heads at the political class’s uncanny knack for diminishing its profession.
Here are eight of the more memorable screw-ups:
The federal government shutdown — It seemed like a good idea at the time — or at least to the congressional Tea Party-aligned Republicans who didn’t experience the political damage from the 1990s shutdowns. The goal of this year’s 16-day partial government closure was defunding the Affordable Care Act; as the shutdown wore on, so did the confusion over the GOP aims.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., inadvertently captured the moment with this remark: “We have to get something out of this. And I’m not even sure what it is.” In the end, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services estimated that the shutdown cost the U.S. economy $24 billion, more or less — probably not what Stutzman had in mind.
More: 2013: The Year in Political Screw-Ups : It’s All Politics : NPR