memeorandum: Leave us out of it! — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie listens … (Jessica Taylor/msnbc.com)

10:45 AM ET, October 3, 2013

Top Items:

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.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Post, Guardian, The Week, americanthinker.com, Daily Kos, Power Line, NPR, Real Clear Politics, Hot Air, Fix the Debt, Taylor Marsh and Balloon Juice

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

GOP stands firm against funding bill, will link to debt ceiling fight — OBAMACARE DEBT CEILING PENNAVE BUDGETS AND DEFICITS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN — House Republicans are unlikely to blink in the standoff over Obamacare that precipitated a government shutdown, fearing that acceding …

Discussion: Business Insider, American Prospect, Washington Monthly, The Rachel Maddow Show, Mediaite, The Hinterland Gazette, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and The Reality-Based Community

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Government shutdown: Why many Republicans have no reason to deal — The prevailing wisdom ahead of the government shutdown was that tea party lawmakers who agitated for it would fold within a few days, once they got an earful from angry constituents and felt the sting of bad headlines.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, The Daily Beast and Brains and Eggs

Politico:

Government shutdown: Is a grand bargain the only way out? — Many pragmatic House Republicans have come to a simple conclusion: Navigating their way out of this fiscal mess won't be easy. — They think their best chance to fund the government, raise the debt ceiling and extract any concession …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Raw Story, Hullabaloo, susiemadrak.com and Hot Air

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
John Boehner, between a rock and a hard place on shutdown and debt limit

Discussion: Washington Examiner, National Review, First Read, The Plum Line, msnbc.com and Wall Street Journal

Suzy Khimm / msnbc.com:
What's the fight about? Republicans struggle to explain

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Huffington Post and National Review

Washington Post:
Government shutdown puts U.S. security at risk

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Pirate's Cove

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
On Capitol Hill, the Obamacare fight is no longer about Obamacare

Discussion: NBCNews, Townhall.com, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Los Angeles Times, Hullabaloo and The Hill

Sheldon Alberts / The Hill:
No sign of government shutdown ending after White House meeting

Discussion: Politico

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Bank CEOs huddle with Obama

Discussion: Politico and Washington Monthly

Manu Raju / Politico:

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 …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Talking Points Memo, BOR, PoliticusUSA, Outside the Beltway, NBCNews, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, CNN and The Lonely Conservative

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Coburn challenges McConnell on ‘leadership vacuum’ — An outspoken conservative lawmaker recently challenged Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) at a closed-door meeting, saying there is a GOP “leadership vacuum” in the upper chamber, according to sources.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

David Espo / ABC News:

Analysis: Republicans Get Opposite of Stated Goals — Republicans insisted they wanted to shut down the nation's 3-year-old health care overhaul, not the government. They got the opposite, and now struggle to convince the public that responsibility for partial closure of the federal establishment lies …

Discussion: Associated Press and Politico

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Grover Norquist on Ted Cruz: ‘He pushed House Republicans into traffic and wandered away’

Discussion: The Raw Story, Trail Blazers Blog and Talking Points Memo

Brendan Sasso / The Hill:
Cruz warns shutdown could lead to terrorist attacks

Discussion: his vorpal sword, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

CBS News:

Poll: Americans not happy about shutdown; more blame GOP — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — On day three of the partial government shutdown, a new CBS News poll reveals that a large majority of Americans disapprove of the shutdown and more are blaming Republicans than President Obama and the Democrats for it.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taegan Goddard's …, Daily Kos, Politico, Hot Air and WHNT-TV

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Poll Confirms Americans Blame GOP For Shutdown — A poll released Thursday provided confirmation of what's long been anticipated: more Americans blame Republicans — not President Barack Obama and Democrats — for the first government shutdown since 1996. — According to the latest CBS News poll …

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Bachmann: Republicans ‘About The Happiest’ They've Been In A While During Shutdown (VIDEO)

Discussion: Mediaite

Jim Williams / Public Policy Polling:
Conspiracy Theories Round Two: Republicans More Likely To Subscribe to Government Conspiracy Theories

Discussion: Truthout Stories, PoliticusUSA, Reuters and CANNONFIRE

The Right Scoop:

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.

Discussion: Doug Ross, The Other McCain, protein wisdom and The Gateway Pundit

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
House passes bills to fund DC, parks and medical research

Discussion: WJLA-TV, Shakesville and Patterico's Pontifications

Patrick Poole / The PJ Tatler:
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: McDonald's Employee Admits Being Paid $15 to Protest WW2 Veterans (UPDATED 2x)

Discussion: The Huffington Post, americanthinker.com, The Daily Caller, The Right Scoop, Power Line and The Gateway Pundit

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
Shutdown overreach: More guards at WWII memorial than Benghazi; Park Service closes park it doesn't run

Discussion: Power Line, Twitchy, American Thinker, The PJ Tatler, ThinkProgress, Weasel Zippers, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, BuzzFeed, Michelle Malkin, The Lonely Conservative, The Right Scoop and The Gateway Pundit

ABC News:
World War II Veterans Prove Unstoppable, Entering Memorial

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Guardian, Daily Herald, ThinkProgress, National Review and Stars & Stripes

Des Moines Register:

Kent Sorenson resigns from Senate — Investigation into Bachmann payments finds ‘probable cause’ he broke ethics rules — Iowa senator resigns amid ethics probe: Des Moines Register politics editor Carol Hunter and Statehouse reporter Jason Noble discuss the resignation of Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Jason Noble / Des Moines Register:
BREAKING: Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson resigns after report finds he received money from Bachmann campaign

Discussion: Politico and Talking Points Memo

Chad Terhune / Los Angeles Times:

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 …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Twitchy, National Review, Scared Monkeys, Washington Free Beacon, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and WND

Eleanor Clift / The Daily Beast:

Denny Hastert Disses the ‘Hastert Rule’: It ‘Never Really Existed’ — The former Republican speaker's ‘rule,’ that you can't bring legislation to the House floor without a majority of GOP votes, is cited as the reason Boehner can't end the shutdown. But Hastert tells Eleanor Clift it's a ‘non-entity’ …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mediaite and Booman Tribune

Jessica Taylor / msnbc.com:

Leave us out of it! — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie listens to a question at an event Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, in Camden, N.J. (Photo by Mel Evans/AP) — Washington Republicans are getting little help from their friends in governor's mansions across the country.

Discussion: New York Times and First Read

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Brendan Mahoney Saves ObamaCare — Great news! They got a 30-year-old dude to sign up! — “People complain of having to stand in line for hours, often in vain, and many are losing patience with the government's explanation that unsavory conspirators are to blame for the nation's problems,” reports the New York Times.

Discussion: Politico and ThinkProgress