From Andrew Sullivan regarding a poll showing 41% of independents blame the GOP Congress for the gov't shutdown, while 33% blame Pres. Obama:

I’d find the narrow split among Independents unnerving, if I were the president. 33 percent blame the president for the shutdown and impasse? Given that he has already conceded sequester-level spending, and has cut the deficit in the last three years by the swiftest amount since the end of the Second World War, what else do they want him to do? If he were to abandon his signature domestic achievement after re-election, because of blackmail, we might as well give up on elections and representative government altogether.

I'm disappointed by those numbers but not overly surprised. We're not a smart people. We don't deserve what we've been given. We've been handed something on a platter, and we ask if we can have the platter, too.

Here's your talking point, also from Andrew Sullivan, if you run into one of the 33%:

What president has ever “negotiated” repealing a duly enacted law because one faction in one House has decided that it will shut down the government and destroy the US and global economy if he doesn’t? When has such a thing ever happened before? What are the Republicans offering in return? Nothing but the maintenance of basic government functions.

That's why it's blackmail, kids. That's why it's unprecedented. Figure it out, fuckers.