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.”

Public Wants a Debt Ceiling Compromise, Expects a Deal Before Deadline  —  GOP Widely Viewed as ‘More Extreme in Its Positions’  —  OVERVIEW  —  The public overwhelmingly favors a compromise in the debt ceiling standoff.  And even as negotiations aimed at resolving the issue show little progress …

Michele Bachmann's $4,700 Hair and Makeup Bill  —  Considering Rep. Michele Bachmann's crusade against government spending and her demand that America live within its means, you wouldn't figure her for a conspicuous spender.  But after launching her bid for the White House …

An Open Letter to the GOP  —  As someone who understands the pressures and difficulties you have been going through, I want to say, “Congratulations.”  You won, and so did the country.  —  Absent some major miscalculations, within the next few days there will be official acknowledgement of what has already happened.

Pat Buchanan: Norwegian Right-Wing Terrorist ‘Breivik May Be Right’  —  Today, in a World Net Daily op-ed, failed presidential candidate and conservative pundit Pat Buchanan offers an example of the ethnic bigotry and racial insensitivity that has come to define him.

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.

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.

Congressman Resigns in Sex Scandal  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. David Wu of Oregon announced Tuesday that he will resign amid political fallout from an 18-year-old woman's allegations she had an unwanted sexual encounter with him.  —  Within days of the allegation …

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 …

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 …

Are We Broke Yet? … Like This Story  —  Follow Slate's Politics … - Why Isn't Wall Street Panicking About the Default Crisis Yet?  - The CIA's Fake Vaccine Drive in Pakistan Reveals the Moral Bankruptcy of American Spooks- Why Amy Winehouse's Music Will Endure- Follow Slate Writers …

British Economy, After Austerity, at Zero Growth in the Past Nine Months  —  What's amazing about this debt limit debate, and the headlong rush to austerity, is that we have empirical evidence of what can result, in this kind of economy, when you massively roll back spending.

‘We Get The Sacrifice, They Get The Wealth’: A Fired-Up Pelosi Tears Into GOP Deficit Plan  —  Speaking to a crowd of union workers on Capitol Hill today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi unloaded on Republican plans to lower the deficit through deep cuts to government services in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

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 …