It’s kind of a remarkable thing that the Gentleman from Benton — a relative short-timer in Washington first elected less than a decade ago — has not only lasted more than two years as U.S. House speaker, but has managed the longest government shutdown in history without losing his grip on power.

Give Mike Johnson this: His survival instincts are top-notch.

And it’s certainly possible to cast Johnson as one of the 43-day shutdown’s political winners. His strategy of forcing a nearly Republican Party-line vote on a short-term spending bill and then turning off the House’s lights, sending everyone home and refusing to negotiate with the Senate? Well, it worked. Eight Democratic caucus senators finally cried uncle last weekend and provided the margin needed to pass the bill in the upper ch

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