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This is a GabFest Extra, day 9 of the 2013 government shutdown.

It's Wednesday, October 9th.

I'm Slate's editor David Plotz.

I am in our very steamy DC studio, and I'm joined in the studio by Slate's political reporter slash blogger Dave Weigel of our Weigel blog.

Dave inaugurated the GabFest extras a week ago. It seems like an eternity ago.

I did. Everything's gone downhill since then, America and the Gab Fest, but I'm back.

Well, it's good to have you here, and it's a good day to have you here because there is actually news in the shutdown standoff.

There appears to be movement, particularly on the Republican side.

House budget chair, Paul Ryan, wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed that is full of Obama bashing, of course, but it does seem to

signal a change in GOP strategy. It suggests that a deal can be crafted, which takes on longer-term

entitlement and tax reform. Ryan does not mention defunding Obamacare or delaying Obamacare.

And we'll talk in a minute about how the rest of the Republican Party feels about that. Also, the GOP seems to be getting

pressure from normally friendly business groups like the National Retail Federation, the U.S.

Chamber of Commerce, which are now openly calling for quick resolution to the shutdown and

debt-sealing crises. And at the same time,

the GOP appears to have record disapproval ratings. It's a new low in favorability ratings.

Democrats are not so beloved either, but only 28% of Americans have a favorable view of the

Republican Party right now. In other minor news, Coke Industries,

which is the David and Charles Koch-owned gigantic conglomerate, issued a statement today

...