US Shutdown Day 9 Ground Control to Major John

Boehner is holding his line, no negotiations, no vote.  The Republicans are still getting bashed worse than Democrats while both are held to be less preferable than Obamacare itself.  Rand Paul is holding forth with the Kool Aid induced notion that even if the debt limit isn't extended, the Government doesn't need to default on debt, just pay the principle and interest and not "lower priority items", presumably wages for federal workers.  Thanks Mr Paul for those pearls of wisdom.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and others have argued that the U.S. could still pay interest on its debt, even if the limit isn’t raised, by using existing revenue. The U.S. would still miss payments on lower priority items, but Paul says that action would avoid a technical default and wouldn’t roil the markets.

Most economists argue that not raising the debt ceiling would create havoc and possibly plunge the U.S. into a deep and unnecessary recession.

Sixty-two percent of respondents in the poll said Republicans in Congress bear “almost all responsibility” for the shutdown. Only 49 percent said the same about President Obama and Democrats in Congress.

It’s the latest in a string of polls to show the public is blaming Republicans for dysfunction in Washington more than Democrats.

Politicians on both sides are seeing their approval ratings plummet. Fifty-three percent said they disapprove of the job Obama is doing, against only 37 who said they approve. Congress’s approval rating sits at a dismal 5 percent.

The AP-GfK poll of 1,227 people was conducted between Oct. 3 and Oct. 7 and has a 3.4-percentage-point margin of error.