But note how very laudatory The Hill is regarding the wily Reid. And note the article goes out of its way to protect Obama from any political fallout from Reid's aggressive, no-compromise stance -- claiming that Obama is just a spectator in all of this, and himself only wishes to compromise.

President Obama has handed over the reins of leadership on government funding and the debt limit to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Reid is now fully in charge of his partyÂ’s negotiating strategy, a significant change from past showdowns with Republicans.

He has taken the initiative from Obama, who played the principal role in the 2011 debt-limit talks and New YearÂ’s fiscal cliff deal. Some Democrats on Capitol Hill are relieved by the switch.

The majority leader has brought a more pugnacious style to the debate, bashing House conservatives as “anarchists” and mocking the “Banana Republican mindset.”

This is a welcome change for Democrats who thought Obama was too accommodating to Republicans during previous crises.

Wait, I thought compromise was a good thing? I also enjoy the Democrats' efforts (assisted by the Hill) to try to shield Obama from the political consequences of his decisions -- "Hey, Obama is just a big compromiser who wants what's best for everyone, but he's not in charge now, so don't hold any of this partisan squabbling against him."

Wait, the President of the United States isn't in charge?

I can't keep excerpting, but the passage I cut has more Democrat quotes talking about how open to compromise Obama is, but that he's been sidelined by... well, by someone who has no power to sideline him.

“There’s no question, Reid is now the quarterback,” said a Senate Democratic aide.
That became clear when Reid persuaded Obama last month to abandon an effort to set up a bipartisan meeting of congressional leaders before government funding expired.

All of this is obviously coordinated (though the Hill didn't notice the obvious) to protect Obama from the fallout from his own chosen policy.

What is interesting is that Obama would apparently prefer to be thought of as weak and voting present rather than taking charge of, and standing personally behind, his own chosen strategy.

Posted by: Ace at 09:45 AM | Comments (299)
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Well, wadaya know.

After weeks of insisting it wonÂ’t negotiate on either the budget or the debt ceiling, a top White House adviser said this morning that Barack Obama would sign a short-term lift in the latter to gain more time for a longer-term agreement.

Remember, Obama was supposed to be overseas on his Asia trip this week. He decided to send Sec. Kerry in his place over the weekend, even as he was insisting that he wasn't going to negotiate on the debt ceiling. Why stay in the U.S. if he wasn't going to negotiate? Answer: he'll negotiate.

A GOP congressman (he doesn't want to be further identified) explains just how far outside the norm the parties have wandered in the current showdown.

The crisis that House Republican leaders didn't see coming is now consuming them, with unpredictable consequences. "We're not in a situation that has been planned out and war-gamed and plotted, OK?" said the congressman. "We stumbled into a situation like Gettysburg that nobody planned, and all of a sudden each side is feeding more troops into it, and it's turning into a much bigger deal."

What comes now? Not surprisingly, the lawmaker didn't know. But he felt safe predicting it would be just as chaotic as events of the last few weeks.

I talked a little about this during this week's podcast. We are far beyond the ordinary political processes used to sort out differences between Republicans and the Democrats. When folks predict it will be sorted out by the time federal spending reaches the debt ceiling (myself included), the prediction is based on the belief that Obama will stop having a tantrum and actually come to the negotiating table. Today is the first indication since the shutdown began that might happen.

Also, I'm enjoying that for once, someone other than the GOP is fractured. It has almost gone unreported, but the Democrats are cracking up. Several House Democrats from light-blue and purple districts are repeatedly peeling off from the White House and Sen. Reid's hard-line demand that there be no negotiations. The White House's insanely arbitrary decisions about just what's going to be closed due to the shutdown are taking their toll.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:59 AM | Comments (337)
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Ace covered the NPS-forced closure of the privately funded, privately operated living history museum Claude Moore Colonial Farm. The Farm is fighting back.

Managing director Anna Eberly says that the Farm is pursuing a legal remedy thanks to a generous volunteer. "We believe, according to our lease with the National Park Service, that we have both a right and a duty to be open to the public," she wrote to supporters.

In a separate email, Eberly explained that the Farm's lease agreement "states that we will operate the Farm and open it to the public and the only thing [the NPS] will provide is police protection if needed." Notably, the Farm hasn't relied on NPS police because Fairfax County PD is closer and more convenient.

Unlike federal employees, the Farm isn't going to get any money back when the shutdown is over. So far, according to Eberly, the Farm has lost $15,000 in operating income due to the shut down. That's from cancelled rentals, admissions, sales, and program fees.

Today, the Farm has declared a "Freedom from Tyranny Colonial Rally" to take place in front of the Department of the Interior at noon. The invitation is below the fold.

more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:05 AM | Comments (653)
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• When The Bleeding Heart Becomes The Iron Fist
  
• Boehner Says US On The Path To Default If Obama Doesn't Negotiate
  
• WH Admits Software And Design Defects In O-Care Website
  
• Obama Shuts Down Amber Alert Website
  
• WH Still Can't Answer How Many People Have Signed Up For The Obamacare Exchanges
  
• Cooke: Obama And The 14th Amendment
  
• At DHS Accountability Is Just Another Work For Looking The Other Way
  
• Four US Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan
  
• Federal Employees Face Charges If They Read E-mail During Obama Shutdown
  
• ATF Tries To Block Whistleblowing Agent's Fast And Furious Book
  
• Republicans Shouldn't Play Obamacare's Debt Game
  
• California's New Feudalism
  
• Families Hoard Cash 5 Years After Crisis
  
• Feds Evict Elderly Couple From Their Home, Cite Shutdown
  
• Steyn: Shutdown Simulacrum
  
• Dogs Are People Too
  
• More Women Need To Get Involved In Professional Sports Like This
  
• Remember, The Ace Of Spades Lifestyle Isn't Necessarily Legal
  
• The Only Way This Could Have Been More Russian Is If He Passed The Torch To A Bear
  

Check me out on Christian Mingle.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:32 AM | Comments (204)
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Day 7.

DOD is recalling most of its civilian workforce to work based upon the language of the military funding authorization passed last week.

ICYMI, on Saturday the House approved 407-0 a bill granting back pay to furloughed federal workers. The Senate hasn't picked it up yet, but I imagine that's just a matter of time. The GOP strategy here is to paint Sen. Reid as the obstructionist in Congress. This has the benefit of being true.

New York Magazine has a long, amazing interview with Justice Scalia.

Speaking of amazing, there are a number of pretty damned important cases in front of the Supreme Court this term. This calls for a listicle.

If you haven't got the podcast yet this week, we had John McCormack of the Weekly Standard on to talk about shutdown effects and shutdown strategy, among other things. Also, Rick Tempest told us the difference between cobloggers and underbloggers.

[ RSS]

[iTunes]

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:49 AM | Comments (197)
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Another US president, whom we are told the current one holds in high esteem, once uttered those words while referencing some moldy old document that contained a few more words

...to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

Rasmussen apparently asked that question.

... Just 17% of Likely U.S. Voters now think the federal government has that consent...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 09:28 PM | Comments (163)
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The New Civility: Democrat Eliminationist Rhetoric Unleashed

Here are the leading contenders from just last week:

1. "Unhinged" Arsonists (Wasserman-Schultz)
2. Insane People Who "Have Lost their Minds" (Harry Reid)
3. "People with a Bomb Strapped to their Chest" (aka Terrorists)(Dan Pfeiffer)
4. Blatant Extortionists (Jay Carney)
5. "Legislative Arsonists" (Nancy Pelosi)

But of course Andrew Sullivan never disappoints:

This time, the elephant must go down. And if possible, it must be so wounded it does not get up for a long time to come.

The Democrats think this kind inciting language has no ill effects but they're unthinkingly tearing away at the necessary social fabric for keeping a society running. You can only demonize people (including 47% of the country which is a lot of people) for so long. Not every Republican is an Orrin Hatch or John McCain who will continually turn the other cheek in the name of statesmanship and civility.

Their boyfriend won't be president forever nor will the Senate be always be Democratic-ruled. Yet they're crossing lines and taboos - last crossed in the late 1850s - as if the status quo will last forever. They're sowing the wind without any thought to the  consequences.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:23 PM | Comments (614)
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Two-for-one in this week's edition: an evening meteor shower and...

With the moon not hanging around in the early morning to ruin things, your best chance to catch this elusive wedge of light runs now through October 16th.

Let me show you how. more...

Posted by: CAC at 02:33 PM | Comments (336)
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When you hear someone say "We all need to take care of each other", what they're really saying is "I want someone to take care of me". Socialism is the creed of the deluded, the lazy, the timid, the dull, and the inept. People who desire it are either children or adults with the minds of children. Socialism in whatever guise is not just a silly ideology; it’s an impossible ideology. It violates the principle of ex nihilo nihil fit (nothing comes from nothing). You cannot draw more energy out of a system than you put into it. Socialism whispers sweet nothings into the ears of the dullards, but reality speaks more bluntly: “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” And reality always wins. Always.

ObamaCare's inaugural week wasn't exactly the success that Democrats hoped for. In fact, it was pretty much exactly the kind of fiasco that we Doubting Thomases have been predicting it would be ever since this abomination of a law was passed. But it's important to remember that the IT infrastructure of ObamaCare is the least of its problems. IT problems can be fixed, given time and money. But this law's basic design is so horrible that no amount of IT wizardry can make it work. The lousy rollout of ObamaCare is testament to the government's essential inability to execute on large, complex projects like this, to be sure; but it's also a vanguard of the larger problems yet to come. more...

Posted by: Monty at 04:17 AM | Comments (231)
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What they say is that the golf course is paid for by private funds.

But the WWII Memorial was paid for by private funds. They claimed that the need to protect federal lands required barrycading it nevertheless.

And some private home owners leased government land on Lake Mead. These are private homes. Therefore paid for by private funds. The only connection to the government was that they pay the government for their lease.

They've been forced out of their homes. And yet Barry golfs.

Oh, and he's also trying to block people from pulling to the side of the road to view Mount Rushmore.

No, really.

Posted by: Ace at 08:37 AM | Comments (529)
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