GOP's New Strategy: Avert Default But Keep Government Shut  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced Thursday that the House will move forward with a six-week debt limit extension after pitching the idea to his Republican conference during a closed-door meeting.

House GOP Preparing to Give Up  —  I'm being told by several sources that Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are plotting to give up trying to either defund or delay Obamacare.  —  This comes at the same time the Obama administration admits it will be months before their Obamacare website …

Gallup: Cruz's favorability rating plunges  —  Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) favorability rating has collapsed as the public has become more familiar with him, according to a Gallup survey released on Thursday.  —  The survey found that 26 percent have a favorable view of the Texas Republican, against 36 percent unfavorable.

Obama Should Just Give in to the Republicans  —  President Obama should give in.  Yes, this mess is all the Republicans' fault.  Yes, it's outrageous that they can hold the government hostage in order to reargue a law that's been voted on, signed, enacted, and upheld by the Supreme Court.

We're not gonna take it!  Americans use 1st Amendment to storm shutdown barriers  —  Taking their lead from the veterans who first pushed through the barricades to visit the World War II Memorial, Americans nationwide are defying the federal government shutdown, tossing aside traffic cones …

Scarborough: A NYT Editor Told Me Krugman's Column Is ‘Their Biggest Nightmare’ (VIDEO)  —  MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Thursday that a public editor at the New York Times considers liberal columnist Paul Krugman's work to be an ongoing “nightmare.”  —  During a segment on “Morning Joe …

Cory Booker's father, 76, dies  —  Newark Mayor Cory Booker's father died Thursday morning after battling to recover from a recent stroke.  His death comes just days before the New Jersey Democrat faces voters in the state's Oct. 16 special Senate election.

John McCain regrets ‘wacko birds’ comment, worries about GOP infighting  —  SENATE REPUBLICAN PARTY TEA PARTY PENNAVE JOHN MCCAIN SEQUESTER  —  Sen. John McCain said Thursday that he's worried about the Republican Party's future and the infighting that is dividing it, calling efforts …

PolitiFact to launch PunditFact, checking pundits and media figures  —  PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking website of the Tampa Bay Times, will soon launch PunditFact, a site dedicated to checking claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers and the hosts and guests of talk shows.

What the Virginia governor's race tells us about the 2014 midterms  —  Against trend, Democrat Terry McAuliffe is set to win.  After running a ‘strong conservative’, Republicans should take a hint  —  I'm hesitant to read too much into elections that don't occur during the midterms or presidential election years.

Obama Just Made a Terrible Mistake on Egypt  —  In a certain sense, the Obama administration's decision to withhold much of the $1.3 billion in annual aid given to Egypt isn't surprising.  U.S. law mandates cutting off aid to countries in which a coup has taken place, and the Egyptian military's ouster …

The Final Insult in the Bush-Cheney Marriage  —  In the final days of his presidency, George W. Bush sat behind his desk in the Oval Office, chewing gum and staring into the distance as two White House lawyers briefed him on the possible last-minute pardon of I. Lewis Libby.  —  “Do you think he did it?”

Rick Reilly's American Indian Father-In-Law Says Reilly Misquoted Him  —  Last month, ESPN's Rick Reilly came out in support of the Redskins' name.  The backbone of his argument?  Father-in-law Bob Burns, a Blackfeet elder, who supposedly said he doesn't care about the team name.

The “Grand” Perspective  —  As we all go down our various rabbit-holes in trying to understand the fiscal crisis situation, much of which seems to be playing out in John Boehner's nicotine-soaked brain, it's appropriate to step back and look at it all from a broader perspective.