Republicans, Get This Over With

The Senate deal that should end the government shutdown and avoid a fiscal crisis isn't here a moment too soon for the Wall Street Journal. "Both sides are looking like losers," the paper's editors write in a scathing editorial today, but they heap most of their scorn on conservatives, who "undermined whatever small leverage the House GOP had left" yesterday. "Without a united majority of 218 votes, Republicans might as well hand the speaker's gavel to Harry Reid."

"This is the quality of thinking—or lack thereof—that has afflicted many GOP conservatives from the beginning of this budget shutdown," they write, saying they "picked a goal they couldn't achieve" and a method that was politically toxic. "Republicans can best help their cause now by getting this over with and moving on to fight more intelligently another day." Click for the full editorial.