Obama: Public is ‘sold’ on tax increases in a debt-ceiling deal  —  President Obama on Friday kept up the pressure on Republicans to agree to revenue increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, claiming 80 percent of the public supports Democrats' demand for tax increases.

Sarah Palin Movie Debuts to Empty Theater in Orange County  —  “Why aren't you seeing Harry Potter?” an usher said to the reporter sitting alone in the audience  —  When the clock struck 12:01 am today, AMC theaters in select cities were permitted to start showing “The Undefeated,” a feature length documentary about Sarah Palin.

Marcus Bachmann says his clinics not anti-gay  —  Therapists will oblige if patients ask for counseling to become heterosexual, but they don't force treatment, he said.  —  The husband of Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann has come forward to defend his family-owned Christian …

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.

Can Obama Pull a ‘Clinton’ on the GOP?  —  He's following the budget-showdown script Bill Clinton used to win re-election.  But the economy added 434,000 new jobs in February 1996.  —  After a bruising midterm election, the president moves to the political center.  He distances himself from his Democratic base.

McConnell proposal would force major review of entitlements  —  Larry Kudlow, who's plugged in with Congressional Republicans, scoops a key new detail about the emerging Mitch McConnell proposal to transfer control of the debt ceiling to the president:

Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's daughter in ‘furious’ attack on Rebekah Brooks  —  Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth has made a “furious” attack on Rebekah Brooks's handling of the phone hacking scandal at News International, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.  —  Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of Rupert

Fox And Friends Defends News Corp's Hacking Scandal: ‘We Should Move On’  —  Fox News finally addressed their parent company's hacking scandal head on this morning, with Fox and Friends launching a comically sycophantic and pathetically inaccurate defense of News Corp. Host Steve Doocy …

U.S. Recognizes Rebels in Libya  —  ISTANBUL, Turkey — The United States formally recognized the rebel leadership in Libya as the country's legitimate government on Friday, news agencies reported.  The move ratcheted up the diplomatic pressure on Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi amid …

Dear House Republicans, This is Your “Time For Choosing”  —  “From here on out, if you lose this fight, every time you balk at expanding government, social security checks will be withheld, medicare payments will be withheld, and in just a few short years, surgeries will be cancelled, vaccinations withheld, and hospitals shuttered.”

GOP's Debt Kamikazes  —  In preferring default to a deal, the populist wing of the Republican party has demonstrated its new nihilistic streak.  John Avlon on the politicians only too happy to take us off a cliff.  —  Call them Debt Ceiling Deniers.  Believers in faith-based fiscal policy.

Q & A: Bristol Palin on Abstinence after Levi  —  Bristol Palin's launch into the public eye came quickly after her mother's own entrance into the public arena.  Her out-of-wedlock pregnancy came under scrutiny after Senator John McCain chose former Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Michele Bachmann officially leaves her church  —  Washington (CNN) - Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has long been a darling of conservative evangelicals, but shortly before announcing her White House bid she officially quit a church she'd belonged to for years.

The Tragedy of Tim Pawlenty  —  He did everything right.  And that was the problem.  —  At almost precisely the minute that Michele Bachmann was declaring her presidential candidacy in Iowa at the end of June, I was interviewing Tim Pawlenty in a borrowed conference room in a midtown Manhattan financial firm.

Osama Hit List: President Obama, Petraeus, Major U.S. Sporting Event  —  President Barack Obama boards Air Force One after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base Md., June 28, 2011.  Officials say that Osama bin Laden, still obsessed with attacking airplanes, was trying to hatch a plan to kill Obama …

Death and Budgets  —  I hope you had the chance to read and reread Dudley Clendinen's splendid essay, “The Good Short Life,” in The Times's Sunday Review section.  Clendinen is dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S. If he uses all the available medical technology, it will leave him …

Court OKs Airport Body Scanners, Rejects Constitutional Challenge  —  A federal appeals court on Friday unanimously declined to block the government from using airport body scanners across airports nationwide, saying it is “not persuaded by any of the statutory or constitutional arguments” against them.

GOP light bulb amendment likely to pass Friday after earlier defeat  —  The House appears likely on Friday to accept an amendment to the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act that would deny funding for the implementation of funds to implement a 2007 law that Republicans say will ban incandescent light bulbs.

A Woman Economist Speaks Out: Deficits are a Grrrl's Best Friend  —  Listen up, sisters!  Deficit hawks will eat your lunch, your kids, your jobs and your retirement.  —  An economy without a deficit is like a fish without water.  Reducing the U.S. federal deficit will make unemployment and poverty worse-way worse.