Al Sharpton, host: “Tropical Storm Karen, which is forming near the Gulf of Mexico, may make landfall this weekend. FEMA and the National Hurricane Center have both been affected by the shutdown. This is just another reminder of where government is important.”
Krystal Ball, MSNBC co-host: “That’s exactly right. And the longer that the shutdown goes on, the more examples that we’re going to have like that. And I think, as E.J. [Dionne] was pointing out, people already realize and were already very much against shutting the government down. And let’s not forget what this is over. It’s over the Affordable Care Act. It’s over ObamaCare. It’s over providing health insurance to millions of Americans who desperately need it. That is what they’re trying to prevent. And to do so they’re willing to take the whole government hostage and threaten the very constitutional balance on which our democracy rests.”
— Exchange on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation, October 3, 2013.