What are they made of now that it's crunch time?

Erick Erickson at Red State on the dissipating resolve of the talk-a-good-game conservatives we sent to Congress in 2010:

 I’m talking about your local “tea party” Republican.

He is in Washington now, on his second term. He told you all along he was going to roll back Obamacare. He would do what it took. He understood that the Democrats were willing to risk their majority to pass Obamacare so Republicans must be willing to risk their majority to repeal Obamacare. They must go to the mat. They must pull out all the stops. They must do anything and everything to stop Obamacare.

Now, on the eve of the exchanges, Republicans in Washington refuse to fight. They want another symbolic vote. They want to hug it out. They want you to know how very much they oppose Obamacare, but by God please don’t make them fight it. The government might shut down. They would get the blame.

Of course they will always get the blame. They don’t realize what is going on. The media is solidly lined up against them. The media is always lined up against them. It is the voters that matter. And the voters like winners. So they must win. They must, even in the face of a shutdown, hold the line and defund Obamacare.

Unless they do this — unless they are willing to fall into the abyss and stay there until the other side folds — we lose. The nation loses. Obamacare begins.

I can offer an encouraging sign from personal experience. The other day I called the Washington office of my representative, Luke Messer, and the gentleman I spoke with said the Congressman was on board with the defund-now route.  Perhaps he can have a persuasive lunch with some wobbly colleagues.