David Espo — Republicans Get Opposite In Stated Goals In Shutdown

Republicans insisted they wanted to shut down the nation's 3-year-old health care overhaul, not the government. They got the opposite, and now struggle to convince the public that responsibility for partial closure of the federal establishment lies with President Barack Obama and the Democrats.

There's ample evidence otherwise, beginning with Speaker John Boehner's refusal to permit the House to vote on Senate-passed legislation devoted solely to reopening the government.

The Huffington Post
Republicans Get Opposite In Stated Goals In Shutdown
David Espo | Chief Congressional Correspondent, The Associated Press

Caught between a rock and hard place. Without bring a clean bill to to the floor for an up or down vote, the GOP can get traction, and if they do permit a vote, the clean bill would pass and their bargaining chip on this issue would disappear. The longer they sit between the rock and hard place, the more the vice closes on them. Democrats order in more popcorn, as Harry Reid calls john Boehner a coward for not allowing an up or down vote on the clear bill that the Senate returned to the House and the GOP internal civil war intensifies with the extremists calling the shots.