At the bottom of this post you will find a list of congressional town halls for the next week. It is important that you stay focused because Republican leaders are about to dangle shiny objects in front of you knowing that, like with a sardine dangling in the spotlight of a circus big tent, the GOP leaders can get you to clap like a seal.

Republican Leaders are preparing a series of shiny objects to distract you.

You must stay focused.

Shiny object number one will be the GOP grandstanding to get Planned Parenthood’s navigator grant rescinded. The Administration gave Planned Parenthood money to help get people signed up for Obamacare. Watch for Republican Leaders to rally against that, express their outrage, and demand it be rescinded.

The second shiny object is Tom Coburn’s Congressional Research Service Report saying a government shutdown won’t stop Obamacare going forward. Well, no one is claiming otherwise. Hell, none of the defunding advocates want to shut down the government. What they want is to defund Obamacare. There’s an important distinction here that Coburn, McConnell, and others are dangling in front of you. If Barack Obama shuts down the government in lieu of defunding Obamacare, yes the law’s clock proceeds. But if the GOP holds the line and passes a continuing resolution that defunds Obamacare, then the law’s implementation stops. Barack Obama may shut down the government to try to get the GOP to cave, but the GOP simply need not blink. It’s a difference Republican leaders hope you don’t notice.

The final shiny object is the big one. Republican Leaders are set to cave on defunding Obamacare. Senator Mitch McConnell, who spoke against a continuing resolution at the end of 2010 because it funded Obamacare will not only not speak against the upcoming continuing resolution, he is now on record saying he will fund Obamacare.

Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, will also vote to fund Obamacare.

In fact, most Republicans are going to vote to fund Obamacare. But they have a plan to make you clap like a seal by dangling a shiny object in front of you. They are going to get the individual mandate delayed — not defunded, not permanently killed, but delayed a year.

Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark — bark louder you conservative seals. Clap for your sardine. This is your shiny object. The grand poobahs of thought orbiting the Republican Leaders want that. They will trot out some Democrats to bluster against it to make you clap louder. Behind the scenes they’ll work with the Democrats to make this happen and Jenn Rubin will write a blog post at the Washington Post about how we should all kneel before Boehner and McConnell for their grand genius.

Some of you will.

Meanwhile, Republican Leaders will fund Obamacare. They will cave. They will have lied to you about their opposition. And in reality they will be conceding they give up the fight. They just hope you are distracted. They are working every coin operated conservative to get on board this plan. They want a chorus so loud it drowns out all questions about their own plan to stop Obamacare going forward. “Oh, we stopped the mandate,” they will say, then quietly pray, “Please don’t point out that it does not stop the rest of Obamacare.”

The Republican Leaders are experts at dangling shiny objects in your face and getting you to clap like a seal. They’ll distract you on this. Then they will distract you so they can pass the Gang of 8’s immigration plan.

Stay focused. Show up and confront your Congressman. Tell him if he votes to fund Obamacare, he cannot really say he is fighting against it. Here’s the list: