Republicans furious at President Obama for canceling White House tours instead of cutting jobs

Rep Mike Simpson (R-ID) on WH cancelling tours: I think the administration is trying to make (the sequester) as ugly as possible.
' @ChadPergram House Republicans are steaming mad because the White House announced it is canceling White House tours:

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said he suspects the White House is engaging in an age-old political trick called the Washington Monument strategy ' threatening to shut down popular services, such as the monument, unless budget cuts are reversed.

'It's the old, 'If you don't [approve] this bond levy for the school district, we're going to eliminate football,'' Simpson said. 'I understand the strategy of the administration: They're trying to make it as ugly as possible to put as much pressure as possible on Republicans to change their position. It's just not going to happen.'

And why is canceling White House tours uglier than, say, the Secret Service layoffs and furloughs that the cancellation was designed to avoid? A House aide explains:

'Basically it creates a constituent relations nightmare,' said one House staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and is not authorized to speak with the press.

'It's incumbent on the members' offices, not the White House, to call them and tell them one by one,' the aide added. 'It's probably like if you're a high-end car dealer and you have a recall on your cars and you have to call all these people who paid 80 grand for their sports car and tell them there's a fatal flaw.'

Clearly, this is one asshole who has no idea what a real nightmare is'a nightmare like losing your job. Canceling the tours may have allowed the Secret Service to avoid layoffs and furloughs, but presumably the cancellation impacted the jobs of non-security tour staff. They're the ones facing a real nightmare.

Also, that car analogy is awful, and as you'll see below the fold, it's not just because car dealers are way, way more popular than Congressional Republicans.