Washington Post:
There is a growing rift between tea party supporters and the rest of the Republican Party, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center.
The poll shows moderate Republicans' views of the tea party have dropped from 46 percent favorable in June to 27 percent favorable today -- a 19-point decline in just four months time.
Washington Post:
Senate plan avoids any major changes to the Affordable Care Act, a major victory for Democrats.
New York Times:
Congressional Republicans conceded defeat Wednesday in their bitter budget fight with President Obama over the new health care law, agreeing to end a disruptive 16-day government shutdown and extend federal borrowing power to avert a financial default with potential worldwide economic repercussions.
Washington Post:
It was over. They lost.
On Wednesday, those two ugly facts began to sink in among the House’s hard-core conservatives. For nearly three years, they had effectively led the House itself — drawing their power from the intimidating sense that they were capable of anything. They often compared themselves to William Wallace, the Scottish rebel who (at least in the movies) succeeded because he refused to compromise.
But then — just like in the movies — Braveheart died.
More politics and policy below the fold.
Pew:
The decline in favorable views of the Tea Party over the past four months crosses party lines – Republicans, independents and Democrats all offer more negative assessments today than in June.
Chris Cillizza likes a different movie:
Batman Begins:
Considering where the party finds itself, the idea that forcing it into a reckoning — to deal with the schism between the establishment and the tea party wings once and for all and as soon as possible — is one that has real appeal to a certain segment of the professional political class. These people worry that if the nadir isn’t reached soon, it might not happen until after the 2016 presidential election.
The problem with the “Gotham Theory”? One man’s low point is another man’s high point. (See Cruz, Ted.) As in, there is a real chunk of Republicans — both in and out of Congress — who view the events of the last few weeks as a step in the right direction, not the wrong one.
WaPo:
House Speaker John A. Boehner lost the shutdown showdown in ignominious fashion, winning not a single concession of any value from Democrats and exposing his majority as powerless to advance conservative causes.
By the way,
Nancy Pelosi delivered every Democrat that voted. Republicans voted 87-144.
CORRECTION:
Nancy Pelosi controls 198 votes in the House
John Boehner controls 87.
Ted Cruz controls 144.
— @imillhiser
NY Times:
Republicans could have used the problem-plagued rollout of the health law as an argument against it, but instead their campaign to strip it of its funding has left their party in disarray.
Greg Sargent:
It’s easy to make fun of GOP Rep. Peter King, but he was one of the few to call out GOP insanity from the inside early in this process. Now, in an interesting and entertaining interview with Capital New York, he’s calling for Republicans to wage war on Ted Cruz. King predicts the Texas Senator will try do this all again in a few months, and crucially, he points out that it’s on the non-crazy Republicans to prevent this from happening: