The Chicago Tribune has the story Government shutdown: White House rejects latest Republican offer. What I found particularly interesting was the part that said:

Before the huddle, Republican Representative Peter King, a New York moderate, estimated that more than 100 of the chamber’s 232 Republicans would back Obama’s demand to restore all government funding without conditions. That would be enough to easily pass the House with the support of the chamber’s 200 Democrats.

Asked why the moderates don’t demand a vote, King said: “I guess that they are waiting for the right time.”

This kind of arithmetic is what led to my previous post How The Government Shutdown Ends. If Nancy Pelosi could convey to the moderate Republicans that she and the Democratic caucus would support the efforts of the moderate Republicans, we might be able to get a solution.  Perhaps the moderates are really waiting for some assurance from Nancy Pelosi.

Why doesn’t some enterprising reporter ask Nancy Pelosi how she feels about the idea?

There is another possibility that explains what the moderate Republicans are waiting for.  The damage this shutdown is doing to the Republican party might be considered to be similar to chemo therapy for cancer.  It makes you sick as hell for a while, but it may kill the cancer before it kills you.  In this case the cancer that needs to be killed off is the Tea Party wing of the party.  (Kill off in stopping them from getting re-elected, not in any other sense.)