Medved on shutdown deal: ‘A sad collapse that didn’t have to happen’

House Speaker John Boehner is urging fellow Republicans to approve a Senate deal to end the government shutdown after the agreement was announced Wednesday. But KTTH and nationally syndicated talk show host Michael Medved continues shaking his head at the “stupidity” that brought the government to the brink of defaulting on the debt.

“What purpose has this whole thing had?” asks an incredulous Medved. “It was a sad collapse and it was unnecessary.”

Medved says the shutdown has done nothing of value, hurting both the country and the GOP.

“We fought the good fight; we just didn’t win,” Boehner said in an interview Wednesday.

But Medved says Boehner, who worked hard to craft a deal through Tuesday, was ultimately undermined by a handful of members of his caucus who refused to negotiate at all – ending up with nothing but an angry public.

“I wish they had supported their leaders and the series of conditions to force some sort of compromise,” Medved says. “How is that helping anyone?”

“The problem with this is it is entirely politically created. There’s no economic reason, there’s no budgetary reason for this crisis right now at this moment.”

The Senate deal would reopen the government fully through Jan. 15, which delays the threat of another shutdown until at least after the holidays.

It extends the government’s borrowing authority through Feb. 7, sets a mid-December deadline for congressional budget negotiators to report on on their efforts to find solutions to longer-term fiscal issues. The committee will be led by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who oversee the budget committees in their respective chambers, USA Today reports.

The agreement also maintains spending limits demanded by Republicans in the budget.

And it requires the Obama administration to certify that it is verifying the incomes of individuals who receive federal subsidies to help pay for health insurance under Obamacare.

While Republicans sought to force the defunding of Obamacare, Medved says it was clear from the outset that wasn’t going to happen.

“Instead of focusing on this train wreck (Obamacare), we have been focused on the train wreck of a closed government.”

That train wreck continues to roll on, leaving more innocents in its wake. Among them is Medved producer Jeremy Steiner’s 6-year-old daughter, whose field trip to Seattle’s Ballard Locks to view salmon swimming has been scuttled because of the shutdown.

“I am very surprised they don’t have park rangers, fish rangers, to block the salmon from swimming onto federal property right now,” says Medved sarcastically. “This stupidity has to end.”

It should, as the Senate has voted in favor of the deal and the House is expected to follow suit this evening. Then Medved says the GOP can get back to focusing on its original goal: bringing an end to Obamacare.