Answer: The Post is not interested in conveying the truth about this conflict, because in this battle it is as much a political ally of Obama as Debbie Wasserman Schultz. But it is a more effective ally, since some still presume it is being truthful and objective.

Assume that today John Boehner came out and said at a press conference: “I have taken note of the Post’s concerns about an interruption of service at NIH and the FDA. I share those concerns. Therefore, at my direction, the House will vote this afternoon to fully fund both agencies.”

Anyone think the Washington Post would celebrate Boehner’s compassion and statesmanship the next morning?

Of course not. All this weeping and gnashing of teeth about the terrible consequences of a government shutdown is designed to whip up political animosity, direct it at House Republicans, and break John Boehner. Failing that, it is to foist upon the House Republicans full responsibility for a shutdown that the House has voted twice to avoid.

What this battle confirms is that, on major national issues that pit social and populist conservatives against Big Government liberals, the Beltway press corps invariably acts like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic National Committee.

More problematic, there is a slice of the Beltway right—the contributions bundlers and kennel-fed conservatives, the summer soldiers and sunshine patriots, the George McClellans—that prefers prancing, parading and posturing to the actual fighting.

With them the excuses are always the same. We can’t win. We have been beaten on this terrain before. The press will kill us. The White House has a microphone we can’t match. We will only hurt ourselves in the polls and throw away our great opportunity in the coming election. Besides, our corporate contributors don’t want this fight.

Some “conservatives” even cynically suggest that the GOP let Obamacare take effect, as it will prove such a disaster there will be a backlash against it in 2014—and from that we can benefit.

With Reid’s refusal to accept the House CR with the one-year suspension of Obamacare, a shutdown seems certain.

Every Republican should be out front, on TV, radio and in print this week with a simple message:

“We have twice voted to fund every agency and program of the U.S. government (save Obamacare) in a single CR. We will proceed now to pass CRs for each department and agency of the U.S. government, separately and individually.

“And if Harry Reid’s Senate refuses to pass a single one of those CRs, who then is shutting down NIH and the FDA?”