Top Items:
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
When there's no method to the madness — The New York Times' Ross Douthat argued this week that the congressional Republicans' debt-ceiling hostage strategy only seems crazy. … There's a fair amount to Douthat's pitch, but to summarize, GOP officials are really just shrewd negotiators, pushing for the best possible deal.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News
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Scott Wong / The Politico:
Harry Reid commends Mitch McConnell's debt plan — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday praised Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for putting forth a plan to raise the debt ceiling, calling it a “serious proposal” that he's continuing to study. — “He spent a great deal of time working on this.
Discussion:
CNN, New York Times, Ross Douthat, UNCOVERAGE.net, NewsBusters.org, Weasel Zippers, The Note, Politics, The Other McCain and The Gateway Pundit
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
As Easy as ABC — Moving on from Mitch McConnell.
As Easy as ABC — Moving on from Mitch McConnell.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, RedState and The Hill
Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
DNC chairwoman: Republicans acting almost like ‘spoiled children’ on debt ceiling
DNC chairwoman: Republicans acting almost like ‘spoiled children’ on debt ceiling
Discussion:
Mediaite and Jack & Jill Politics
Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
McConnell Warns of Risk to Party, and Country, of Default
McConnell Warns of Risk to Party, and Country, of Default
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Business community to Congress: Enough
Business community to Congress: Enough
Discussion:
Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Caucus, The Huffington Post, Swampland and Connecting.the.Dots
Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
McConnell: GOP won't take ‘co-ownership of a bad economy’
McConnell: GOP won't take ‘co-ownership of a bad economy’
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
The Republican Crazy Is Not An Act
The Republican Crazy Is Not An Act
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Monthly, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Balloon Juice
The Politico:
No yelling at Obama today — Carney reminded journalists, “I used to be where you are, and I used to ask questions.” — AP Photo — A long-running tiff between the White House press corps and the West Wing over presidential access flared anew today when press secretary Jay Carney faced off …
Discussion:
The Camp Of The Saints, Weasel Zippers and Say Anything
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The Note:
Boehner: Dealing With the White House ‘Has Been Like Dealing With Jell-o’ — In a meeting with a small group of reporters in his Capitol Hill office this morning, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, criticized President Obama and White House officials for their lack of resolve in negotiations.
Discussion:
CNN, The Hill, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine, Pirate's Cove, Politics, The Hill and Washington Monthly
Eric Roper / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
One by one, bars get tapped out — Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes — a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown. — In the days leading up to the shutdown …
Discussion:
Fox News, KSTP-TV, Reuters, Gawker, Wonkette, REPUBLICAN REDEFINED, Hit & Run, MyFox Philadelphia, Politics, Raw Replay, The Impolitic, Ben Smith's Blog, Say Anything and Marginal Revolution
RELATED:
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Now It's Getting Serious! — Mark Dayton's shutdown of Minnesota's state government is now in its third week, and so far I've seen no sign of it. I mean that literally: if I hadn't read about the shutdown in the newspapers, I would have no reason to be aware of it.
Discussion:
Say Anything
Eric Roper Updated / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Shutdown forces MillerCoors to pull beer from shelves
Shutdown forces MillerCoors to pull beer from shelves
Discussion:
The Consumerist
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
On Deficit, Americans Prefer Spending Cuts; Open to Tax Hikes — Twenty percent favor deficit reduction by cutting spending only — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' preferences for deficit reduction clearly favor spending cuts to tax increases, but most Americans favor a mix of the two approaches.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Hot Air, Politics and Top of the Ticket
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Debt-Limit Harakiri — Mitch McConnell isn't selling out Republicans.
Debt-Limit Harakiri — Mitch McConnell isn't selling out Republicans.
Discussion:
The Politico, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, msnbc.com, Don Surber, TPMDC, Democracy in America, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Politics, Wonkette, Erick's blog, National Review, CNN, The Daily Caller, Hit & Run, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, TalkLeft, And So it Goes in Shreveport, americanthinker.com, Betsy's Page, Daily Kos, Shakesville, The Lonely Conservative, Talking Points Memo, Gallup and Roll Call
Clive Crook / The Atlantic Online:
Mitch McConnell's Good Idea
Mitch McConnell's Good Idea
Discussion:
The Politico, Grasping Reality … and iOwnTheWorld.com
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Mitch McConnell: We Must Rewrite The Constitution Because ‘Elections’ Haven't ‘Worked’ — Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) offered what may be the most concise summary of conservative constitutionalism ever spoken …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, ACS Blog, The Impolitic and Booman Tribune
Seung Min Kim / The Politico:
GOPer wants FBI probe of Rupert Murdoch — New York Republican Pete King is calling on the FBI to investigate whether Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation hacked into the voicemail accounts of Sept. 11 victims, calling the allegations of the scandal “disgraceful.”
Discussion:
Mediaite, Ben Smith's Blog, Swampland, iWatch News, Gothamist and Indecision Forever
RELATED:
BBC:
Austrian driver's religious headgear strains credulity — Having received his driving licence, Niko Alm now wants to get pastafarianism officially recognised — An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as “religious headgear”.
Discussion:
Lean Left, Weasel Zippers, Pharyngula, Boing Boing and Mediaite
Justin Elliott / Salon:
Rick Perry's Confederate past — Rick Perry made national headlines in 2009 when, during a speech to a Tea Party group, he floated the possibility that Texas could secede from the union. But the governor's substantive ties to the neo-Confederate movement may be deeper than previously known.
Discussion:
The Other McCain, ThinkProgress and Right Wing Watch
RELATED:
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
What's Rick Perry waiting for?
What's Rick Perry waiting for?
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh, Iowa Caucuses, Washington Post, CNN, GOP 12 and Right Wing Watch
Adam Serwer:
Arabs Not So Hot On Obama, U.S. — James Zogby's Arab American Institute has some bad news for the Obama administration regarding its outreach to the Muslim world, finding that the U.S.' approval is “ lower than at the end of the Bush Administration, and lower than Iran's favorable ratings.”
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org and Eunomia
RELATED:
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
US more unpopular in the Arab world than under Bush
US more unpopular in the Arab world than under Bush
Discussion:
Washington Post and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
New York Post:
Palin nemesis goes nude — GOP presidential hopeful Sarah Palin and her family are the subjects of a profile by George Gurley in the September issue of Playboy, according to sources. Insiders say the story will run next to a four-page nude pictorial of Mercede Johnston, the sister of Bristol Palin's estranged baby daddy, Levi.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Liberal Values, Outside the Beltway and New York Magazine
Mark Tapscott / Washington Examiner:
BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Washington gets $200 billion a month, Social Security costs $50 billion a month, and Obama is threatening to starve Grandma? — President Obama told CBS News today that he “cannot guarantee that those [Social Security] checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue.
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Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Can President Obama keep paying Social Security benefits even if the debt ceiling is reached?
Can President Obama keep paying Social Security benefits even if the debt ceiling is reached?
Discussion:
National Review, Don Surber and Politics
Tennessean.com:
Police charge mother in Nashville airport altercation — Woman refused to let officers screen daughter — A 41-year-old Clarksville woman was arrested after Nashville airport authorities say she was belligerent and verbally abusive to security officers, refusing for her daughter to be patted down at a security checkpoint.
Discussion:
LewRockwell.com Blog, National Review, Say Anything, The Raw Story and Hit & Run
Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
Pawlenty says no to marriage pledge — (CNN) - Add Tim Pawlenty to the list of Republican presidential candidates who will not sign the controversial marriage pledge from The Family Leader, a socially conservative group in Iowa. — The former Minnesota governor said he is a strong advocate …
Discussion:
The Politico and The American Independent
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Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Romney Campaign Slams ‘Undignified And Inappropriate’ Marriage Pledge From Iowa Group
Romney Campaign Slams ‘Undignified And Inappropriate’ Marriage Pledge From Iowa Group
Discussion:
Hot Air, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, ACS Blog, Daily Kos, Associated Press and Iowa Caucuses
William Galston / The New Republic:
What if the Right and the Left Are Both Wrong About Why the Economic Recovery Is So Slow? A New Theory. — Ever since it became clear that the pace of the economic recovery was falling short of expectations, two competing narratives have vied to dominate our politics.
Discussion:
Paul Krugman and Grasping Reality …
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Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Bill Galston Discovers The Balance Sheet Recession
Bill Galston Discovers The Balance Sheet Recession
Discussion:
The New Republic
NY Daily News:
Body of Leiby Kletzky, missing 8-year-old boy, found dismembered; pieces in Dumpster, refrigerator — The body parts of a missing 8-year-old Brooklyn boy were found Wednesday in a Dumpster and the refrigerator of a man suspected in his disappearance, police said.
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, Gothamist, New York Sun and Israel Matzav
Adam Serwer / Washington Post:
Laughably bogus poll tries to ‘prove’ Obama is losing Jewish support — Republicans are touting yet another poll that purports to predict the end of the Jewish allegiance to the Democratic Party. Citing a new poll by Republican John McLaughlin and Pat Caddell, the GOP's favorite “Democrat …
Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:
Michele Bachmann's Church Says the Pope is the Antichrist — The Iowa front-runner for the GOP nomination was a longstanding member of a strict Lutheran synod with controversial views of Catholicism — Michele Bachmann is practically synonymous with political controversy …
Discussion:
TPMDC
John Whitesides / Reuters:
Pessimism deepens as economic concerns rise: Reuters/Ipsos poll — (Reuters) - Americans are deeply pessimistic about the future as economic concerns rise and White House talks on raising the U.S. debt limit sputter, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The Politico, Indecision Forever, The Page and Associated Press
Eliot Spitzer / Slate Magazine:
Prosecute News Corp. — The U.S. government should go after Murdoch's media company for its corrupt practices and revoke its TV licenses if it's found guilty. — Bribery, illegal wiretapping, interference in a murder investigation, political blackmail, and rampant disregard for both the truth and basic decency.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, No More Mister Nice Blog and Guardian
JSOnline:
6 fake Democrats fall, setting stage for GOP recalls — Six fake Democratic candidates put up by the Republican Party to buy time for Republican state senators subject to recalls accomplished that job Tuesday, but none of them did the unexpected and knocked off a real Democrat.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, The Awl, AMERICAblog News, The Impolitic and Althouse
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
The Kenneth Gladney Charade Collapses — It took a St. Louis County jury less than 50 minutes to return a not guilty verdict in the assault trial featuring Kenneth Gladney and two union members who were charged with attacking him outside a two hall event during the tumultuous summer of 2009.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, St. Louis Activist Hub, Big Journalism and Daily RFT
Craig Pittman / St. Petersburg Times:
Tea party members tackle a new issue: manatees — Everybody knows what the tea party members oppose. High taxes. Big government. Obama's health care plan. High-speed rail. — Now, for at least some local tea party members, there's one more to add: manatee protection.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, ThinkProgress, Gawker and Wonkette