Republican Party Favorability Sinks to Record Low  —  Falls 10 percentage points from September's 38%  —  This article is part of an ongoing series analyzing how the government shutdown and the debate over raising the debt ceiling are affecting Americans' views of government, government leaders …

POLL: GOP GETS THE BLAME IN SHUTDOWN  —  You are here  —  Home » United States Congress » Poll: GOP gets the blame in shutdown  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are holding Republicans primarily responsible for the partial government shutdown as public esteem sinks for all players …

First Thoughts: The beginning of the end?  —  The beginning of the end?  Paul Ryan op-ed appears to be an olive branch and a way out of the budget stalemate... But can conservatives accept that potential end (which has no Obamacare changes?)...  Cantor's bad cop to Ryan's good cop? …

Senior House GOP source: Debt deal may require Democratic help  —  Washington (CNN) - A Senior House GOP source concedes to CNN that to get the White House on board with a debt ceiling deal, House Republicans would likely have to agree to a clean short term debt ceiling increase.

Kochs to Congress: Focus on spending, not Obamacare  —  In a move that highlights a growing rift in conservative ranks, Koch Industries — the privately held energy conglomerate owned by billionaires Charles and David Koch — today distanced the firm from allied political groups lobbying …

Waterboarding Is A Big Joke At Cheney Roast  —  A sentimental evening at the Plaza for Cheney, Rumsfeld, Mukasey, and Lieberman.  “Really tasteless,” says a guest.  —  The cover of the program at the Oct. 7 “Roast of Dick Cheney.”  —  Dick Cheney is ready to laugh about waterboarding.

Bachmann: Obama ‘Committed Impeachable Offenses,’ Wants To Be A Dictator  —  Speaking with conservative talk show host Rusty Humphries on a conference call sponsored by TheTeaParty.net yesterday, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota suggested that the House hold hearings on impeaching the president.

Republicans Are Awfully Close to Violating the Constitution  —  Who cares if President Obama has 14th Amendment obligations?  The critical sentence in that block of text should be read as instruction for lawmakers first, and last.  —  Have Republicans forgotten that they too must abide by the Constitution?

Obamacare website looks “like nobody tested it,” programmer says  —  (CBS News) Healthcare.gov launched more than a week ago, and while millions of Americans have signed into the site, not many have been able to actually sign up for insurance because of glitches with the website.

Unpaid Intern Is Ruled Not an ‘Employee,’ Not Protected From Sexual Harassment  —  There's plenty for unpaid interns to complain about—mainly, the lack of money—but apparently it gets worse.  Because they're not paid and don't receive remuneration such as pension and life insurance …

White House: Obama orders military death benefits paid to families  —  President Obama has ordered officials to resume paying death benefits to the families of fallen soldiers and was “very disturbed” they had been halted due to the government shutdown, said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Is the Shutdown Creating a Dystopic Political Future?  —  Let's cast our minds forward a few weeks, to after the shutdown/default crisis is over.  At that point, the 2014 off-year elections will be only a year away.  And what will the lasting effect of this episode be?  Maybe not all that much.

What really went wrong with healthcare.gov?  —  Of all the terrible websites I've seen, healthcare.gov ranks somewhere in the middle.  It has been difficult if not impossible to sign up, and customer service has been inadequate.  But it's certainly better than the NYC Department of Education site …

Sarah Lacy Writes Every Female-Penned Defense of Gender Inequality Ever  —  As reported here earlier, there is a kerfuffle over the revelation that Twitter's board, investors, and almost all of its executives are male.  This is playing out by the book: The initial criticisms, the defensive retorts, the anger at the defensive retorts.

How Racism Caused The Shutdown  —  This isn't an article about how Republicans shut down the government because they hate that the President is black.  This is an article about how racism caused the government to shut down and the U.S. to teeter on the brink of an unprecedented and catastrophic default.

Updated: Ihlenfeld ID's Shooter as Former Wheeling Police Officer  —  The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register  —  WHEELING — A man who reportedly fired more than 20 shots into the Wheeling Federal Building has died, authorities said.  —  The man has not yet been identified …

House Republicans silence Rep. Grayson after he cites poll comparing them to ‘dog poop’  —  Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) found himself on Tuesday being added to the list of things that had been shut down because of Republicans in Congress.  —  During a speech on the House floor to call for a vote …

Lead health care navigator in Florida provides wrong information on credit scores  —  Ann Packham tells Local 6 she was incorrect about Affordable Care Act … A day after telling Local 6 that anyone signing up for the Affordable Care Act had to provide their credit score, the lead navigator in Florida said she was wrong.

Obamacare's Financial Unraveling: Predictable, and Predicted  —  Advocates marketed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known colloquially as “Obamacare,” to the American public as a way to “bend the cost curve” of soaring health care costs downward.  But despite its supporters' hopes …