In the days leading up to the shutdown, few believed the government would actually shutdown. The conventional wisdom was that Boehner would quietly bring the Senate bill to the floor, probably late at night with no publicity. That didn't happen. Now, the CW is that Republicans may hold out for a few more days or weeks but that eventually, they'll succumb to pressure from their constituents and their corporate sponsors and pass a clean funding bill. So far, pundits have been wrong on this and I think it's because they still view Republicans as normal politicians and it is obvious to me that they are not. The party has been fully hijacked by ideologues who could care less about winning their next election and who's only purpose now is to ruin Obama's presidency by any mean possible. Why should we have any expectation that they'll give in ever? Boehner certainly has made his calculation that he has a better chance of keeping his job as Speaker by allowing the shutdown to happen. And I truly believe that he'd rather take his chance that the shutdown doesn't cost the GOP the majority in the House than risk a revolt by passing a clean CR with Democratic support. Plus, I think he wouldn't be all that upset if a bunch of these Tea Party "Patriots" were to loose their seats next year, they have made his life a living hell since 2010. I just don't see Republicans caving without at lease one concession from Obama and the Senate. It may end up being something fairly trivial compared to a complete defunding of the ACA but these guys will not give in without at least some form of cover. So where does it go from here? Unless Obama and the Senate give them cover, I can see this shutdown lasting through at least Thanksgiving, maybe even to the end of the year. Couple that with the debt ceiling and we could be looking at a really dangerous situation. I hope I'm wrong but so far there I just don't see anyway the GOP will cave in completely. Obama and the Senate? Hard to say but I think that Obama is in no mood to repeat his mistake of negotiating on the debt ceiling no matter what damage is done to the economy.