No Quick Deal, but Offer by G.O.P. on Debt Shifts the Tone  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama and House Republicans failed to reach agreement on a six-week extension of the nation's borrowing authority during a meeting Thursday at the White House, but the two sides kept talking …

NBC/WSJ poll: Shutdown debate damages GOP  —  The Republican Party has been badly damaged in the ongoing government shutdown and debt limit standoff, with a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finding that a majority of Americans blame the GOP for the shutdown, and with the party's popularity declining to its lowest level.

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.

EXCLUSIVE: Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the website's first week, out of tens of millions of Americans in 36 states  — Obamacare's main signup engine attracted just 6,200 new customers on its launch day and 51,000 after the first week

Blackfeet Elder Says Rick Reilly Misquoted Him; Wants ‘Redskins’ Banned  —  There are a few things I'm passionate about in life, and one is to share the true history of how our people have overcome the trauma of 150 years of attempts to erase the Blackfeet people.

Steve Lonegan: Obama Will Cave On The Shutdown When I Win My Election  —  Republican New Jersey Senate candidate Steve Lonegan said Thursday he has a way to singlehandedly stop Obamacare and help the GOP emerge victorious in its shutdown standoff.  —  Lonegan's campaign issued …

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.

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 …

The House GOP's Little Rule Change That Guaranteed A Shutdown  —  Late on the night of Sept. 30, with the federal government just hours away from shutting down, House Republicans quietly made a small change to the House rules that blocked a potential avenue for ending the shutdown.

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.

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 …

Krugtron the Invincible, Part 3  —  In my previous two articles, I have shown that Paul Krugman - revered by his acolytes as the Invincible Krugtron - failed to anticipate the financial crisis and wrongly predicted that the single European currency would fall victim to it.