Now that Congress has passed and President Obama has signed a bill Thursday ending the 16-day partial government shutdown and raising the nation's debt limit, it’s a good time to take a breath and try and understand what the heck it was that really happened.
Here are five of the best reads from a spin around the internet about the government shutdown, Republican intransigence and where we are today.
Over at The Daily Beast, Michael Tomasky lets loose a primal scream of frustration and says whatever the temporary solution, it won’t be enough:
Today, we have a clavern of sociopaths who know nothing of honor, and we have no easy way to stop them. Except at the ballot box. Except that they’ve rigged that, too, with their House districts. They’ve rigged the whole game so that they light the match and then point at President Obama and shout: “Look! Fire!”
Molly Ball at the Atlantic realizes the Republicans essentially got nothing out of the spectacle:
The GOP will actually get less out of the final deal being brokered than the party would have gotten had House conservatives never staged their revolt on Obamacare. In fact, the drama is likely to end with Republicans ceding policy concessions to Democrats.
Dylan Scott at Talking Points Memo reports that it didn't really matter to House conservatives, since the defeat wasn’t really their fault to begin with:
Local
At a Wednesday briefing, a collection of House conservatives effectively called the attending reporters liars.
Conservative firebrand and anti-feminist Erick Erickson tries to take the long view for his side:
I am tired of funding Republicans who campaign against Obamacare then refuse to fight. It’s time to find a new batch of Republicans to actually practice what the current crop preaches.
Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan—for my money, the best true blogger out there today—gets to the heart of the what’s driving the Tea Party and, in turn, Republican opposition:
My rule of thumb is pretty simple: whenever you hear a quote about Obamacare, it’s more illuminating to remove the “care” part. And Obama is a symbol of change people cannot understand, are frightened by, and seek refuge from.
