Tea party Republicans were the architects of the government shutdown and bungled it badly, says Ellis Henican, a columnist for Newsday and a Fox News political analyst.
"Tea party Republicans ... have been plotting the shutdown of the government for months, made this demand that ... even smart Republicans knew was a pie-in-the-sky demand to dismantle the president's prime legislative achievement," Henican told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
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"This was . . . theater that went badly awry. You can't seriously blame [President Barack] Obama for this."
Henican says a very pointed plan by a few powerful Republicans led to the mess.
"This is a strategy that went down a road that was clearly crafted by [Sens.] Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and a couple of other folks that had a goal and aim, a very clear strategy, and it turned out to be a disaster," he said.
"You can't blame the president for that. You've got to blame the members of your own party who led the party down this disastrous path. Don't you? . . . This strategy: (a) backfired; (b) was politically damaging; and [c] was wrong. It was wrong."
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