Top Items:
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:
The Mahablog, Daily Kos, Brendan Nyhan, Prairie Weather, Corrente and Grasping Reality …
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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:
Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune, Taylor Marsh and 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:
The Note, The Atlantic Online, New York Times, CNN, The Politico, The Hill, Washington Post, New York Magazine, FrumForum and Outside the Beltway
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.
Discussion:
Instapundit
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
GOP rejects trading one tax cut for another
New York Times:
‘Decision Time’ on Budget, Obama Tells Leaders
‘Decision Time’ on Budget, Obama Tells Leaders
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The Caucus, Jared Bernstein and FrumForum
National Review:
Cantor: ‘Not a Game’ — A couple of hours before Thursday's …
Cantor: ‘Not a Game’ — A couple of hours before Thursday's …
Discussion:
Political Punch, Weasel Zippers and Pundit & Pundette
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Call Obama's bluff
Call Obama's bluff
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
John Bingham / Telegraph:
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
Discussion:
blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Daily Dish and Guy Fawkes' blog
RELATED:
BBC:
Phone hacking: News International chief Brooks quits — Media analyst Steve Hewlett: ‘News International appears to be on the run’ — Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, has resigned, the company has confirmed. — Her departure follows days of increasing pressure to step down as the phone hacking crisis grew.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and No More Mister Nice Blog
Ben Dowell / Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks resigns over phone-hacking scandal
Rebekah Brooks resigns over phone-hacking scandal
Discussion:
The Awl and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »
Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
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.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, TBogg, GOP 12 and New York Magazine
Tony Kennedy / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
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 …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Ben Smith's Blog, Mediaite, msnbc.com, USA Today, Towleroad News #gay, Truth Wins Out and Politics
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June Thomas / Slate:
Dan Savage, Bully — Dan Savage begins each of his “Savage Love Cast” podcasts with a rip-roaring rant—a sword of invective aimed at homophobic school boards that won't let lesbians attend their high-school prom, hypocritical politicians, and generally despicable people.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, FrumForum, The Moderate Voice and Althouse
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:
Questions and Observations and The Lonely Conservative
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Associated Press:
U.S. Formally Recognizes Libya Rebels — ISTANBUL (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Obama administration has decided to formally recognize Libya's main opposition group as the country's legitimate government. The move gives foes of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi a major financial and credibility boost.
Discussion:
The Politico, CBS News, Reuters and ThinkProgress
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William Wan / Washington Post:
U.S. to recognize Libyan rebels as legitimate government
U.S. to recognize Libyan rebels as legitimate government
Discussion:
The Page
Chris Geidner / Poliglot:
DOJ Tells Court It “Continues to Defend” DADT, Seeks Reinstatement of Law “By the Close of Business Tomorrow” — The Department of Justice filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Ciruit in the Log Cabin Republicans v. United States case today, asking the court for “emergency” …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Runnin' Scared, Advocate, Towleroad News #gay and Metro Weekly
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Phil Reese / Washington Blade:
BREAKING: DOJ seeks emergency stop to DADT injunction as Pentagon finalizes repeal
BREAKING: DOJ seeks emergency stop to DADT injunction as Pentagon finalizes repeal
Discussion:
AMERICAblog Gay and Pam's House Blend
Robert Reich / Wall Street Journal:
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.
Discussion:
Pajamas Media
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Alex Altman / Swampland:
With Debt Talks Stalled, Democrats Try to Divide and Conquer the GOP
With Debt Talks Stalled, Democrats Try to Divide and Conquer the GOP
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Reuters and Taegan Goddard's …
The Politico:
GOP threatens to bolt on McConnell's plan — A plan to cut spending, put caps on future expenditures and pass a constitutional amendment to balance the budget is certain to come up, lawmakers said. Also on the unofficial agenda of lawmakers are several bills to force the president …
Discussion:
Firedoglake
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:
CNN, Ballot Box, msnbc.com, GOP 12 and Ben Smith's Blog
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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:
Wonkette and ThinkProgress
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.
Paul Krugman:
It Was Debt What Did It — Never mind William Galston's strange belief that debt-deleveraging is a new theory, unknown to Keynesian economics; Mian and Sufi are in fact doing terrific work. They have been testing the effects of household leverage by looking at cross-sectional evidence, in particular county-level US data.
Discussion:
Grasping Reality … and Rortybomb
Reginald Fields / Plain Dealer:
Gov. John Kasich spends $2 million off-the-cuff; unexpected cash is for the state's children's hospitals to collaborate — COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. John Kasich on Thursday spent $2 million so calmly and nonchalantly you would have thought he was just handing over $2.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, bizjournals and Plunderbund
Josh Rogers / NHPR.org:
Giuliani Flirts With Another Try For Oval Office — Former NY Mayor says decision will come in mid-September. NHPR's Josh Rogers reports. — At every stop yesterday Rudy Giuliani said he learned from his failure in the 2008 election but won't make up his mind in getting in this race until mid-September.
Discussion:
GOP 12
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:
Wonkette, CBS News and Balloon Juice