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President Obama abruptly walks out of talks — President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of a stormy debt-limit meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, a dramatic setback to the already shaky negotiations, according to GOP sources. — “He shoved back and said 'I'll see you tomorrow' and walked out …
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Politics, Outside the Beltway, James Pethokoukis, White House Dossier, And So it Goes in Shreveport, National Review, Michelle Malkin, Raw Replay, The Raw Story, Reuters, The Lonely Conservative, Nice Deb, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, Doug Ross, Pajamas Media, Confederate Yankee, Firedoglake, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Pirate's Cove, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Pundit and The Page
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Obama warns Cantor: 'Don't call my bluff' in debt-ceiling talks — Republicans said tense negotiations over raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit at the White House ended when President Obama stormed out of the meeting with a stern warning to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.): “Don't call my bluff.”

Obama: ‘This May Bring My Presidency Down, but I Will Not Yield’ on No Short-Term Extensions — ABC News' Jake Tapper and Ann Compton report: — It was, sources from both parties say, the most tense of the deficit reduction meetings yet. — After a period of what was described …
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Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Bloomberg, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, The Note, Erick's blog, Verum Serum and Front Row Washington


Top Democrats laud GOP debt-limit move; Fed chief warns of ‘calamity’ if U.S. defaults — Democratic congressional leaders responded positively Wednesday to a top Republican's “backup plan” for raising the federal debt ceiling amid a new warning from the nation's central banker that failure …

Obama Warns Cantor 'Don't Call My Bluff' As Debt Talks Stall … WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and the White House had what nearly every party is describing as a “tough” and “testy” meeting on the debt ceiling Wednesday afternoon, culminating in a stormy exchange between President Obama and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).


Raters Put U.S. on Notice — Moody's, S&P Sound Alarms on Debt; President Obama Walks Out of Talks — Credit rating agencies moved closer to an unprecedented downgrade of the U.S. government's debt amid deteriorating talks in Washington, with President Barack Obama abruptly walking …
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The Politico, The Caucus, Boston Globe, New York Magazine and The Page

Obama ends tense debt talks with a warning
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Washington Post, New York Post, Guardian and Opinion L.A.

Debt talks blow up
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CNN, Swampland, Economist's View and nation.foxnews.com

Graham: GOP has no one ‘to blame but ourselves’ — South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham conceded Wednesday that he and his fellow Republicans are now eating their own words as they try to convince the country they are working to stave off a federal default. — “Our problem is we made a big deal about this for three months.
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Balloon Juice
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McCaskill: GOP looks like ‘hot, sloppy mess’ — Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) slammed Republicans, claiming their internal divisions were impeding the ongoing debt-ceiling negotiations. — “I don't know what [House Speaker John] Boehner (R-Ohio) has going on in his caucus,” she said on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Thursday.
Discussion:
The Note, Reuters, Washington Examiner and Weasel Zippers

Debt Ceiling Stalemate Not About Numbers — There is an old joke, attributed to both Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw. It goes something like this: — Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for 5 million pounds? — Woman: My goodness, Mr. Churchill ... Well, I suppose …


G.O.P.'s No-Tax Stance Is Outside Political Mainstream — The back-and-forth of the debt limit negotiations can be perplexing. But the facts driving the debate are quite straightforward. Any deal, or any workaround to a deal, will need to be approved by a majority of the House of Representatives.
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, msnbc.com, The New Republic, Washington Post, Associated Press, Gallup, Washington Monthly and ThinkProgress

Sen. Graham: Republicans Should Accept Tax Revenue Increase
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msnbc.com, ThinkProgress, TPMDC, New York Magazine and The Note

Tensions Escalate as Stakes Grow in Fiscal Clash
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Washington Post, CBS News, Reuters, The Politico, Balkinization, The Note, Daily Kos, Riehl World View and Balloon Juice


Bush trumps Barack in the Arab world: President Obama is proving an embarrassing flop in the Middle East — Today's eye-opening Zogby poll for the Arab American Institute Foundation should be a wake-up call to the White House on its failing foreign policy. After two and a half years of bashing Israel …
Discussion:
americanthinker.com, Scared Monkeys and The Western Experience
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Obama's Popularity in Arab World Now Lower than Bush's
Discussion:
BLACKFIVE, Hot Air, The Western Experience, The Gateway Pundit and Pajamas Media

Ron Paul ads hitting airwaves in Iowa, N.H. — Ron Paul is hitting the airwaves for the first time in Iowa and New Hampshire with a spot that warns ominously against raising the federal debt limit, POLITICO has learned. — The 60-second spot, made with all the flare of a Hollywood movie preview …
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The Atlantic Online, The Note, The Hill, msnbc.com, GOP 12, Ben Smith's Blog and Hotline On Call
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Bernanke Fights Ron Paul In Congress: Gold Isn't Money
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New York Sun and ProfessorBainbridge.com


Moody's moves one step closer to downgrading U.S. debt — Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday it has put the U.S. government's top-notch credit rating on review for a possible downgrade because of the risk that Washington will not raise the federal debt ceiling in time to avoid a default.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Erick's blog
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Debt ceiling: Moody's puts U.S. on notice
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Washington Post, CNN, americanthinker.com, The Note, Outside the Beltway and Reuters

Moody's Places U.S. on Review for Downgrade As Debt Talks Stall
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The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Politics, The Lonely Conservative and Pajamas Media


Religious right rushes to Bachmann's defense following ‘ex-gay’ reports — Several religious right groups — including those listed as anti-gay hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center — rushed to Michele Bachmann's defense following reports that she and her husband Marcus' Christian …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake, NOM Blog, Truth Wins Out, Holy Bullies … and The Brody File
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15 Minutes of Franken — Last month, when The Advocate reached …
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Weasel Zippers, Breaking news and opinion … and ThinkProgress


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:
The Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Dish, New York Magazine, TigerHawk, TPMDC and Right Wing News

3rd straight Iowa poll has Bachmann at top — (CNN) - Call it a polling hat trick. For the third time this week, a survey of likely Iowa GOP caucus goers has Republican presidential candidate and Rep. Michele Bachmann at the top. — According to a new poll from Mason Dixon Polling and Research …
Discussion:
TPMDC


From Italy to the US, utopia vs reality — In the eurozone, the fiscal crisis is lapping on Italy's shores. In the US, the administration declares it will run out of funding early next month if the debt ceiling is not raised. Far fewer Europeans than Americans believe public sector defaults are beneficial.
Discussion:
Swampland and Paul Krugman
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The Bain of Mitt Romney's campaign — A company that laid off hundreds of employees. A federal “bailout” to rescue a failing bank. Mitt Romney, at the center of it all. — It's a story line from a tough Democratic ad that was teed up for use against Romney in his 1994 Senate campaign in Massachusetts.
Discussion:
GOP 12


Book Challenges Obama on Mother's Deathbed Fight — The White House on Wednesday declined to challenge an account in a new book that suggests that President Obama, in his campaign to overhaul American health care, mischaracterized a central anecdote about his mother's deathbed dispute with her insurance company.
Discussion:
The Politico, Althouse and Riehl World View