Boehner to GOP: Grand Bargain in the Works  —  House Republicans tell me Speaker John Boehner wants to craft a “grand bargain” on fiscal issues as part of the debt-limit deliberations, and during a series of meetings on Wednesday, he urged colleagues to stick with him.  —  The revelation came quietly.

Ted Cruz blasted by angry GOP colleagues  —  Ted Cruz faced a barrage of hostile questions Wednesday from angry GOP senators, who lashed the Texas tea party freshman for helping prompt a government shutdown crisis without a strategy to end it.  —  At a closed-door lunch meeting …

Mark Levin to Obama: You lay one hand on WW2 vets and I'LL BRING HALF A MILLION PEOPLE TO THAT MEMORIAL!  —  Mark Levin warned everyone on Capitol Hill that if they lay a hand on the WWII vets at the memorial to arrest them for visiting their own memorial, he'll bring a half a million people to march on Washington.

Meet Butch Matthews, A Republican Who Came To Love Obamacare After Realizing It Will Save Him $13,000  —  61-year-old Butch Matthews, left, with his wife Debbie  —  Butch Matthews is a 61-year-old former small business owner from Little Rock, Arkansas who used to wake up every morning at 4 …

Grover Norquist on Ted Cruz: ‘He pushed House Republicans into traffic and wandered away’  —  Grover Norquist is the president of Americans for Tax Reform and the creator of the anti-tax pledge that nearly every Republican in Congress has signed.  We spoke on Tuesday about the government shutdown and its consequences for his agenda.

Obama to Wall Street: This time be worried  —  Obama to Wall Street: You should be concerned this time  —  In an exclusive interview with CNBC's John Harwood, President Obama says Wall Street should be concerned about the ongoing impasse between him and House Republicans over funding the government and the debt limit.

Juan Linz's Bad News for America  —  The Yale political scientist died this week.  His life's work tells us that American democracy is doomed.  —  Juan Linz, the distinguished Yale political scientist, died on Tuesday morning in New Haven, Conn., at the age of 86.

California exchange overstated its Web traffic for Obamacare launch  —  Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, discusses the launch of the state's insurance exchange Tuesday in Los Angeles.  (Reed Saxon/AP / October 2, 2013)  —  California's health insurance exchange vastly overstated …

Four Decades of Cruel, Degrading & Inhuman Treatment - But Herman Wallace Is Now Free  —  Screen shot from “Democracy Now!” broadcast featuring segment on Herman Wallace's release  —  For over four decades, Herman Wallace (one of the Angola 3) was held in solitary confinement in the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Reaching for the pillars: The conservative plan is sabotage  —  Direct assaults on government fail because people want a secure retirement and education.  So the right fights dirty  —  Conservative crusaders have often taken up the question of what to do about government.