- Republicans Give Up on Obamacare in Shutdown Fight—They're "scrambling for a fallback strategy." [WaPo]
- As Pressure Mounts, House G.O.P. Weighs Short-Term Debt Deal—"House Republicans began to consider a path to raise the debt ceiling as Congressional leaders from both parties started some preliminary discussions aimed at reopening the government." NYT
- House GOP pushes plan to raise debt ceiling; Jack Lew warns against default WaPo
- House Republicans' Ransom Demands Falling—"The House Republican leadership is trapped, having sold their party on promises of a ransom they cannot deliver [WaPo]."
- Kochs to Congress: Focus on spending, not Obamacare—Sounds like a retreat. They claim they haven't "lobbied on legislative provisions defunding Obamacare," but they gave $500k to a political group is pushing for defunding.
- Goodbye to the strategy Republicans knew was a fantasy
- GOP Splinters Over Hostage Strategy As Default Looms
- GOP begs for final debt limit concession: A shred of dignity Salon
- White House: Boehner 'Preventing' Republicans From Meeting With Obama
- The problem with President Obama's shutdown strategy—"[The Republicans are] just trying to find some way to eke out a win. This isn't about the policy anymore. It's about Obama. And Obama isn't giving Republicans a clear path [NYT] to backing down without looking like they lost." WaPo
- Obama can't cave, even a little, in the face of GOP extremism WaPo
- This Shutdown Is Not the Same as 1995 and 1996…It's Worse
- GOP gets 28 percent Gallup approval rating — worst ever recorded—And yet another poll pins the shutdown blame on them, but Cruz rejects this reality and replaces it with his own.
- House Republicans silence Rep. Grayson after he cites poll comparing them to 'dog poop'
- Business Groups See Loss of Sway Over House G.O.P.—"Washington's traditionally cautious and pragmatic business lobby could slip into open warfare with the Tea Party faction, which has grown in influence since the 2010 election." NYT
- Beware of Gerrymandering Denialists!
- Erick Erickson Predicts 'Real Third Party Movement' To Divide GOP
- Anger Can Be Power—"Many Republican voters are convinced that their political opponents are trying to destroy their way of life." NYT
- John Boehner And Ted Cruz-The Real Life Pinky And The Brain
- Tea Party Politics: Inside the Republican Suicide Machine—"It's open warfare within the GOP – and all of America is caught in the crossfire."
- Grover Norquist: Sen. Ted Cruz owes GOP an apology
- John McCain Blames Tea Party For Government Shutdown
- Tea Party Nation Withdraws Mitch McConnell Endorsement
- The Tea Party movement: deluded and inspired by billionaires—"By funding numerous rightwing organisations, the mega-rich Koch brothers have duped millions into supporting big business."
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren: 'We are not a country of anarchists'
- The Borowitz Report: Republicans Shut Down Prefrontal Cortex
- Ignore the Spin: This Debt Ceiling Crisis is Not Politics as Usual
- Elizabeth Warren Warns Against Default—"We're in this position for one reason, and one reason only: Congress told the government to spend more money than we have. Congress told the Treasury to run up our debt to pay for it. But now Congress is threatening to run out on the bill. If that strikes you as bizarre, then you are not alone."
- Fidelity sells off short-term US debt ahead of ceiling
- Obamacare saved my family from financial ruin WaPo
- Uninsured Find More Success via Health Exchanges Run by States—"The experience is in stark contrast to reports of widespread technical problems that have hampered enrollment in the online marketplace run by the federal government." NYT
- Ohio's GOP Governor May Adopt Obamacare Via Executive Order
- Exchange Competition Cuts Health Insurance Costs
- Obamacare by the numbers
- Fox News host sorry for false report of Obama funding Muslim museum—Sorry that her attempt to make "Obama look like a monster" backfired. Her "real" apology to come Oct. 12. In the meantime, Kimmel and Leno have their say.
- The only thing crazier than the shutdown is Fox News' coverage of it—"Conservatives want to remind you that government is bad, except for the parts they are lamenting are closed right now."
- Selective Outrage And The Right-Wing Noise Machine—And they'll keep on raging.
- Congress approval rating plummets to 5%
- The Romney campaign's own polls showed it would lose WaPo
- IRS Documents Reveal Agency Flagged Groups for 'Anti-Obama Rhetoric,' Big Three Refuse to Report WSJ
- Scott Walker administration to accept just notice for Capitol protests—"To settle a free speech lawsuit, Gov. Scott Walker's administration agreed Tuesday to pay more than $88,000 in attorneys fees and drop its hard-and-fast requirement that larger groups protesting in the Capitol receive a permit."
- Mayor Bloomberg Uses Private Email To Avoid FOI Requests; Has No Plans To Retain Archive Of Office, NYPD Emails
- NM Gov. Martinez used State Police chopper to catch fundraiser flight
- The 13 reasons Washington is failing
- Hijack the Primaries—"Why America needs a Pirate Party."
- Kris Kobach laying groundwork for two-tier voting system in Kansas—Is two-tier voting the cool new disenfrancisement tactic?
- Wall Street Journal Lies About DOJ Efforts To Check Blatant Voter Suppression
- Gov. Rick Scott delivers mea culpa on voter purge
- Repeat After Me: The Deficit Is Falling. The Deficit is Falling.
- Carter: Middle class today resembles past's poor
- America's Infrastructure Is Crumbling—"Shortfalls in investment will lead to fewer jobs, gridlock, and inevitable catastrophe."
- Politicians, press dodge crucial debate on surveillance—"The Snowden leaks have exposed the need for a national discussion on privacy, but it isn't happening."
- Post reporter: Here's why we refused the NSA's demand to censor the names of PRISM companies WaPo
- NSA wants even greater powers … to defend Wall Street—"The villainous nexus of surveillance, politics and banking rears its head again in the NSA chief's public comments." Salon
- Edward Snowden's father arrives in Moscow 'hoping to see son'
- The Man Heading Up Congressional NSA "Reform" Package Authored CISPA
- NSA saves zero-day exploits for high-value targets
- The Gmail Extension That Aims to Drown the NSA in Nonsense
- Anti-NSA group adopts highway to get close to Utah Data Center
