Anatomy of a shutdown  —  House Speaker John Boehner just wanted to sneak out of the White House for a smoke.  —  But President Barack Obama pulled him aside for a grilling.  Obama wanted to know why they were in the second day of a government shutdown that the speaker had repeatedly and publicly pledged to avoid.

Inside the Fox News lie machine: I fact-checked Sean Hannity on Obamacare  —  UPDATE I re-reported a Fox News segment on Obamacare — it was appallingly easy to see how it misleads the audience  —  I happened to turn on the Hannity show on Fox News last Friday evening.

Republican Civil War Erupts: Business Groups v. Tea Party  —  A battle for control of the Republican Party has erupted as an emboldened Tea Party moved to oust senators who voted to reopen the government while business groups mobilized to defeat allies of the small-government movement.

Cory Booker Plans To Start Marrying Same-Sex Couples At 12:01 A.M. Monday  —  The senator-elect is slated to marry the couples in the wake of a trial-court ruling requiring marriage equality in the Garden State.  The only question is whether the New Jersey Supreme Court will put same-sex couples' weddings …

Kansas Supreme Court Suspends Ex-Attorney General Over Abortion Investigation  —  The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday indefinitely suspended former Attorney General Phillip Kline (R), who investigated abortion doctor George Tiller, from the practice of law in the state.

Authorities looking into threat against Ted Cruz  —  Law enforcement officials are investigating a threat against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who was vaulted into national prominence with his push to defund ObamaCare.  —  A person identifying himself as Troy Gilmore Jr., posted on Twitter Friday morning …

At Al Smith Dinner, Colbert Doesn't Spare Politicians  —  When the comedian Stephen Colbert took to the dais on Thursday for his keynote speech at the Al Smith white-tie charity dinner, the annual gathering of New York's Roman Catholic elite, he immediately flashed a sly glance at Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, sitting a few seats away.

Docs worried sick over ObamaCare  —  New York doctors are feeling queasy about ObamaCare — and many won't participate in the new national insurance program because they fear they'll go broke, The Post has learned.  —  “ObamaCare is going to send me more patients to see and then cut …

Nate Silver previews site, hits POLITICO  —  Nate Silver, the statistician who recently joined ESPN from The New York Times, previewed his new website on Friday and dished out some criticisms of the current journalism environment, much of it directed at POLITICO.

PLAYBOY INTERVIEW: BERNIE SANDERS  —  At a time when politicians—particularly members of Congress—are almost universally reviled and blind partisanship seems to dictate the fate of every piece of legislation, one U.S. senator stands out as a unique voice.  —  Bernie Sanders has been a senator from Vermont since 2006.

The Truthiness of Rand Paul  —  The junior senator from Kentucky could transform the GOP—if the facts don't get in his way.  —  LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Rand Paul was talking with University of Louisville medical students when one of them tossed him a softball.  “The majority of med students here today have a comprehensive exam tomorrow.

Here's a ‘grand bargain’ for ya: Tax cuts for $1 trillion in infrastructure spending  —  With the government shutdown over, the serious political discussion moves to the budget talks, already in progress.  But it's already obvious the talks are likely to go nowhere, because Republicans won't give any ground on new revenues.

Family fights to include ‘Jesus’ on grave marker at city-owned cemetery  —  The family of a Colorado preacher's wife is still fuming after the director of the city-owned cemetery refused to engrave her final resting place with the name ‘Jesus’ because it might offend people.

Uninsured Americans Still Unfamiliar With Health Exchanges  —  Seven in 10 not familiar with exchanges, unchanged since September  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Although federal and state health insurance exchanges opened on Oct. 1, 71% of Americans who lack health insurance — the primary target group …

Republican Rep. Bill Young, Florida's longest-serving member of Congress and a defense hawk who was influential on military spending during his 43 years in Washington, died Friday.  He was 82.  —  His chief of staff, Harry Glenn, said in an email that Young died at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda …

Food Stamp Outage Highlights Problems With Privatization of Public Services  —  The government shutdown was not to blame for the crashing of the food stamp program for poor families in 17 states over the weekend, just the latest in a long line of snafus by private contractors hired by government.

Conservatives, Get a Grip on Reality!  —  Those who thought shutting down the government was a winning strategy should have their heads examined.  —  Here's a question for conservatives and Republicans: Going into the 2012 Election Day, or even in the last few days before Election Day, did you think Mitt Romney was going to win?

The China-Debt Syndrome  —  Matthew Yglesias notes an uptick in Very Serious People warning that China might lose confidence in America and start dumping our bonds.  He focuses on China's motives, which is useful.  But the crucial point, which he touches on only briefly at the end …

On tape, Gov. LePage justifies cutting taxes for millionaires with wildly inaccurate claim  —  LePage holds a chart during a 2010 debate.  - Robert F. Bukaty |  BDN  —  A hallmark of Governor Paul LePage's administration has been his advocacy for income and estate tax breaks …

Redskins and reason  —  In re the (Washington) Redskins.  Should the name be changed?  —  I don't like being lectured by sportscasters about ethnic sensitivity.  Or advised by the president of the United States about changing team names.  Or blackmailed by tribal leaders playing the race card.

Saudi Arabia Rejects Security Council Seat  —  LONDON — Assailing what it called double standards at the United Nations, Saudi Arabia took the surprising step Friday of declining an invitation to take a rotating seat on the Security Council just one day after it was chosen to join the body for a two-year term.

The Truth About the Obamacare Rollout  —  The feds botched the website.  But the states are doing much better.  —  The federal government is open and paying its bills, which means you can start looking at the other big story from the past few weeks: The startup of Obamacare's marketplaces.

FreedomWorks CEO: ‘A Real Possibility’ That The GOP Splits In Two  —  FreedomWorks chief Matt Kibbe said Friday said that divisions on the right could cause the Republican Party to split in two.  —  During an apperance on CSPAN, the tea party leader responded to a piece in The Washington Times indcating …

Trust in Government Nears Record Low, But Most Federal Agencies Are Viewed Favorably  —  62% Have Positive View of Federal Workers  —  Public trust in the government, already quite low, has edged even lower in a survey conducted just before the Oct. 16 agreement to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling.