An interesting set of perspectives from a DC friend of mine and a regular contributor to The Daily Beast . . . Joe is a Tennessee Democrat who, among other things, has managed local, state and national races almost everywhere in the country. He’s also a farmer, used to run a Nashville construction company and can drink bourbon with the best of ’em (not to mention, he’s a pretty decent all-around guy).

The below link is to a piece that Joe penned for today’s Beast arguing that the fate of both a potential national debt default and the government shutdown rests squarely in the hands of Speaker Boehner and his Republican colleagues. As I noted, Joe is 100% a Democrat (albeit a Southern Democrat) so clearly we don’t always see eye-to-eye politically. Nevertheless, I did find his discussion about the importance of Wall Street Republicans here particularly interesting and, without doubt, I always value listening to competing points of view.

Just a reminder: Opinions expressed in this section of the website are solely those of the authors… Lots more contributions on the way.

[To Be Or Not To Be . . . A Loser: John Boehner’s Hamlet Moment,” The Daily Beast, October 4, 2013]