Cenk Uygur hosting form YouTube Space LA. President Obama completes a victory lap in the wake of his big win over the government shutdown debacle. He tells the GOP to “go out and win an election” if they want to affect policy. What he says next in his address at the White House is a bit concerning. He alludes to stifling dissent in the blogosphere and elsewhere preceding the “grand bargain” coming up on the horizon. Senator Marco Rubio and President Obama seem to both agree that medicare and social security need to be cut as part of a “grand bargain” on budgetary matters. The Tea Party wing of the GOP and establishment Republicans have been at each others’ throats and try to assign blame over the political defeat following the government shutdown. With government funding extended to mid-January, Republicans are now planning the next shut down after some strategic messaging and funding from conservative PACs. Senator Ted Cruz does not seem to have learned his lesson after the shutdown circus, but for personal political reasons. Polling among Tea Party members show a gain in popularity for Cruz, and those will be the conservative base voters he will need to win the Republican Presidential primary race. Post-shutdown polling of the Tea Party also show losses in popularity for Cruz’s presumed opposition. Senator Cruz may be reckless and selfish, but he might not be as dumb as once thought.

Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform and arguably the most powerful lobby for monied interests in DC, has some choice words for Tea Party Republicans who adopt comparisons of Hitler and Obama. Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho plays media victim, but contradicts his recorded statements while doing so. Michael Kinsley literally advised President Obama to give in during the government shutdown. Following his advice would have cost Democrats the eventual unilateral victory. Former Senator from Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, lost her office over criticism for being a corporate shill. Since leaving office, that criticism has been confirmed many times over. She is and has been a lobbyist for multinational corporations including Monsanto and Walmart. Believe it or not, there is a lobby for lobbyists (American League of Lobbyists) and they are considering changing their name due to unpopularity. According to recent polling, government dysfunction is now considered to be the country’s number one problem. Money in politics has left the government broken. There has never been a better time to visit Wolf-PAC.com.

A stenographer goes apeshit on the House floor and starts spouting religious nonsense. Steve Doocy of Fox & Friends reads emails defending the stenographer saying she should not have been psychologically evaluated following the nervous breakdown and that the roles should have been reversed. There may be some hope for straightforward peace talks with Iran over their nuclear aspirations as they start to open up with a new administration in power. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making things more difficult in the peace process than they need to be. Despite the obstacles, a satisfactory resolution looks promising.