Who's winning?

Republican extremism in the US House is driving a wedge between Tea Party Whackadoodles and big business groups, according to the New York Times. Meanwhile, Nicholas Kristoff calls out the "gang of 40" here.

It looks like the shutdown/hostage crisis isn't gaining Republicans too many popularity points, as another poll suggests. AND the threats are causing consumer confidence to sink.

Talk about a goat rope. It's another example of government by artificial crisis of the kind we've been seeing for the last couple years. Who knows how much damage will be done. It looks like the biggest losers will be the American people.