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5:10 PM ET, July 27, 2011

Top Items:

GOP in chaos — Scrambling for votes on his troubled deficit package, Speaker John Boehner bluntly told wavering GOP lawmakers Wednesday morning to “get your ass in line” behind his debt ceiling bill. — Boehner predicted Senate Democrats will fold and pass the Boehner debt bill if it can get through the House.

Discussion: CNN, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Hotline On Call, Politics, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Sky Dancing, The Caucus, National Review, HotAirPundit, Jack & Jill Politics, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Crooks and Liars

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).

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Note, New York Times, Michelle Malkin, CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, nation.foxnews.com, TPMDC, The Raw Story, The New Republic, Oliver Willis, iOwnTheWorld.com, Mother Jones and The Gateway Pundit

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: ThinkProgress, Mediaite, USA Today, Big Hollywood, The Caucus, TPMDC and Washington Post

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

A Time for Choosing — To govern is to choose. To vote is to choose. To vote against John Boehner on the House floor this week in the biggest showdown of the current Congress is to choose to vote with Nancy Pelosi. To vote against Boehner is to choose to support Barack Obama.

Discussion: FreedomWorks blogs, National Review, Firedoglake, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Pundit & Pundette, The Lonely Conservative, TPMDC, The Sundries Shack, ProfessorBainbridge.com, The Right Scoop, Lean Left, Erick's blog, FrumForum, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Dish, The Daily Caller and Club for Growth

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.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway, Gawker, Nice Deb and Balloon Juice

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: The Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Little Green Footballs, The Hill, TPMDC, Politics and Taegan Goddard's …

David Rogers / The Politico:

Reid plan's savings trump Boehner's — In the battle of budget scores, the Senate Democrats' deficit reduction bill is the clear leader thus far over an alternative by Speaker John Boehner, which had to be pulled back from the floor Tuesday night for retooling.

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

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: Prairie Weather and msnbc.com

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Boehner: ‘A Lot’ Of Republicans Want To Force Default, Create ‘Enough Chaos’ To Pass Balanced Budget Amendment — House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said today that some members of his own caucus who are refusing to agree to a compromise debt ceiling deal are hoping to unleash “chaos” …

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Sky Dancing

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Dem lawmaker: ‘Nobody I know’ has seen Reid plan — A House Democrat indicated Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) might not have Democrat votes locked down for his deficit proposal. — “I'm not going to commit to something that nobody I know has seen and had a chance to analyze …

Discussion: The Politico and The Daily Caller

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Quote of the Day — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is obviously scrambling to secure as much Republican support for his budget plan as possible, and took his sales pitch to Laura Ingraham's radio show this morning. One line in particular stood out:

Discussion: The Hill, The Hill, A plain blog about politics and Daily Kos

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Hope For Boehner? Some House Conservatives Closing Ranks On Debt Limit Bill

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Erick's blog, Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, Crooks and Liars, The Politico and Harry's Place

Wall Street Journal:
The GOP's Reality Test

Washington Post:
House Republicans delay vote on Boehner debt plan

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
No House Dems will vote for Boehner plan, aide says

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, Donklephant, Daily Kos, Associated Press, The Politico, The Hill and Weasel Zippers

Mgroombridge / Decide America:
Conservatives Should Support Boehner Plan

Discussion: CBS News, Pajamas Media and GOP 12

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

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
House Republicans Psyche Themselves Up By Watching Ben Affleck Prepare To Beat Some Guys Up

Discussion: The Reaction

Binyamin Appelbaum / New York Times:
After Aiding Republicans, Business Groups Press Them on Debt Ceiling

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly, The Impolitic, Prairie Weather, AMERICAblog News, The BLT and Daily Kos

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McCain rips lawmakers demanding amendment to balance the budget

Discussion: Washington Post and Connecting.the.Dots

Marin Cogan / The Politico:
Freshmen coalesce around Boehner plan

Discussion: Hot Air and The New Republic

John Stanton / Roll Call:
Republicans Dress Down Jim Jordan, RSC Aide

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

House Democrats urge Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment in debt fight — House Democratic leaders are calling on President Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment and raise the debt ceiling without congressional input. — Addressing the House Democratic Caucus on Wednesday morning …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Big Government and The Daily Hurricane

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Clyburn: Invoke the 14th Amendment

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:
House Democratic Leaders To Obama: Use The 14th Amendment [UPDATED]

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and FreedomWorks blogs

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Can't We Do This Right? — There is only one thing worse than Republicans and Democrats failing to agree to lift the debt ceiling, and that is lifting the debt ceiling without a well-thought-out plan and with hasty cuts totaling trillions of dollars over a decade.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org, Weasel Zippers, Salon, Washington Monthly, Red Dog Report, No More Mister Nice Blog, nation.foxnews.com, Pajamas Media, The Jawa Report and Pirate's Cove

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:
Palin to Keynote Tea Party Rally in Iowa

Discussion: GOP 12

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

U.S. officials believe al-Qaeda on brink of collapse — U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al-Qaeda to the brink of collapse. — The assessment reflects a widespread view …

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, Outside the Beltway, Salon, Mother Jones, Via Meadia, The Jawa Report and Reuters

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, Gawker, FishbowlDC and The Daily Caller

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: Vox Popoli

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Romney Leads Field of Announced GOP Candidates — Perry would be more competitive with Romney than Palin, Giuliani — PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney is the leader for the GOP nomination among the current field of official candidates, supported by 27% of Republicans, compared with 18% for Michele Bachmann.

Discussion: The Hill, USA Today, Politics, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Red Dog Report, Naked Politics, nation.foxnews.com, CNN, Hot Air, The Washington Independent, National Review, msnbc.com, GOP 12, Indecision Forever and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

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, Big Journalism, Althouse and The Awl

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

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: Red Dog Report and Hullabaloo

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Standard and Poor's Should Not Be Able to Play Kingmaker in the 2012 Election — Update: S&P is now denying that they endorse the Reid plan. They evidently understand the implications of this kind of “selective disclosure” to big investors.... Standard and Poors is evidently meeting …

Discussion: Dow Jones Newswires and naked capitalism

Paul Krugman:

The Guilty Parties — There's actually a simple way to resolve the debt ceiling crisis: non-crazy Republican leaders could support something like the Reid plan — which is, let's be clear, a huge victory for the right and defeat for progressives — and pass it with limited GOP support and overwhelming Democratic support.

Discussion: Balloon Juice and TalkLeft

Peter Jackson / BBC:

Lucas loses Star Wars copyright case at Supreme Court — Mr Ainsworth recalls: “I made a prototype and Lucas said 'great, I'll have 50'.” — A prop designer who made the original Stormtrooper helmets for Star Wars has won his copyright battle with director George Lucas over his right to sell replicas.

Discussion: Guardian