GOP Rep. Peter King: Cantor Loss May Spur Another Shutdown Stunt

From the clip:

"What Ted Cruz did last year was suicidal," King said, alluding to the Cruz-engineered government shutdown that cost the GOP mightily in the polls last October. "I hope that doesn't become party policy. So we can't allow Eric's defeat last night allow the Ted Cruzes and Rand Pauls to take over the party, or their disciples to take over the party. Because this is not conservative to me. Shutting down the government down is not conservative."

Lou Dobbs Vs Rep. Louie Gohmert

We don't often see a Fox anchor going after a GOP rep this way.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) was just one of 199 Republicans who voted against raising the debt ceiling yesterday, in open defiance of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). But when Gohmert appeared on Fox Business Network with Lou Dobbs, he received what seemed like 100% of the blame for what the host called pure “political theater” by the ultra-conservative wing of the GOP. “How in the world do you expect the Republican Party to not find itself in the same strategic blind and bind that it was in last year when you guys shut down the federal government?” Dobbs demanded of Gohmert. “There comes a time where there just has to be some pragmatism. Go out an win an election, get 400 members, get 100 senators, get a presidency.”

Lonegan: I Lost Because Of The Shutdown

"There is no doubt in my mind or in the minds of any of my campaign staff that the shutdown cost me the election. If I had known it was going to happen and that it was going to be handled so badly in Washington, I wouldn't have run for the Senate. Republicans had a chance to win a U.S. Senate seat and in the process send a powerful message to Obama and instead they shut down government with no message and no game plan. I was probably the single biggest casualty of their mistake." - 2013 Rand Paul Toupee Olympics bronze medalist Steve Lonegan, speaking to the Newark Star-Ledger.

Headline Of The Day

Details.

God Spoke Through House Stenographer

"She shared with me when she actually stepped up to the podium that she didn't know what she was going to say; that those words that came out were what she prayed 'Lord, I'm your vessel, you speak through me.' So her belief is, and my belief is, is that those words came from God. It's not He coached her, she memorized the words or anything like that. In fact, afterwards, I don't think she even remembered what she said. She was like, 'I was just the vessel that God was speaking through and it wasn't for me to know what I said, it was for who was hearing it.' She was prepared for it and she gave it and as a scribe does. They're all about words and He gave her the words and she recorded the words or spoke the words and she feels her job is done." - Dan Reidy, husband of (presumably former) US House stenographer Dianne Reidy, speaking on End Times, the Christian radio show of crackpot Pastor Rick Wiles. (Via Right Wing Watch)

ABC Reporter To Ted Cruz: Do You Know How Much The GOP Despises You?

Mediate has the recap:

In an interview for This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jon Karl put a fine point on Cruz’s post-shutdown standing, then twisted it. Karl asked “How much do your colleagues just despise you right now on the floor?” Cruz replied, “There’s an old saying that ‘Politics, it ain’t beanbag.’ And, you know, I’m not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the US Senate, Given the choice between being reviled in Washington, DC, and appreciated in Texas, or reviled in Texas and appreciated in Washington, I would take the former 100 out of 100 times.”

Cruz also vowed to cause another shutdown: "I would do anything and I will continue to do anything I can to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare."

Rep. Alan Grayson: The Tea Party Is No More Popular Than The Klan

House Stenographer: The Holy Spirit Sent Me To Deliver A Message To America

"For the past 2 and 1/2 weeks, the Holy Spirit has been waking me up in the middle of the night and preparing me (through my reluctance and doubt) to deliver a message in the House Chamber. That is what I did last night." - US House stenographer Dianne Reidy, in an email to Fox News. Her husband adds: "My wife is a sweet, level-headed wonderful woman of God. I am proud of her."

Yes, Michelle

Even shorter Obama: Suh-NAP!

Deficit Comparison

The debt ceiling kerfuffle has prompted the BBC to post several economic comparison charts.

Taken out of context, the numbers are staggering. The US has a total debt pile of almost $17 trillion (£10.6 trillion), which is expected to rise to almost $23tn in the next five years. Japan is not far behind, with current debts totalling $11.5tn. By any standards, these are big, big numbers. But context is needed - after all, debt is not necessarily a problem if you have the income to cover it. That is why the two most common measures used to gauge a nation's indebtedness are: total debt, as expressed as a percentage of total economic output (GDP), and budget deficit, the amount by which a government's expenses exceed its income, expressed as a percentage of GDP.

Open Thread Thursday

Tell us about your Congress critters. Do you ever reach out to them? Do they ever personally respond?

Maddow: The GOP Got Exactly Nothing

Josh Feldman recaps:

Maddow explained how “the Republicans thought for sure the Democrats would cave” on Obamacare, and the fact that they didn’t threw them for a loop and so they had “no idea what to do next.” She went down the list of all their “weird, specific demands” about Obamacare and a list of other issues, from birth control to Paul Ryan‘s tax code on their “constantly-changing list of demands.” And “of their entire list,” Maddow said, “they are going to get nothing. Nothing.” She added, “It may be true that nobody won, but someone definitely lost here.”

Definitely worth watching.

The Senate GOP Default List

Plus 144 GOP members of the House. Source.

Crazy Eyes On Fox News: President Obama Got 100% Of What He Wanted

The Shutdown Is Over

The Senate vote was 81-18.

Sarah Palin Has The Shutdown Sadz

Teabagistan Has The Shutdown Sadz

Web Graphic Of The Day

Via Democratic Underground. (Tipped by JMG reader Larson)

Ted Cruz Has The Shutdown Sadz

Rush Limbaugh Has The Shutdown Sadz

"I was trying to think earlier today if ever in my life I could remember any major political party being so irrelevant," Limbaugh said on his radio show. "I have never seen a major political party simply occupy placeholders, as the Republican party is doing. There may have been votes against this or that. But in terms of  a package of principled beliefs of opposition expressed daily by party leaders against what's happening in this country, there hasn't been." - Rush Limbaugh, speaking this afternoon on his radio show.