memeorandum: Companies Bracing for U.S. Default (Wall Street Journal)

10:45 PM ET, July 27, 2011

Top Items:

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Debbie Wasserman Schultz says GOP seeks ‘dictatorship ... spark panic’ — 'This is not leadership. This is almost like dictatorship, said Debbie Wasserman Schultz. AP Photo — Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Wednesday …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, CNN, The Lonely Conservative, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Kos

The Politico:

GOPers chant ‘fire him’ at Paul Teller — House Republicans on Wednesday morning were calling for the firing of the Republican Study Committee top staffer after he was caught sending e-mails to conservative groups urging them to pressure GOP lawmakers to vote against a debt proposal from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Julie Mason / The Politico:

Carney makes an accusation — Jay Carney took on Fox News's Ed Henry. — John Shinkle/POLITICO — The day after White House press secretary Jay Carney and Fox News reporter Ed Henry tangled over Henry's request for specifics on Obama's plan on debt limit and deficit reduction, Carney and Henry were back at it again on Wednesday.

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Weasel Zippers and Pajamas Media

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Ben Affleck Reacts To House GOP Using Clip From ‘The Town’ In Debt Debate … WASHINGTON — Heads turned a bit on Tuesday night when the Washington Post reported that House Republicans were using a scene from the movie “The Town” as a motivational vignette to encourage members to back Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) debt ceiling plan.

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Weigel, TPMDC, ThinkProgress, CNN, Mediaite, Big Hollywood, The Caucus, USA Today, The Note and Washington Post

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:

McCain vs. the Tea Party — Is the old John McCain back? — The fiery, independent version of the Republican senator from Arizona took to the floor of the Senate Wednesday morning. Demanding “straight talk,” Mr. McCain accused conservative opponents of the House Republican leader's plan of abandoning reason in the debt fight.

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

It's All Over but the Face-Saving? — It remains unclear whether the House will pass a bill by the speaker, John A. Boehner, to raise the debt ceiling, though prospects appear to be significantly better today than they did yesterday. Still, the math looks to be pretty close.

Discussion: TPMDC, Washington Post, The New Republic, The Confluence and Hullabaloo

The Politico:

Boehner quells rebellion on the right — A dust up among a major House conservative bloc and the prospect of tens of billions of dollars in new spending cuts has Republican leadership feeling as if it quelled an uprising on the right after struggling to line up votes for much of the week.

The Note:

McCain Blasts Tea Party for ‘Foolish’ Demands in Debt Debate — ABC News' Sunlen Miller (@sunlenmiller) reports: — As Speaker of the House John Boehner is looking for votes on his House debt bill, one Senate Republican sent a strong message to the Tea Party block in the House and Senate …

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, The Hill, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Politics and TPMDC

Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:

The Clearest Sign Yet That Boehner's Bill Will Pass the House — They talk a big game, but in private, Republicans attack the one person who stands up for what they claim to believe — If you listen to Eric Cantor or any of the self-styled Tea Party Republicans pushing the country to the brink of default …

Discussion: Slate Magazine, Taylor Marsh, Prairie Weather and msnbc.com

Marin Cogan / The Politico:
Tea party rally on Capitol Hill draws thin crowd

Discussion: Hot Air, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, The Hill and Daily Kos

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
A Time for Choosing — To govern is to choose. To vote is to choose.

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Boehner: ‘A Lot’ Of Republicans Want To Force Default, Create ‘Enough Chaos’ To Pass Balanced Budget Amendment

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Sky Dancing, TPMDC and ProfessorBainbridge.com

Kbh / Keith Hennessey: Why I support the Boehner bill

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
WSJ: Tea Party “hobbits” need to go back to Middle Earth, or something

Discussion: John Boehner and The Other McCain

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Quote of the Day — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) …

Discussion: The Hill, The Hill, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, A plain blog about politics and Daily Kos

David Mark / The Politico:
Grover Norquist backs John Boehner's debt bill

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, TPMDC, Hullabaloo and Pajamas Media

David Rogers / The Politico:
Reid plan's savings trump Boehner's

Discussion: CNN, The Note, Politics, The Hill, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Dish, Outside the Beltway, Pajamas Media, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air and White House.gov Blog

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Dem lawmaker: ‘Nobody I know’ has seen Reid plan

Discussion: The Politico, nation.foxnews.com and The Daily Caller

The Note:
John Boehner to House GOP: ‘Get Your Ass In Line’

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Swampland, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill and Wonkette

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:

What Does Wall Street Want? — I've been having some disturbing conversations with both finance people and Washington people over the last few days, that have only confirmed the disconnect I wrote about a few weeks ago. Each side is sending signals that the other side is not reading correctly.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and Vox Popoli

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Standard and Poor's Should Not Be Able to Play Kingmaker in the 2012 Election

Discussion: Bloomberg, Dow Jones Newswires and naked capitalism

Wall Street Journal:
Who Elected the Rating Agencies?

Discussion: SmartMoney.com and The Politico

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Palin to Keynote Tea Party Rally in Iowa — In the latest indication that her sights are still set on a presidential run, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has accepted an invitation to keynote a Tea Party rally in Waukee, Iowa, on Sept. 3, RealClearPolitics has learned.

Discussion: The Note, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, GOP 12 and Conservatives4Palin

Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:

Palin: American Ideals Are ‘Foreign To Our President’ Because Of ‘His Background’ — Adding her heft to the GOP's debt ceiling debacle, the “undefeated” Sarah Palin graced Fox News Business last night to slam President Obama for suggesting that the wealthy should return to a higher tax rate.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Top of the Ticket and Arizona Republic

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:
George Lopez: If Sarah Palin Becomes President ‘I Will Move to Canada’

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Moonbattery

Jim Spencer / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Franken's SNL moment on the Senate floor — For a moment Wednesday, Al Franken looked like he was back on the set of Saturday Night Live and not on the floor of the U.S. Senate. In a speech explaining that there would be no money to pay for military and security personnel if Congress …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Pajamas Media and The Radio Equalizer

Penny Starr / CNSNews:

Jackson Lee at Radical Islam Hearing: Let's ‘Have a Hearing on Right-Wing Extremists, Ideologues’ — (CNSNews.com) - At a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security today about the radicalization of young Somali American Muslims by the al-Shabaab terrorist group, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee …

Discussion: YID With LID, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers

Devin Henry / MinnPost:
Ellison denied request to testify at Al-Shabaab hearing

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Politico, Daily Kos and Devin Henry

Kris Kitto / The Hill:

50 Most Beautiful People for 2011 — It's no accident that Amy Cheng exhibits model-like poise in front of a camera. Growing up, her family would spend time outside their Chinese restaurant taking photos of one another in a park, and later on, Cheng would pose for her younger sister …

Discussion: Wonkette, FishbowlDC, Gawker, iOwnTheWorld.com and The Daily Caller

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:

Herman Cain Apologizes To Muslims — Herman Cain had his much-ballyhooed meeting with Muslims Wednesday, and he emerged, he said in a campaign statement “humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends.”

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Democratic Daily, Daily Kos, Booman Tribune and The Right Scoop

Barbarossa / The Jawa Report:

Norway mass murderer an equal opportunity plagiarist? So-called “manifesto” a cut-and-paste job — The 1500+ page “manifesto” that is alleged to have been written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has the Left and their establishment media allies doing circle jerks and kept …

Discussion: Gawker and The Atlantic Online

John Hooper / Guardian:
Ex-Berlusconi minister defends Anders Behring Breivik

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Report: Obama And Boehner Agreed To Raise Medicare Eligibilty Age Before Debt Talks Broke Down — In what may be one of the most under-reported stories of the debt ceiling talks, Politico's Jen Haberkorn notes that before negotiations broke down on Friday evening, President Obama and Speaker …

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, Red Dog Report, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Danny Gallagher / courier-gazette.com:

Planned Parenthood clinic attacked with Molotov cocktail — MCKINNEY - Officials with Planned Parenthood confirmed that their McKinney clinic was the target of violence sometime last night. — Holly Morgan, director of media relations and communications for Planned Parenthood in Dallas …

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Wall Street Journal:

Companies Bracing for U.S. Default — The unthinkable is finally becoming reality for U.S. companies, who are beginning to take real steps to prepare for the possibility of a U.S. debt default. — While companies generally expect Washington to resolve the debt-ceiling impasse at the last moment …

Discussion: Mother Jones, msnbc.com, Firedoglake and The Hill

ChristinD / GCN News:

Bradlee Dean's Press Conference Statement Regarding Lawsuit Against MSNBC, Rachel Maddow — Sons Of Liberty — Good Morning. My name is Bradlee Dean and I am the founder of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, a Christian ministry whose mission it is to preach The Gospel of Jesus Christ …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Blotter, ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay and The Washington Independent

Douglas Martin / New York Times:

G.D. Spradlin, Prolific Character Actor, Dies at 90 — G. D. Spradlin, whose experience as a corporate lawyer, independent oilman and rancher influenced his nuanced portrayals of authority figures in more than 70 films and television shows, including “The Godfather: Part II” and “Apocalypse Now …

Discussion: Althouse

Zev Chafets / New York Times:

Stinger: James O'Keefe's Greatest Hits — The temperature was hovering near 90 degrees on the afternoon of Memorial Day when James O'Keefe III emerged from the woods and ambled over to my car. He was tall and thin, with pale skin and matted reddish hair. When his mug shot ran in the papers …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Awl, Big Journalism and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

A Clean Debt Ceiling Increase Wouldn't Avoid Cuts — I've been in a few conversations with various people this week citing one strategy or another that they claim could have produced a “clean” debt ceiling increase and avoided the current legislative crisis. I basically agree with all these theories.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Firedoglake