How to (Not) Negotiate

One side:

On the eighth day of the government shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that before re-opening the government, Democrats and Republicans should sit down for negotiations without any preconditions.

“The central argument is this: are we going to sit down and have a conversation, or aren’t we?” he told reporters. “There’s no boundaries here. There’s nothing on the table, nothing off the table.”

The other side:

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (BAY-nur) says President Barack Obama has called the speaker to say he still won’t negotiate on ending the partial government shutdown or raising the nation’s debt limit.

Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck says the call took place Tuesday morning.

Technically then, I guess there isn’t another side.