Shut Down Watch: 1 Day Out

Per the WaPo:

“Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday morning that the talks on a fiscal 2011 budget deal foundered over two Republican policy provisions on abortion and the environment and that the negotiators largely agreed to an amount of spending cuts. But House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) disputed that, saying there was ‘no agreement on a number’ and that the disagreements were not limited to a couple of policy provisions known as ‘riders.'”

If Reid’s claim — namely, that negotiations are indeed hung-up on environmental and abortion policy riders — reflects reality, then the Repulicans, especially Mr. Boehner, messed up. These are not Tea Party issues. If Reid is right, Boehner could have avoided this, and will almost surely end up shouldering a good deal of the blame… If the GOP can force their hand, keep this shut down from happening and draw some additional concessions from the Dems, Boehner will be a Republican god. If not — and if not looks likely — he’s going to take a lot of avoidable heat over this… only time (and not a lot of it) will tell…