Free Republic

Washington stumbled toward a shutdown as the Republican Party’s rebellious right wing on Thursday blocked a strategy by House Speaker John A. Boehner for navigating a series of deadlines to keep the government funded and avoid a first-ever default.Boehner (R-Ohio) and his leadership team revealed the first step of that plan to rank-and-file lawmakers early Thursday, urging conservatives to shift their ­assault on President Obama’s health-care law to the coming fight over the federal debt limit. That would allow lawmakers in the meantime to try to reach an agreement on a plan to fund federal agencies into the new fiscal...

If asked, how might you describe Paul Ryan's role and level of involvement within the national conversation about Washington's budget process and the looming debt crisis?  If you were the Washington Post, you'd attempt to capture it with this surreal headline:    "Amid Debt Crisis, Paul Ryan Sat on Sidelines" Welcome to Bizarro World.  Of all the potential attacks on Paul Ryan "journalist" Lori Montgomery had at her disposal, she decided to run with the preposterous-on-its-face "he just sits in the corner and does nothing" angle.  Where to begin?  Keith Hennessey has an outstanding and comprehensive piece deconstructing Montgomery's, ahem, "reportage" over...