Bush threatens to lay off 150,000 workers right before Christmas

[Ban my account ffs!]

Unfortunately, the Democrats have everything to gain from a government shutdown.  Bush will look like the stubborn idiot.

I say unfortunately, because shutting down the government for political reasons is always a very bad thing.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Look at public opinion.  Despite congress being less popular than the president (something many Republicans like to tout without really looking at why), much of teh frustration comes from congress not holding the president accountable, and they've been caving in to Bush's demands and now he has the upper hand.

The Republican brand of "fiscal responsibility" has never been very popular.  People swoon when they hear "tax cuts" but when you start vetoing childrens' health care and other social programs while demanding huge sums of money for a very unpopular war, Americans certainly will not warm up to your stand on being "fiscally responsible".

Again, the Democrats have everything to gain from this.  They need to grow some balls and stand up to the president, buck the trend of PC criticism and call him on his own bluff.

If I were Pelosi, I'd say

"Mr. President, we will shut this government down until you come to the table with some real intentions to compromise.  The sooner the better, because the longer you wait, the longer the government will be shut down and services will be cut off to Americans who need it.  And in the end, those employees will be paid for their time off, so the only people you are hurting are the American people with your political mind games."