House GOP Suicide Squad gets bigger  —  By late yesterday, the political world seemed to be feeling optimistic about the debt ceiling again.  The Gang of Six had made a lot of senators happy; President Obama seemed upbeat causing a sudden spike on Wall Street; and the House was wrapping …

Former Senator Judd Gregg Says Shutdown Needed Before House Will Agree To Debt Limit Deal  —  Former Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) says Social Security checks will need to be halted before House Republicans will agree to a deal to raise the debt limit.  —  A deficit hawk and former Chairman …

Franken Destoys Focus On The Family Witness, Exposes Misuse Of HHS Study  —  During this morning's Senate DOMA hearings, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) destroyed Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery's argument that children are better off with opposite-sex parents by demonstrating how Minnery misrepresented an HHS study.

Allen West Says He Apologized to Wasserman Schultz  —  Freshman Rep. Allen West said Wednesday that he has apologized to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz for calling her “vile, unprofessional and despicable” in an email.  —  “I just apologized,” West (R-Fla.) told a Huffington Post reporter.

Bachmann Releases Doctor's Note on Migraines as Pawlenty Says Candidates Must Be Able ‘To Do All of the Job, All of the Time’  —  ABC News' Matthew Jaffe (@matthewbjaffe) reports from Indianola, Iowa:  —  When Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty descended on Iowa today …

Larry Summers calls Winklevoss twins ‘A**holes’  —  NEW YORK (Fortune) — What did Larry Summers really think of the Winklevoss twins?  —  “Rarely, have I encountered such swagger, and I tried to respond in kind,” the former president of Harvard said in an interview at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference.

Anita Perry encourages husband to run for president  —  AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry will need money, organization, staff and stamina if he runs for president.  —  But he appears to already have the support that's most important for the race — his wife's.

Obama in perilous shape  —  For the first time since last July Barack Obama does not lead Mitt Romney in PPP's monthly national poll on the 2012 Presidential race.  Romney has now pulled into a tie with the President at 45%.  —  Obama's approval rating this month is 46% with 48% of voters disapproving of him.

Sarah Palin is going to be a grandmother again.  Eldest child Track Palin married high school sweetheart Britta Hanson two months ago, and now we hear that Britta is pregnant.  The picture above of “Britta Pie,” which was posted on a Wasilla friend's Facebook wall, confirms the news she's expecting.

Las Vegas resort sues tea party group over hotel bill  —  Some Tennessee tea partiers are in hot water with a Las Vegas gambling resort that's accusing them of skipping out on a big hotel bill.  —  On Monday Venetian Casino Resort, LLC., filed suit against Tea Party Nation Corporation of Franklin …

Heat ‘dome’ covers 1 million square miles across US  —  ‘Draining, physically draining,’ says Weather Service spokesman as heat slowly moves East  —  Below:  —  msnbc.com staff and news service reports  —  updated 2011-07-20T19:45:42  —  Some 141 million Americans over nearly 1 million square miles …

President calls debt crisis ‘self-created’  —  Washington (CNN) - As President Barack Obama sat down with television stations from three key political states, he said he is still hopeful the White House and congressional leadership will come to an agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling but said politics is interfering.

My Country 'Tis Of Thee, Sweet Land of...Removing the Pledge of Allegiance?!  —  Hard to believe, right?  Well, it's true ... and it happened in Bowie County, Texas.  —  Just when I thought nothing could be as outrageous as my recent post “God Bless Our Military ... just not at the Houston National Cemetery …

Never Before Seen: The ‘Inside Scoop’ on Some 2012 Presidential Contenders  —  On this week's edition of The Brody File show, some never before seen footage from my interviews with Sarah Palin, Speaker John Boehner, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann as we get the 'scoop" on some of their “personal preferences.

Exclusive: Fed planning for potential default  —  (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is actively preparing for the possibility that the United States could default as a deadline for raising the government's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit looms, a top Fed policymaker said on Wednesday.

Role reversal: Latin America taunts US on debt woes  —  * Worries about contagion; Brazil now a U.S. creditor  —  After three decades spent battling their own debt crises and getting constantly lectured about them by Uncle Sam, many Latin Americans are watching the countdown to a possible default …

Numbers Don't Lie: “The Undefeated” Had a Remarkable Box Office Debut  —  Box Office Mojo is a universally accepted and respected source for box-office numbers, mainly because they've always done a very professional job of sticking to numbers and avoiding the business and political nonsense that tarnishes so many others.

The new party of Reagan  —  After he switched to the Republican Party in 1962, Ronald Reagan famously quipped: “I didn't leave the Democratic Party.  The party left me.”  —  Now, the Republican Party is doing the same thing to him — and Democrats are happy to take Reagan back.

NOM Rabbi Blames Gay Marriage For 8 Year Old's Murder  —  The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) recently invited Rabbi Yehuda Levin to join them at a rally protesting New York's same sex marriage bill, despite Levin's long history of offensive comments.

Hoyer: Balanced Budget Amendment Would ‘Make it Virtually Impossible to Raise’ Taxes  —  (CNSNews.com) - House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) said on the House floor last night that if the balanced budget amendment Republicans are supporting is ratified and included in the Constitution it would make it …