memeorandum: “I'll Have The Michelle Obama Special” (Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama)

2:50 PM ET, July 20, 2011

Top Items:

Cantor's wealthy backers: raise our taxes — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has scuttled any possible debt-reduction compromise, insisting House Republicans can't agree to so much as a penny in new revenue. Every tax cut billionaires enjoy is sacred; every corporate-jet owner mustn't …

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Obama tries to box in House GOP — President Obama stopped by the White House briefing room, offering an update on the status of the debt-ceiling process. I've seen some reports suggesting the president endorsed the Gang of Six's compromise, but that's not quite what he said, and it seems to miss the point of Obama's comments.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, The Ed Schultz Show, No More Mister Nice Blog, The White House, The Mahablog, White House.gov Blog and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Russell Berman / The Hill:
House GOP passes ill-fated ‘cut, cap, and balance’ legislation

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Executive Gov, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, Washington Examiner, National Review and The Other McCain

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Gang of Six: A Day Late...

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Politico, Firedoglake, A plain blog about politics and The Daily Dish

The Politico:
Intrigue, secret talks grip Capitol Hill

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Hill, Pajamas Media, Politics and National Review

The Hill:
Key Dems: Gang of Six plan won't be ready for debt-limit deal by Aug. 2

Discussion: The Politico, The Note, The Huffington Post, Off the Charts Blog, CNN, Booman Tribune, Hot Air, Opinion L.A., Political Punch, Washington Post and New York Times

Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Boehner's office says Gang of Six proposal ‘appears to fall short’

Discussion: CNN, ThinkProgress, Firedoglake, The Politico, RedState, The New Republic, Roll Call, Politics and The Nation

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Gang Of Six Has Last Gasp

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Caucus, The Note, Cato @ Liberty, JSOnline, The Reaction, JustOneMinute, Marginal Revolution and The Politico

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

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.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Balloon Juice, Good As You, Poliglot, Joe. My. God., Towleroad News #gay and AMERICAblog News

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Focus On The Family Witness Admits Children Are Disadvantaged By Lack Of Protections For Same-Sex Couples — This morning, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is holding a hearing on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery …

Discussion: Gawker, Pam's House Blend and Good As You

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Allen West tirade: Wasserman Schultz ‘vile...despicable...not a Lady’ — Florida GOP Congressman Allen West this afternoon dispatched a scathing personal email to Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, calling her “vile, unprofessional ,and despicable,” “a coward …

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Wasserman Schultz brushes off West email — Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is dismissing Tuesday's personal attack by Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) as political bluster, not a hatchet job on the congresswoman, her office said Tuesday. — “I don't think that Congressman West is upset …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hot Air, The Washington Independent and The Daily Caller

Allen West / National:
At this Point, Anyone with an Obama 2012 Bumper Sticker is a Threat to the Gene Pool

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Impolitic, Crooks and Liars, MyDD, The Raw Story, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and American Power

JSOnline:

Democratic senator Hansen retains seat in recall attempt — Tea party activist, attorney are winners in Republican primaries — By Tom Tolan, Lee Bergquist and Georgia Pabst of the Journal Sentinel — Democratic state Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay was the first of nine state senators …

First Read / msnbc.com:

First Thoughts: Disconnect — Disconnect between Obama and the Senate vs. House Republicans and the Tea Party... In 2010, the Tea Party and independents were largely on the same page, but that's not the case anymore... White House is winning the PR battle in the debt fight, per new NBC/WSJ poll …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, New York Magazine and American Power

Ron Nixon / New York Times:

Cost-Cutters, Except When the Spending Is Back Home — WASHINGTON — Freshman House Republicans who rode a wave of voter discontent into office last year vowed to stop out-of-control spending, but that has not stopped several of them from quietly trying to funnel millions of federal dollars into projects back home.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Politics

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:
Getting Specific on Spending

Discussion: Mother Jones

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

The tide of public opinion keeps turning — For the better part of the year, congressional Republicans were able to argue, accurately, that Americans opposed raising the debt ceiling. It was arguably the only honest claim the GOP made in this debate: poll after poll showed public opposition to doing the right thing.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Balloon Juice

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Post-ABC poll: GOP too dug in on debt talks; public fears default consequences

Discussion: Daily Kos, The New Republic, msnbc.com, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Angry Bear and The Note

Fortune:

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.

Discussion: Felix Salmon and New York Magazine

Zaid Jilani / ThinkProgress:

Nearly 10 Years Ago Today, The U.S. Began Borrowing Billions To Pay For The Bush Tax Cuts — As debates about deficit reduction continued to be heavily tilted toward cutting spending, which threatens to undermine a fragile recovery, rather than raising revenue from those who can afford it …

Discussion: Shakesville and Daily Kos

Jared Bernstein / The Huffington Post:
The People Want Balance! — It's crunch time — way past crunch time …

Discussion: Washington Post, Free exchange and Don Surber

Jonnie Marbles / Guardian:

Why I foam-pied Rupert Murdoch | Jonnie Marbles — Some people might think my action played into Murdoch's hands, but I did it for all the people who couldn't — First things first: I don't hate octogenarians. I don't have a vendetta against anyone over 80 who likes to begrudgingly give evidence to parliamentary committees.

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, David Allen Green, The Daily Caller, Marbury and New York Magazine

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Rep. Allen West calls DNC chair ‘vile ... despicable’ - Tracy Schmaler promoted at Justice - What Chris Christie told the tycoons - GOP losing perception war - Jamal Simmons, Ed Henry are 40 — THE NARRATIVE — Jake Tapper, on “Good Morning America,” re new WP-ABC: “Horrible numbers for President Obama …

Discussion: Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

State Dept. contract officer steers $52 million to secret husband, daughter — A special investigation by The Daily Caller has discovered that a State Department contract specialist participated in awarding more than $52 million in taxpayer-funded contracts to a company owned and operated by her husband and daughter.

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air and International Liberty

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Pawlenty says WH hopefuls must be able do the job — Tim Pawlenty moved closer Wednesday to raising doubts about Michele Bachmann's fitness for office. — While repeating his previous comments that he'd defer to doctors on Bachmann's particular health situation, Pawlenty said broadly …

Discussion: GOP 12 and ThinkProgress

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Is Grassley Hinting That Maggie Gallagher Was Too Scared To Testify Against DOMA? — During his opening statement at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on repealing the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) vehemently defended the discriminatory law and reiterated …

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay

ThinkProgress:

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.

Discussion: Good As You, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.

Reuters:

Michele Bachmann faces more migraine questions — On the campaign trail in South Carolina, Michele Bachmann should have been basking in the glow of new polls showing her surging among national Republican primary voters. — Instead, the day was overshadowed by her acknowledgment Tuesday …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Ben Smith's Blog, GOP 12, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, The Reaction, Indecision Forever, Politics, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post and Iowa Caucuses

Bloomberg:

Romney as Job Creator Clashes with Bain Record of Job Cuts — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign misses few opportunities to promote his record creating jobs, including his role in taking Staples Inc. (SPLS) from a start-up to the world's largest office-supply retailer.

Discussion: Politics

Politics:

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 …

Center for American Progress:

Interactive Map: No Debt Limit Increase Means Big Cuts to State Services — On August 2, if Congress fails to raise the debt limit, the United States will have its credit rating downgraded, interest rates will likely rise dramatically, and the federal government will be forced …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and TPMDC

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Christie on the decline — Chris Christie's popularity has declined significantly over the first half of 2011 and he would have a very difficult time winning reelection if voters in New Jersey went to the polls today. — Only 43% of voters in the state approve of the job Christie is doing to 53% who disapprove.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, GOP 12 and The Daily Caller

Gautham Nagesh / The Hill:

Report: Obama top recipient of News Corp. donations — Political donations by News Corp., its employees and their families were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with President Obama the all-time leading recipient, according to a report from the Sunlight Foundation.

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog, JammieWearingFool, Wake up America, Weasel Zippers, The Confluence, Guardian and Pajamas Media, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Schneider / Mediaite:

GOP Rep. Walsh Yells At Chris Matthews: 'Obama Doesn't Send A Thrill Up My Leg' — Add today's debate between Chris Matthews and Republican Congressman Joe Walsh to the Hardball hall of fame for the most exciting and in-your-face political discussions ever recorded.

Discussion: Breitbart.tv and The Gateway Pundit

Carol Williams / L.A. NOW:

Man's call for Obama assassination is free speech, not crime, court rules — A La Mesa man who posted racial epithets and a call to “shoot” Barack Obama on an Internet chat site was engaging in constitutionally protected free speech, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in overturning his criminal conviction.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Confederate Yankee