memeorandum: The New Religious Right? — And an odd new twist on racism … (James Taranto/Wall Street Journal)

12:05 PM ET, July 26, 2011

Top Items:

New polls confirm Obama's Democratic base crumbles — With all of the spotlights on the high-stakes debt maneuverings by President Obama and Speaker John Boehner the last few days, few people noticed what Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders said: — “I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.”

Discussion: The Note, New York Post, The Moderate Voice, The Greenroom, Questions and Observations, Pajamas Media, Betsy's Page, RedState, Red Dog Report and The Gateway Pundit

Ylan Q. Mui / Washington Post:

More Americans unhappy with Obama on economy, jobs — More than a third of Americans now believe that President Obama's policies are hurting the economy, and confidence in his ability to create jobs is sharply eroding among his base, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Discussion: The Politico, NewsBusters.org blogs, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog News and Pajamas Media

New York Times:

The Republican Wreckage — House Republicans have lost sight of the country's welfare. It's hard to conclude anything else from their latest actions, including the House speaker's dismissal of President Obama's plea for compromise Monday night. They have largely succeeded in their campaign …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Speaker, Washington Post, Shakesville, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Atlantic Online, American Power, Prairie Weather and Daily Kos

The Hill:

Conservatives denounce Boehner plan — The chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee wasted little time announcing his opposition to the House GOP leadership's two-step plan to raise the debt ceiling. — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who stood — visibly uncomfortable …

The White House:

Address by the President to the Nation — THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I want to talk about the debate we've been having in Washington over the national debt — a debate that directly affects the lives of all Americans. — For the last decade, we've spent more money than we take in.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Althouse, Global Public Square, Questions and Observations, Democratic Strategist, National Review, NewsBusters.org blogs, Scared Monkeys, White House.gov Blog, And So it Goes in Shreveport, CNN, Wizbang and Booman Tribune, more at Mediagazer »

The Hill:

Cantor tells GOP to ‘stop whining’ about Boehner debt ceiling plan — Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) bluntly told House Republicans to stop “grumbling and whining” about Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) new proposal for a limited debt limit increase in a closed-door conference meeting Tuesday …

Discussion: James Pethokoukis, The Page and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

David Espo / Business Week:

Challenging Obama, House GOP unveils new debt bill — WASHINGTON — In a blunt challenge to President Barack Obama, House Republicans drafted legislation Monday to avert a threatened Aug. 2 government default — but along lines the White House has already dismissed. U.S. financial markets shrugged off the uncertainty.

Discussion: The Agonist

The Politico:
Debt ceiling speeches: Obama reasserts himself; Boehner pushes back

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Firedoglake, Daniel W. Drezner, Hot Air, Gothamist, FiveThirtyEight, Outside the Beltway, The Moderate Voice, The Sundries Shack, CNN, Michelle Malkin and The Note

David Beard / NationalJournal.com:
Congressional Websites Crash After Obama Urges People to Reach Out on Debt Ceiling

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Angry Bear and The Caucus

Joshua Norman / CBS News:
Boehner: I didn't want “mano-a-mano” with Obama

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Raw Story and ThinkProgress

Wall Street Journal:
A Leadership Default — The President blames House Republicans for everything.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Lonely Conservative

Byron York / Washington Examiner: Conservatives bridle at trillions in ‘phony’ cuts

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

Krauthammer on Obama's Address: “I Thought I Was Cynical Until I Heard That Speech” (Video) — Charles Krauthammer unloaded on Obama tonight after his stale poll-driven speech to the nation. Obama still has no plan. — “I thought I was cynical until I heard that speech. It was purely partisan.

Discussion: Washington Times, Hot Air, Don Surber, Scared Monkeys, Pirate's Cove, PoliPundit.com and HotAirPundit

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Baby Talk — I was struck by these sentences in President Obama's speech: … Consider the condescension implicit in the president's statement—"a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before." These “people outside of Washington” are not little children …

Discussion: Power Line, theblogprof and Pundit & Pundette

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Obama Prepares For Stalemate

Discussion: JustOneMinute, New York Times, ThinkProgress, Politics, Pajamas Media and Outside the Beltway

David Brooks / New York Times:

Congress In the Lead — Some of us like to think big. We thought at the beginning of this debt crisis that it might be possible to reach a Grand Bargain. This deal would make a serious dent in the country's awful debt problem. It would begin to reform entitlements.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NewsBusters.org blogs, Althouse, No More Mister Nice Blog, Marbury, DailyHowler.com and Balloon Juice

PewResearch.org:

Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics — Twenty-to-One — By Rakesh Kochhar, Richard Fry and Paul Taylor, Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends — The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times …

Discussion: The Politico, Colorlines, ThinkProgress, Jared Bernstein and Shakesville

Hope Yen / Yahoo! News:
Wealth gap widens between whites, minorities

Discussion: NPR, The Raw Story, Wall Street Journal and New York Times

Catherine Rampell / New York Times:

The Help-Wanted Sign Comes With a Frustrating Asterisk — The unemployed need not apply. — That is the message being broadcast by many of the nation's employers, making it even more difficult for 14 million jobless Americans to get back to work. — A recent review of job vacancy postings …

Discussion: Economix and Balloon Juice

Robinson / nation.foxnews.com:

O'Reilly Shreds Media for Calling Norway Terrorist ‘Christian’ — BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: “Impact” segment tonight: mass murder in Norway. A vicious killer, Anders Breivik, has murdered at least 76 people in the Scandinavian nation of Norway. Breivik is a brutal fanatic …

Discussion: CNN, The Gateway Pundit and New York Times

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
The New Religious Right? — And an odd new twist on racism …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Pam's House Blend, Colorlines, Outside the Beltway, American Spectator, Right Wing Watch and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

WQAD-TV:

Bachmann walks away from WQAD — Davenport, Iowa— Michele Bachmann made a visit to the Quad Cities last night to speak with supporters and give interviews to the local television media, that is, with one exception. Despite promises to WQAD for a one-on-one interview the Congresswoman's managers openly …

Discussion: The Note, ThinkProgress, The Hill and Towleroad News #gay

Katherine Burton / Bloomberg:

Soros to End Hedge-Fund Career, Return Money — George Soros, the billionaire best known for breaking the Bank of England, is returning money to outside investors in his $25.5 billion firm, ending a career as hedge-fund manager that spanned more than four decades.

Discussion: DealBook, FT Alphaville, Money & Company and The Big Picture

Maeve Reston / Los Angeles Times:

Brown signs California Dream Act — New law covers private funding; governor signals he may also favor expanding public Cal Grants eligibility. — Following through on a campaign promise, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law Monday easing access to privately funded financial aid for undocumented college students.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Heritage Foundation and Pajamas Media

BBC:

‘Tell the police to hurry. People are dying here!’ — Julie Bremnes, 16, was one of the youths caught on Utoeya island during Anders Behring Breivik's killing spree on Friday. — She first called her mother, Marianne, at 1710 to tell her there was “a crazy man who is shooting here” on the island.

Discussion: National Review

Harriet Baskas / msnbc.com:

Bladder cancer survivor has new run-in with TSA — Thomas Sawyer, a 62-year-old bladder cancer survivor who made headlines last November after a pat-down left him covered in his own urine, has filed a new complaint with the Transportation Security Administration.

Discussion: Mediaite and Right Wing News

Dan Bilefsky / New York Times:

A Revenge Plot So Intricate, the Prosecutors Were Pawns — Soon after Seemona Sumasar started dating Jerry Ramrattan, she had an inkling that something might be wrong. — He said he was a police detective, but never seemed to go to work. He seemed obsessed with “C.S.I.,” “Law & Order” and other television police dramas.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Shakesville and Althouse

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Bachmann has skipped 37 percent of votes since launching bid — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has missed nearly 40 percent of votes in the House since she formally launched her presidential campaign. — Bachmann's absentee rate, which is significantly higher than the two other House members running …

Discussion: Wonkette, The Politico, msnbc.com, TPMDC and GOP 12

Paul Westcott / WGIR-AM:

On Air

Discussion: The Politico and Hot Air

Paul Davidson / USA Today:

Texas bucks national unemployment trend — Need a job? — Move to Texas — Finding work may not be quite that simple, but it sure seems that way. While the nation's job growth has limped along since the economic recovery began two years ago, the Lone Star State is enlarging

Discussion: WILLisms.com and Weasel Zippers

Lisa Lerer / Bloomberg:

Republican Leaders Voted for Drivers of U.S. Debt They Now Blame on Obama — House Speaker John Boehner often attacks the spendthrift ways of Washington. — “In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual,” the Republican leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the U.S. debt.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly and Crooks and Liars

Steven Hayward / Power Line:

I would remind you that extremism in defense of solvency is no vice — Was Obama's debt ceiling speech last night the most squalid presidential speech ever? I can think of some other very low moments, especially Franklin Roosevelt implying in 1944 that Republicans were the equivalent of Nazis.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog