Brian Beutler has the backstory on how Republican senators became so afraid of their own shadows that they bailed last night on the spending bill a year in the making. Along the way, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was feeding their fears and offering them a way out in order to deny Democrats the votes.

David Kurtz

David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.