Top Items:
The Politico:
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 …
Discussion:
The Note, CNN, Questions and Observations, Wonkette, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, Shakesville, Outside the Beltway, James Pethokoukis, White House Dossier, Swampland, Politics, Michelle Malkin, Raw Replay, Reuters, National Review, Mediaite, And So it Goes in Shreveport, The Raw Story, The Lonely Conservative, No More Mister Nice Blog, Nice Deb, Doug Ross, Weasel Zippers, Weigel, Pajamas Media, Firedoglake, Confederate Yankee, Riehl World View, Pirate's Cove, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Daily Pundit, The Huffington Post, JammieWearingFool and The Page
RELATED:
The Hill:
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.”
Discussion:
New York Post, Bloomberg, The Politico, The Reaction, Daily Kos, Washington Wire, The Heritage Foundation, Althouse, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Patterico's Pontifications, Outside the Beltway, americanthinker.com, Pirate's Cove, GOP 12, Don Surber, The Right Scoop, The New Editor, Pundit & Pundette, Balloon Juice, Reuters and Washington Post
Political Punch:
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 …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Firedoglake, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, RedState, Hot Air, Verum Serum, Gallup, The Note, Front Row Washington and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Stuart Rothenberg / Roll Call:
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 …
Wall Street Journal:
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 …
Discussion:
Global Public Square, The Politico, National Review, Bloomberg, New York Magazine, The Page and The Lonely Conservative
Neil Irwin / Washington Post:
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 …
Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
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:
CNN, Reuters, Washington Examiner, Esquire, Weasel Zippers and New York Magazine
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Owns the Debt-Ceiling Fiasco
Obama Owns the Debt-Ceiling Fiasco
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Atlantic Online
Jay Newton-Small / Swampland:
Obama vs. Cantor: Tempers Flare As Debt Ceiling Negotiations Take a Dramatic Turn
Obama vs. Cantor: Tempers Flare As Debt Ceiling Negotiations Take a Dramatic Turn
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Bloomberg:
Moody's Downgrade Warning Pressures U.S. on Debt Deal
Moody's Downgrade Warning Pressures U.S. on Debt Deal
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Bloomberg, Open Congress, Wonkette and Pajamas Media
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
G.O.P.'s No-Tax Stance Is Outside Political Mainstream
G.O.P.'s No-Tax Stance Is Outside Political Mainstream
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Monthly, Paul Krugman, The Confluence, CBS News, Associated Press, Washington Post, msnbc.com, Reuters, Poll Watch Daily, Gallup, Balkinization, Daily Kos, New York Times and Hot Air
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Obama Still Wants To Cut A Terrible Deal
Obama Still Wants To Cut A Terrible Deal
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
BooMan / Booman Tribune:
Real Professional Kabuki Theater
Real Professional Kabuki Theater
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Liberty Street, The Mahablog and Economist's View
The Note:
Michele Bachmann Gains Momentum, Surges in Polls — ABC News' Jonathan Karl and Amy Bingham report: — Michele Bachmann is proving to be a force to be reckoned with as she picks up momentum in early caucus states and surges in the polls. — A national Quinnipac University poll released …
Discussion:
The Politico, The Moderate Voice and CNN
RELATED:
Andy Birkey / Minnesota Independent:
Religious right rushes to Bachmann's defense following ‘ex-gay’ reports
Religious right rushes to Bachmann's defense following ‘ex-gay’ reports
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Connecting.the.Dots, Right Wing Watch, NOM Blog, Firedoglake, Truth Wins Out, The Brody File, Holy Bullies … and Speakeasy
Andrew Harmon / Advocate:
15 Minutes of Franken — Last month, when The Advocate reached …
15 Minutes of Franken — Last month, when The Advocate reached …
Discussion:
The Hill, Equality Matters, Weasel Zippers, Breaking news and opinion … and ThinkProgress
Dan Hirschhorn / The Politico:
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 …
Discussion:
CNN, The Atlantic Online, The Note, The American Independent, The Hill, msnbc.com, Ben Smith's Blog, GOP 12, National Review and Hotline On Call
RELATED:
Agustino Fontevecchia / Moral Hazard:
Bernanke Fights Ron Paul In Congress: Gold Isn't Money
Bernanke Fights Ron Paul In Congress: Gold Isn't Money
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, ProfessorBainbridge.com and New York Sun
Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Michele Bachmann's Weak Command Of Yiddish — The GOP continues its oft-troubled Jewish outreach efforts by having Michele Bachmann try and fail to pronounce “chutzpah.” — Meanwhile, her church says the Pope is the Antichrist, so she's sure to break out of the Evangelical bubble any day now.
RELATED:
Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:
Michele Bachmann's Church Says the Pope Is the Antichrist
Michele Bachmann's Church Says the Pope Is the Antichrist
Discussion:
National Review, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Dish, TPMDC, New York Magazine, TigerHawk and Right Wing News
Kevin Sack / New York Times:
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:
Althouse, The Politico, NO QUARTER, New York Magazine and Riehl World View
Bloomberg:
Reinhart and Rogoff: The Economy Can't Grow — As public debt in advanced countries reaches levels not seen since the end of World War II, there is considerable debate about the urgency of taming deficits with the aim of stabilizing and ultimately reducing debt as a percentage of gross domestic product.
Scott Wong / The Politico:
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.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Balloon Juice
Alexander Burns / The Politico:
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:
Ben Smith's Blog, GOP 12 and Daily Kos
Rasmussen Reports:
55% Oppose Tax Hike In Debt Ceiling Deal — As the Beltway politicians try to figure out how they will raise the debt ceiling and for how long, most voters oppose including tax hikes in the deal. — Just 34% think a tax hike should be included in any legislation to raise the debt ceiling.
Discussion:
The Politico, Outside the Beltway and Heritage Action for America
Michael W. McConnell / Wall Street Journal:
Budget Shell Games Are Contrary to Law — Congressional rules require public proposals and specific numbers that can be openly debated. — After sending up a budget in February that would only add to government spending and deficits, President Obama has now come around to the view that …
Discussion:
Betsy's Page and The Volokh Conspiracy
Thom Shanker / New York Times:
To Track Militants, U.S. Has System That Never Forgets a Face — WASHINGTON — When the Taliban dug an elaborate tunnel system beneath the largest prison in southern Afghanistan this spring, they set off a scramble to catch the 475 inmates who escaped. — One thing made it easier.
Discussion:
Battleland, ThinkProgress and thomaspmbarnett.com
Jess Bravin / Wall Street Journal:
A Gun Activist Takes Aim at U.S. Regulatory Power — MISSOULA, Mont.—With a homemade .22-caliber rifle he calls the Montana Buckaroo, Gary Marbut dreams of taking down the federal regulatory state. — He's not planning to fire his gun. Instead, he wants to sell it …
Peter Orszag / Bloomberg:
About Peter R Orszag — Hard Slog — the Real Future of the U.S. Economy: Peter Orszag — The continuing weakness in the labor market and the saga of the debt limit highlight the dual problems we face: low economic growth right now and an unsustainable amount of debt for the future.
Discussion:
Politics, Via Meadia and Daily Pundit
Wayne Cole / Reuters:
Dollar in full retreat, NZD storms 30-year peak — (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was on the run in Asia on Thursday after a ratings warning from Moody's and a hint of further policy easing from the Federal Reserve unleashed a wave of panic selling, much to the relief of the hard-pressed euro.
Discussion:
Hot Air and americanthinker.com
New York Post:
The comedian-in-chief — Here's a joke for you: President Obama nearly bankrupts the country with his out-of-control deficit spending — then demands responsible fiscal leadership from the Republicans. — OK, this is no time for humor: The country faces a deadline of Aug. 2 to either raise …
Discussion:
National Review
New York Times:
Cuomo Says Curbing Public Pension Benefits Will Be His Top Goal in '12 — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, basking in the afterglow of a legislative session that he described as “unusually successful,” said Wednesday that his top priority next year would be limiting retirement benefits for new state and city workers.
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, PolitickerNY and Verum Serum
blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
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 …
TMZ.com:
Donald Rumsfeld — Is That a Gun In Your Pocket? — No one is immune to the probing hands of the TSA ... including former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ... who got the pat-down at Chicago's O'Hare airport this afternoon ... and TMZ has the pics. — Sources at the airport tell TMZ …
Discussion:
Breaking news and opinion …
Michael J. Totten / Pajamas Media:
Hanging with the Muslim Brotherhood — I just met with a high-ranking member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo while large ongoing demonstrations against Egypt's ruling military junta continue 24 hours a day in Tahrir Square downtown. Every political party in the country is at that square right now except the Muslim Brotherhood.
Discussion:
Samizdata.net and Israel Matzav