DAYLEE PICTURE: A stretch of the Sahara Desert in Egypt. From the Daily Mail of the UK.
"... the events of yesterday amounted to utter success. The debt ceiling will be lifted, the crisis is over, and so, too, may be the larger Constitutional struggle it unleashed. ... Ted Cruz and his minions may have undertaken a hopeless crusade, but they dragged along the Paul Ryan Republicans who all along seemed to think their extortion scheme was a simple business deal. Its collapse is one of the brightest days Washington has seen in a grim era."
John Boehner’s 'Moment of Truth’ Arrives (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"There was never any compromise that could prove acceptable to both Tea Party conservatives on one side, and Obama and Senate Dems on the other. One side believes it must reserve the threat of widespread damage to the country as leverage to cripple the Obama presidency before it destroys the country. The other wants to end use of that as leverage for good. That core difference was inherently unbridgeable."
Boehner Raises the White Flag in Republican Shutdown (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos
"House Speaker John Boehner wanted to get there first. McConnell decided to give him the chance to do so, and Boehner spent the whole day trying to get a deal—and ended up failing miserably."
John Boehner, GOP Savaged: 'Humiliating Failure,' 'Disaster' from the Huffington Post
HOORAY!!
"John Boehner and his House Republicans woke to a round of epically horrible press about their role in the ongoing shutdown and debt ceiling crisis. ... Politico called Boehner's efforts a "disaster." The Washington Post described it as a "humiliating failure," and said Boehner and his leadership colleagues had " lost all control of their majority.""
The Final(?) Collapse of the House Republicans (David Weigel) from Slate
"... you can already see how the conservative base will remember this episode. It won't be a story of Republicans making a huge strategic error and bumbling into an Obamacare-defunding fight without the votes to ever win. It will be a story of wimpy party leaders selling out. The shutdown would have been winnable if they hadn't sold out."
Has The Right Learned Its Lesson? (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Dish
"I remain skeptical that a party in this deep an ideological hole – with so many forces still arguing for more digging even up against a national default – is able to climb even slowly out. But this horrible political disaster for them must surely have some impact on purely political animals. Rarely has such a radical move been so definitively quashed (even if at the last minute) – and abhorred so broadly by the American people."
Now let's touch base with some conservative pundits:
The Strangelove Republicans (Rod Dreher) from the American Conservative
"Maybe there won’t be a long-term fallout from this, but I tell you, it’s very hard to see entrusting power to a party that behaves this way, that manufactures crises like this for its own short-term political gain. The Republicans, having lost their mind, have destroyed their brand. ... Yes. I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I hope the House flips to the Democrats in 2014, so we can be rid of these nuts."
From another very conservative source:
House Republicans Show Themselves To Be Dangerously Incompetent, Again (Josh Barro) from Business Insider
"There is no serious argument for Republican governance right now, even if you prefer conservative policies over liberal ones. These people are just too dangerously incompetent to be trusted with power. A party that is this bad at tactics can't be expected to be any good at policy-making."
And another:
Why Should the Public Trust Republicans With Power? (Daniel Larison) from the American Conservative
"... the House majority cannot do its job, and has to rely on the intervention of the other chamber controlled by the opposing party to save it from its own blundering. This “works” only in the sense that it avoids the worst consequences of the House majority’s pointless and destructive behavior. ... After watching the display of the last few weeks, it is hard to argue that Republicans should have control over any part of the government. It is even harder to believe that they should increase what control they have."
And another:
Senate Deal Takes Shape, Kneecapped House Leadership to Cave
from Townhall.com
"Yesterday's events were calamitous for Republicans. Once the House GOP revolted -- to no particular end -- the onus was shifted back to the Senate, with Harry Reid holding every trump card."
And finally, from from Mr. Tea Party himself, Erik Erikson:
Bridge Burning and Bridge Building (Erick Erickson) from Redstate.com
"We only need a few good small businessmen and women to stand up and challenge these Republicans who are caving. If they refuse to fight for us, we must fight them. ... So what good is the GOP? It is time to fight this out in primaries in 2014. Given just how poorly Crossroads performed in 2012, I like our odds with Heritage Action, Senate Conservatives Fund, Madison Project, Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, For America, and others."
YOU TELL'EM MAN!! Really! What good IS the GOP anyway!? I've been wondering that for years. Throw money at the really nutty primary challengers. That'll show'em!!
Tea Party Donors Push Back (Patricia Murphy) from the Daily Beast
"Business leaders are warning about the dire consequences of default, but in some ways they’re getting what they paid for—they overwhelmingly backed GOP congressional candidates in 2012, including Ted Cruz. ... “I sit through meetings now with Republican lobbyists and it’s grim...they made this investment in the Republicans in the House, and this is what they have to show for it.”"
Is Cruz Causing a Democratic Wave? Maybe, but Don’t Jump the Gun (Stuart Rothenberg) from Roll Call
"Last week I observed that I hadn't yet seen 'compelling evidence' that a Democratic political wave could be developing. I can no longer say that after seeing the recently released NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll."
Stunned Republicans React to Canceled Vote (Jonathan Strong) from National Review
"Referring to his plan to preemptively send the Senate a House-passed bill, Speaker John Boehner told his conference this morning that he’d “rather throw a grenade than catch a grenade.” But with his right-wing troops abandoning him again, it was the speaker who was left holding the bomb."
Republicans May Be Ready To Take Senate Deal: 'It's All Over' from the Huffington Post
"After House Republicans withdrew their proposed debt deal on Tuesday evening, Senate Leaders Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said they were ready to reopen negotiations to end the shutdown and avert a default. Now, House Republican lawmakers and aides are saying they're ready to throw in the towel and accept a Senate deal: ... Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), chairman of the Rules Committee, told The National Review that House Republicans are now just "waiting for the Senate to get their work done.""
John Boehner’s Bad Night Clears Path For A Deal (Alex Altman and Zeke J. Miller) from Time Magazine
"...in the perverse ways of modern Washington, the Tuesday night defeat may soon be marked in the history books as a step forward. It was the latest expression of the Boehner doctrine, a playbook for governing the ungovernable. Stripped of earmarking grease, reluctant to rule by fiat, and with a conference that fears only its right flank, Boehner has long since realized that he must be bloodied first before he can steer the country to safety."
How Bad Is It? Even Ann Coulter Has Turned On Conservatives (Michelle Cottle) from the Daily Beast
"The right-wing gadfly is on the attack again—but this time she's going after her fellow nutjobs. ... Forget the shopworn Yeats’s lament about how the center cannot hold; in the current GOP internecine cage match, even the fringe is starting to come apart. ... as the chaos spirals, Republicans seem to be having an ever-harder time figuring out where it is they want to point fingers or lob bombs. Everyone in the party is fed up with everyone else, and no one seems to have any idea how to stop the madness."
The GOP Can't Survive Without the Tea Party (Nate Cohn) from the New Republic
"If Republicans think they have a pathway to victory without the tea party, they’re sorely mistaken. ... Once a Republican realized there aren’t enough opportunities to win without the tea party, the centrist fantasy would come to an end."
I think both Cohn and Frum (who Cohn is reacting to here) are missing what's staring them in the face: the GOP is coming apart ... and the only real question is how bitter, bad and complete the falling apart is going to be.
Eric Cantor Blamed By Virginia Colleagues For Prolonging Government Shutdown from the Huffington Post
"Two Virginia congressmen fumed Tuesday about the damage being done to their state by the ongoing government shutdown and laid the blame squarely on a fellow Virginian, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R), for preventing lawmakers from voting on a bill to immediately end it."
False Equivalence: How 'Balance' Makes the Media Dangerously Dumb (Bob Garfield) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"We've seen it in climate change reporting; we see it in shutdown coverage. Journalists should be unbiased, yes, but not brainless."
And for a complete change of pace -- a dog rescue video!
HOPE-FOR-PAWS DOG RESCUE NUGGET!!
An abandoned dog on the railroad tracks gets rescued from Hope-for Paws
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