memeorandum: Lessons From the Malaise (David Leonhardt/New York Times)

7:15 PM ET, July 27, 2011

Top Items:

Boehner tries to tame GOP on debt ceiling plan — 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 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, New York Times, Ben Smith's Blog, The Note, RedState, Taegan Goddard's …, CNN, nation.foxnews.com, Michelle Malkin, Washington Post, The New Republic, TPMDC, Oliver Willis, The Raw Story, iOwnTheWorld.com, Mother Jones, Daily Kos 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: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, ThinkProgress, Weigel, CNN, The Note, Mediaite, The Caucus, USA Today, Big Hollywood, National Review and TPMDC

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: The Hill, Washington Monthly, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Mediaite, Don Surber, Wall Street Journal, ThinkProgress, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Hit & Run, Gawker, Outside the Beltway, Marbury, Nice Deb, Connecting.the.Dots and Balloon Juice

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.

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, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hill, Politics, Little Green Footballs and TPMDC

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, GOP 12, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and Conservatives4Palin

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, TPMDC, ProfessorBainbridge.com and Sky Dancing

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

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: Weasel Zippers and Pajamas Media

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Daily Kos

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

Discussion: John Boehner, The Other McCain and National Review

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

Discussion: Roll Call, Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, The Politico and Harry's Place

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Powerful GOP group backs Boehner plan

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Talking Points Memo

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
It's All Over but the Face-Saving? — It remains unclear whether …

Discussion: The New Republic, msnbc.com, Washington Post, A plain blog about politics and Hullabaloo

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

Discussion: The Politico and The Daily Caller

Marin Cogan / The Politico:
Freshmen coalesce around Boehner plan

Discussion: The New Republic and Hot Air

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

Discussion: Decide America, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Donklephant, Associated Press, Questions and Observations and The Politico

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

Discussion: Swampland, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit 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: 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: The Politico and SmartMoney.com

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: Big Government, Firedoglake 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: FreedomWorks blogs and Taylor Marsh

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 and The Daily Caller

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: Pajamas Media and AmSpecBlog

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

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, Mother Jones, Outside the Beltway, Salon, The Jawa Report, Via Meadia and Reuters

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

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

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

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

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: Danger Room, The Heathen Hub and Document.no

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

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