CBS News Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes reports House Republican leaders feel strongly they can’t vote to fund the government without getting some kind of face-saving concession, and they believe they convinced Mr. Obama of that this evening. As one aide put it, “it was very clear that this clean debt limit was our coming halfway and now he needs to have a down payment as well.”

They need Democrats to give them something they can sell to their members and constituents as a win, Cordes points out. Otherwise they have little to show for a 10-day shutdown beyond a vague promise of debt talks to come.

One aide told Cordes it just needs to be a “fig leaf” — sort of a signal from the president that he is serious about debt reduction negotiations.

Oh, man, so much chum in the water. The Republicans are in such deep shit now and they know it:

“Now that we’ve jumped off the cliff, lit ourselves on fire, we’ve entered the valley of death,”

So now they’re looking for some kind of face saving fig leaf to show to their supporters. Only here’s the problem, no matter what pittance they’re offered at this point, nobody’s going to buy it as a win. Even rank and file Republicans, masters of self deception that they may be, are going to know how badly their leaders and representatives fucked over the brand. Hell, they’re here, in the press, openly admitting to begging like dogs.

The Tea Party is going to react like a rabid meth addicted weasel over any deal that doesn’t include crippling or destroying the ACA, and will target every remaining moderate Republican left for a primary challenge. Quite a few won’t stop there, so that by Fall 2014 we’ll probably see several “safe” Republican seats turned into three way races with an official Tea Party candidate going all the way to the general election.

I’d feel so much schadenfreude at this point if they hadn’t shut down the government and threatened to default on the US debt in this spiteful quest to prevent people like me from just having access to the individual healthcare market. Instead, all I feel is wrath. At this point there isn’t a single evil thing that could befall the Republican / Tea Party that would sadden me. I hope the entire movement burns so that something less mean, less bigoted, revanchist, short sighted and abjectly selfish can rise from the ashes and participate like adults in governing the country.