Senate shutdown scramble

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Politicians face choice: Run from shutdown or embrace it

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, weighs in

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Buzz Cut:
• Senate shutdown scramble
• Americans fed up, blame GOP
• Glitches could derail ObamaCare goals
• WaPo: McAuliffe dishonest, even for a politician
• It’s not a purse! It’s European!

SENATE SHUTDOWN SCRAMBLE - Senate Republicans head to the White House this morning in a bid to revive a short-term deal to raise the federal borrowing limit. Having closed the last three fiscal compromises, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will pitch the Senate strategy for lifting the credit cap and reopening the government as a gateway to broader budget talks. A House plan that would lift the debt limit but leave the government partially shuttered during further talks was met with pushback from the White House and from the Senate GOP. But markets and political strategists in both parties are breathing a bit easier now that full-fledged negotiations are underway.

[Republican public opinion think tank Resurgent Republic breaks down recent polling: “Obamacare remains a political albatross for Democrats, but a government shutdown has proven to be more toxic to voters.” ]

Bridge loan - Thursday’s meeting between House Republican leaders and President Obama didn’t result in a deal, but did show signs of progress on the fiscal impasse. Obama, forced Thursday to sign a House-passed bill restoring death benefits for military families, looks ready to accept a short-term deal that would act as a bridge to negotiations on a larger agreement. Senate Republicans are venting about the House proposal to skip the debt fight for now but keep the shutdown going. The Senate proposal for a larger deal would reportedly include a full-year of federal funding, a six-month debt-limit lift and minor changes to ObamaCare, including the end of a new tax on medical devices.

[Krauthammer: “[President Obama] insists he won't negotiate on the debt ceiling as a matter of principle. It's never been used as leverage for extraneous (i.e., non-budgetary) demands, he claims. Nonsense.”]

AMERICANS FED UP WITH SHUTDOWN, BLAME GOP - Republicans are taking it on the chin when it comes to the shutdown blame game in the new WSJ/NBC News poll. But both sides are taking heat and suffering greater public scorn than they did during the 1995 shutdown.

Who’s at fault? - Fifty-three percent of respondents said Republicans in Congress, 31 percent said President Obama, 13 percent blamed both sides equally.  In 1995: 44 percent blamed Republicans, 33 percent blamed President Bill Clinton, 18 percent said both sides.

Politics first? - The GOP suffers its most serious deficit on public views of the party’s motivations. Seventy percent of respondents said Republicans are putting their political agenda ahead of what’s good for the country, while 27 percent said the GOP is standing on principle.  For Obama, it’s a little better: 51 percent said the president is putting politics first, 46 percent said he’s standing on principle.  In 1995, the Big Dog did better: 51 percent said Clinton put the country first, 43 percent said he was playing politics.

Throw the bums out! - A whopping 60 percent of those polled say if they had the chance to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including their own representative, they would. Just 35 percent say they would not.

[Kimberly Strassel: “Republicans lately have had to face some tough political reality about ‘defund.’ The White House might want to embrace a little reality face time itself”]

Krauthammer: Where is Cruz now?- “Look, everybody was excited. It was a great filibuster, a wonderful speech. How exactly was [Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas] going to achieve abolition of ObamaCare? Explain that to me. Has he ever explained it? And where is he now?... Where are they? Where are the generals? What’s their strategy to get abolition of ObamaCare?... I'm all for charging the barricades, but you've got to show me a way to penetrate them. We’re simply sacrificing our troops.” – Charles Krauthammer talking to radio host Laura Ingraham. Listen, courtesy of Real Clear Politics.

[Listen to Fox: Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., appear in the 9 a.m. hour on “Kilmeade and Friends”]

Will truckers deliver? - “Truckers Ride for the Constitution,” a protest aimed at clogging the Capital Beltway around Washington had promised 3,000 drivers, but as the convoy started rolling this morning, just a few dozen big rigs had arrived. Virginia State Police are planning to deploy additional troopers Friday and throughout the weekend in case of any incidents or problems. Organizer Ernest Lee told Megyn Kelly, “…we hope to get the attention of the un-representing representatives in Washington.”

[Watch Fox: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., discusses the debt ceiling debate in the 10 a.m. ET hour]

Paycheck pain - WaPo: “The paycheck federal workers have been dreading hit bank accounts across the region Friday, representing salaries cut in half for most idled employees. The next payday will be all zeros…”

GLITCHES COULD DERAIL OBAMACARE GOALS - Experts said Thursday that glitches in ObamaCare’s website must be fixed by mid-November if the administration wants to reach its goal of enrolling millions of Americans in time for benefits under President Obama’s signature healthcare law, Reuters reports.

[Daily Mail reports that only 51,000 completed applications using ObamaCare’s health exchanges in the first week, attracting only 6,200 on its first day according to Health and Human Services sources.]

Rebuild eyed - WSJ: “Government officials are considering rebuilding some parts of the federally run health-insurance marketplace that have been identified as the key flaws that blocked many consumers from getting coverage… Much of the problem stems from a design element that requires users of the federal site, which serves 36 states, to create accounts before shopping for insurance, according to policy and technology experts.”

NOONAN: NOW IS THE TIME TO DELAY OBAMACARE - “Congressional Republicans and the White House may soon begin a series of conversations centering on the debt-ceiling fight. Good: May they turn into negotiations. Republicans are now talking about a grand bargain involving entitlement spending, perhaps tax issues. But they would make a mistake in dropping ObamaCare as an issue. A few weeks ago they mistakenly demanded defunding—a move to please their base. They will be tempted to abandon even the word ObamaCare now, but this is exactly when they should keep, as the center of their message and their intent, not defunding ObamaCare but delaying it.” More.

[You built it, now fess up - House Republicans are calling on contractors and staff of the Department of Health and Human Services to account for ObamaCare glitches.]

WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE...Marc Ambinder at The Week considers how successful Tea Party members have been in remaking the Republican Party in The Republican Revolution of 2013: “The Tea Party movement was empowered to force the Republican Party to get serious about its own pledges and promises about reducing government… Democrats will not be able to participate in the practice of governing until they understand that, to a large extent, their opponents have won.”

Got a TIP from the RIGHT or LEFT? Email FoxNewsFirst@FOXNEWS.COM

POLL CHECK - Real Clear Politics Averages
Obama Job Approval: Approve – 44.4  percent//Disapprove – 50.1 percent
Direction of Country: Right Direction – 18.5 percent//Wrong Track – 73.5 percent

FREQUENT WHITE HOUSE VISITS BY IRS SCANDAL FIGURE - Daily Caller: “Embattled IRS official Sarah Hall Ingram made 155 visits to the White House to meet with a top Obama White House official with whom she exchanged confidential taxpayer information over email. Of Ingram’s 165 White House meetings with White House staff, a staggering 155 of them were hosted by deputy assistant to the president for health policy Jeanne Lambrew, according to a June Watchdog.Org analysis of White House visitor records.”

#MediaBuzz -- Megastars - Megyn Kelly joins Howard Kurtz to discuss her new show “The Kelly File” and her career. Charles Krauthammer shares his thoughts about his off-the-record huddle this week with President Obama. Tune in Sunday 11 a.m. ET.

VALUES VOTERS AUDITION - Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rand Paul, R-Ky., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will address social conservatives today at the Value Voters Summit in Washington. Campaign Carl Cameron is following what will be said about the shutdown and debt ceiling and look ahead to 2016.

WAPO SAYS MCAULIFFE DISHONEST, EVEN FOR A POLITICIAN - Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe earned the coveted endorsement of former Gov. Doug Wilder, D-Va., Thursday, but also got a snoot full from the WaPo about his track record of dishonesty: “McAuliffe’s tendency to stretch the truth stands out even by the standards of politicians.”

[“This is a pattern for him” – Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli on “Fox & Friends” linking opponent Terry McAuliffe’s dishonesty to attacks ads targeting Cuccinelli on social issues.]

NRA CALLS OUT GRIMES ON GUNS - The National Rifle Association called Kentucky Democratic Senate hopeful’s Alison Lundergan Grimes claim of being a friend to gun-owners an “empty campaign promise,” in an e-mail to the Louisville-Telegraph Thursday. The NRA’s chief lobbyist, Chris Cox blasted Grimes for a scheduled Las Vegas fundraiser hosted by gun-control activist and trial lawyer Mike Papantonio, who has been critical of the NRA. Grimes’ spokeswoman Charly Norton refuted the charge in an email saying, “She …will always fight to protect Kentuckians’ right to bear arms. Anyone who suggests otherwise is simply playing politics.”

[LAT: The GOP is launching a $10 million effort to lure Latino voters]

CHILL WARNING - A report released Thursday by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found the U.S. government's aggressive prosecution of leaks and efforts to control information are having a chilling effect on journalists and government whistle-blowers.

GODSPEED, SCOTT CARPENTER - The second American to orbit the earth, Scott Carpenter, 88, died Thursday from complications of a September stroke. Carpenter was part of America’s first manned space program, Project Mercury. He also served as John Glenn’s backup when Glenn became the first American in orbit in February 1962, providing the memorable send-off, “Godspeed, John Glenn.” AP has more.

IT’S NOT A PURSE! IT’S EUROPEAN! -Quartz reports luxury lines have been “manning up” lately focusing on men’s accessories, with the “murse” becoming a boon for business: “The man-bag market in Asia has doubled since 2008, with murses in the Middle East growing by two-thirds over the same period. The global market for men’s luxury bags will reach just under $9 billion this year, according to Euromonitor.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…“The 81 percent [in a recent Gallup poll] who were unhappy with the way government is run -- We're now at Italian levels, which is quite scary.” – Charles Krauthammer on “Special Report with Bret Baier” Watch Here

Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here. To catch Chris live online daily at 11:30 a.m. ET, click here.