White House Meeting on Shutdown Yields ... Zilch

The sure sign that this evening's meeting of congressional leaders and President Obama at the White House didn't amount to much: Afterward, John Boehner used the words "nice" and "polite" to describe the conversation, reports Politico. (He used identical language back in March to describe an unsuccessful discussion to ward off the sequester.) Boehner said the president "refuses to negotiate" and said he hoped that Democrats would "sit down and have a serious conversation about resolving these differences.”

But Harry Reid, who was also at the meeting, reiterated that no concessions would be made to delay or defund ObamaCare. "We're locked in tight" on that, he said. "This has never happened before that a political party would take us to the brink of disaster and say we’re not going to pay our bills,” he added, as quoted by the Washington Post. “The president said he will not stand for that.” Also in attendance were Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden. After all the talk, the AP sees "no signs of progress." Just before the meeting, Obama pronounced himself "exasperated." (More John Boehner stories.)