Top Items:
Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:
Go Ahead, GOP, Make Obama's Day — So how can the GOP get something it wants out of the sodden mess of our debt negotiations? Here's my answer: pass a short-term debt-ceiling increase. It seems pretty clear to me that there's no time or common ground for a grand bargain before August 2nd, so pass a short-term increase.
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Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:
GOP Senator: Maybe We Shouldn't Have Tied Debt Vote To Deficit Deal (VIDEO) … WASHINGTON — Some Republicans are starting to have buyer's remorse over their party's insistence that a vote to raise the debt limit be tied to a long-term deficit reduction package.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Wall Street Journal:
Plan B Emerges on Debt — Sens. Reid, McConnell Quietly Discuss Way to Keep Government From Default — A backup plan to cut the federal deficit and keep the U.S. government from default gained momentum Thursday on Capitol Hill as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders took a break …
Discussion:
CNN, The Politico, New York Magazine, New York Times, FrumForum and Outside the Beltway
Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
House GOP plans meeting to discuss faltering negotiations over debt deal
House GOP plans meeting to discuss faltering negotiations over debt deal
Discussion:
The Politico
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
The White House's case for a big deficit deal
The White House's case for a big deficit deal
Discussion:
The New Republic, The Reality-Based Community, Bloomberg, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo and AMERICAblog News
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Obama demands ‘concrete’ progress
Obama demands ‘concrete’ progress
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Washington Post and The Hill
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
“Republican Candidate” Extends Lead vs. Obama to 47% to 39% — Margin marks first statistically significant lead among registered voters — PRINCETON, NJ — Registered voters by a significant margin now say they are more likely to vote for the “Republican Party's candidate for president” …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots, Scared Monkeys, White House Dossier, Pajamas Media, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Paul Krugman, nation.foxnews.com, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, Nice Deb, Weasel Zippers, Poll Watch Daily, The Lonely Conservative, Indecision Forever, Shakesville, Outside the Beltway and The Politico
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Katie Glueck / Washington Wire:
Gallup Poll: ‘Generic Republican’ Leads Obama by 8 Points
Gallup Poll: ‘Generic Republican’ Leads Obama by 8 Points
Discussion:
Fundmastery Blog and MyFox Twin Cities
Bruce Orwall / Wall Street Journal:
In Interview, Murdoch Defends News Corp. — In his first significant public comments on the tabloid newspaper scandal that has engulfed his media empire, News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch vigorously defended the company's handling of the crisis but said it would establish …
Discussion:
Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Company Town, The Daily Dish, Salon, Gawker, The Lede, Runnin' Scared, FT Alphaville, New York Magazine, Crooked Timber and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »
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Wall Street Journal:
Murdoch Defiant as FBI Acts
Murdoch Defiant as FBI Acts
Discussion:
Guardian, Guy Fawkes' blog and AllThingsD
Jerry Markon / Washington Post:
FBI opens inquiry after report that News Corp. tried to hack phones of 9/11 victims
FBI opens inquiry after report that News Corp. tried to hack phones of 9/11 victims
Discussion:
CNN and AMERICAblog News
Amy Gardner / Washington Post:
Palin political committee spent tens of thousands on bus trip — Sarah Palin's political action committee spent tens of thousands of dollars covering the costs of the former Alaska governor's “One Nation” East Coast bus tour this spring — a trip that Palin (R) has repeatedly characterized as a “family vacation.”
Discussion:
CBS News and Balloon Juice
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Washington Post:
S&P warns that chance of downgrading U.S. credit rating is 50 percent — Standard & Poor's said late Thursday that it could downgrade the U.S. credit rating as soon as this month, and there is a 50 percent chance it will do so within three months, if Washington fails to come to an agreement over the nation's debt.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, FT Alphaville, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Politics
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Siobhan Gorman / Wall Street Journal:
Bin Laden Plotted to Attack U.S. on 9/11 Anniversary — Osama bin Laden was working to assemble a team of militants to attack the U.S. on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 hijackings, according to communications that Navy SEALs seized from his Pakistani hideout when they killed the al Qaeda leader this spring.
Discussion:
Gothamist, Weasel Zippers, The Politico, MyFox Twin Cities, Runnin' Scared, Politics, Israel Matzav, FrumForum and New York Magazine
Mark Joyella / Mediaite:
Eric Bolling: 'I'll Never Forget 9/11, But Thank You, Liberals, For Reminding Me How Petty You Can Be' — In an emotional statement on Fox's The Five Thursday, Eric Bolling shot back at the “radical liberal left” that “pounced” on him after he said on the program Wednesday that “America was certainly safe between 2000 and 2008.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Wonkette
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Dems' new strategy: Isolate Eric Cantor as face of GOP intransigence — Last night, President Obama and Eric Cantor exchanged harsh words over the debt ceiling, and on the Senate floor just now, Harry Reid uncorked a harsh attack on Cantor that suggests Dems are embarking on a new strategy …
Discussion:
THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Gateway Pundit, Mother Jones, TPMDC, RedState, Crooks and Liars and Washington Monthly
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Robert Costa / National Review:
McCain on the Debt Limit — As rain splatters the windows of Sen. John McCain's second-floor office on Capitol Hill, the 74-year-old Arizona Republican leans back, clasps his hands, and recalls the Nineties. Brinksmanship, he says, cost the party then, and it could cripple Republicans this summer …
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket, New York Magazine, TPMDC and The Hill
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Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
John McCain turns ‘pea’ shooter on Obama
John McCain turns ‘pea’ shooter on Obama
Discussion:
TPMDC, GOP 12, FrumForum and JustOneMinute
Elad Benari / Arutz Sheva:
Planned Monument for Mecca Goers Leaves Eilat Residents Shocked — Follow Israel news on and . — The residents of the southern Israeli city of Eilat are shocked at a plan by the municipality to establish a monument in the heart of the city's downtown to commemorate Arab pilgrims to Mecca.
Discussion:
THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Israel Matzav
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Getting to Crazy — There aren't many positive aspects to the looming possibility of a U.S. debt default. But there has been, I have to admit, an element of comic relief — of the black-humor variety — in the spectacle of so many people who have been in denial suddenly waking up and smelling the crazy.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather, Grasping Reality … and Daily Kos
Wall Street Journal:
The Obama Downgrade — The real reason the U.S. could lose its AAA rating. — So the credit-rating agencies that helped to create the financial crisis that led to a deep recession are now warning that the U.S. could lose the AAA rating it has had since 1917.
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative
Judicial Watch:
Documents Show Obama White House Attacked, Excluded Fox News Channel — White House Emails Detail anti Fox Bias inside Obama White House: “I'm putting some dead fish in the fox cubby — just cause” “[FNC Anchor] Bret Baier...is a lunatic” — Judicial Watch, the public interest group …
Patrick O'Connor / Washington Wire:
Pawlenty Ends Quarter With $1.4 Million — Tim Pawlenty ended June with $1.4 million to spend on his bid for the Republican presidential nomination as his campaign dumps money into Iowa ahead of a crucial August straw poll. — The former Minnesota governor raised $4.5 million during …
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Ben Smith's Blog
Oregonian:
The new normal: Once trailing, Oregon a leader in economic recovery — By Jack Roberts — The report last week of anemic job growth for the past two months — just 18,000 new jobs in June and a downward revision of May's new jobs number to just 25,000, less than half the initial estimate …
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com
Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:
Cain Rewrites History: I Said I Would Not Be Comfortable With ‘A Terrorist In My Cabinet’ — ThinkProgress filed this report from Urbandale, Iowa. — The defining moment of former pizza executive Herman Cain's upstart presidential bid came in March when he told ThinkProgress …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
New York Times:
Hackers Gained Access to Sensitive Military Files — WASHINGTON — The Defense Department suffered one of its worst digital attacks in history in March, when foreign hackers broke into the computers of a corporate contractor and obtained 24,000 sensitive Pentagon files during a single intrusion, senior officials said on Thursday.
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Jason Ukman / Washington Post:
24,000 Pentagon files stolen in major cyber breach, official says
24,000 Pentagon files stolen in major cyber breach, official says
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared and MyFox Twin Cities, more at Techmeme »
Benjy Sarlin / TPMDC:
GOP Demand Obama Protect Seniors From Default, Won't Name What To Cut Instead — Republican lawmakers are pushing President Obama to put seniors, troops, and bondholders at the front of the line should Congress fail to raise the debt ceiling. The rest? Well, that's up to him.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Wire, Mother Jones, Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo