memeorandum: The Worst Negotiators — I cannot decide who the worst negotiators … (Erick Erickson/RedState)

10:15 AM ET, July 29, 2011

Top Items:

Wonkbook: Boehner failed. Now what? — Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill July 28. (JOSHUA ROBERTS - REUTERS) The lengths John Boehner went to ensure his bill failed in the Senate rather than the House were impressive, but ultimately, insufficient.

Discussion: Healthwatch

Erick Erickson / RedState:

The Worst Negotiators — I cannot decide who the worst negotiators are, Republican leaders or House conservatives. — John Boehner's plan couldn't get the votes last night so Boehner had to agree to add language conditioning a vote on a balanced budget amendment — an amendment House Republicans …

The Politico:

As clock ticks, default or deal? — Washington awoke Friday morning to a possibility that has been widely shrugged off for weeks, but suddenly seems chillingly real: Could the government actually default? — The delay and disintegration of a House vote on the debt limit late Thursday …

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Politics, The Moderate Voice, PERRspectives, Hot Air and The Gavel

Josiah Ryan / The Hill: Reid: The House is ‘having trouble’ conducting its work

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Why no vote tonight — A House aide just e-mailed me: “Buckets of crazy.”

Discussion: Power Line, Associated Press, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit, The Greenroom and The Page

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Dems suggest compromise on debt

Discussion: CNN, RedState, Crooks and Liars, Bearing Drift, The Hill, The Right Scoop and Weasel Zippers

The Politico:
Debt ceiling bill puts South Carolina vs. the world in House

Discussion: The Hill, FT Alphaville, No More Mister Nice Blog and Politics

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
What the final deal is likely to look like

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, TalkLeft, The Politico, A plain blog about politics and Washington Monthly

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
What Tonight's House Vote Means

Discussion: National Review, theblogprof, Hot Air and AlterNet

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:

Weak growth raises concerns on economy — (Reuters) - The U.S. economy came perilously close to flat-lining in the first quarter and grew at a meager 1.3 percent annual rate in the April-June period as consumer spending barely rose. — The Commerce Department data on Friday also showed …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hot Air, International Liberty, americanthinker.com and The Right Scoop

Catherine Rampell / New York Times:

Recovery Still Slow as New Data Show Little Growth — WASHINGTON — The United States economy has slowed considerably this year from a year ago, according to a report from the Commerce Department released on Friday. — The country's gross domestic product, a broad measure of the goods …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Page and The Agonist

Shobhana Chandra / Bloomberg:

Economy in U.S. Grows Less Than Forecast After Almost Stalling — The U.S. economy grew less than forecast in the second quarter, after almost coming to a halt at the start of the year, as consumers retrenched. — Gross domestic product climbed at a 1.3 percent annual rate following …

Discussion: TalkLeft

CNBC:

Economy Grows at Sluggish 1.3%; Consumers Pull Back — The U.S. economy grew less than expected in the second quarter as consumer spending barely rose, and growth braked sharply in the prior quarter, a government report showed on Friday. — Growth in gross domestic product …

Discussion: Don Surber and RedState

Greg Robb / MarketWatch:
U.S. GDP up 1.3% in second quarter from weak Q1

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, ThinkProgress and Grasping Reality …

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. GDP Grows Just 1.3%

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Joe Hallett / The Columbus Dispatch:

Payback may be coming for congressman's ‘disloyalty’ — U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan's open defiance of Speaker John Boehner's efforts to solve the debt-ceiling crisis could cost the Urbana Republican his safe seat in next year's election. — Two Republican sources deeply involved in configuring …

Discussion: Maggie's Notebook, NationalJournal.com, Hotline On Call, Balloon Juice, Firedoglake, The Politico, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Ballot Box, Dependable Renegade, Don Surber, The Hill, The Right Scoop, Booman Tribune, ThinkProgress, RedState and AmSpecBlog

Joe Klein / Swampland:
Republicans' Debt Ceiling Charade Is Downright Dangerous

Discussion: Shakesville and Mother Jones

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Conservatives angry over Pell Grant funding in Boehner debt bill

Discussion: The Politico, ThinkProgress, The Hill, CANNONFIRE, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo and Open Congress

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
Bachmann: Debt impasse is not an emergency

Discussion: The Politico, The Note, Mother Jones, The Talking Dog, ThinkProgress, USA Today, GOP 12, Washington Monthly and The Hill

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Centrist Cop-Out — The facts of the crisis over the debt ceiling aren't complicated. Republicans have, in effect, taken America hostage, threatening to undermine the economy and disrupt the essential business of government unless they get policy concessions they would never have been able to enact through legislation.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Weasel Zippers and Prairie Weather

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:

National Income and Product Accounts — Gross Domestic Product: Second Quarter 2011 (Advance Estimate) — Revised Estimates: 2003 through First Quarter 2011 — Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, FT Alphaville, Daily Kos, naked capitalism, CRFB.org, Calculated Risk and Worthwhile Canadian Initiative

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Rep. Hoyer endorses 14th Amendment option as a last-resort solution — President Obama should invoke the 14th Amendment to hike the debt ceiling unilaterally as a last resort to prevent a government default, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Thursday. — “It's arguably his power to do so,” Hoyer told MSNBC.

Discussion: Grasping Reality …, Weasel Zippers and Pundit & Pundette

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:
Hoyer Backs Obama Using 14th Amendment To Resolve Debt Crisis

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Balkinization, Robert Kuttner, Grasping Reality …, The Politico and Hullabaloo

Scott Clement / Washington Post:

Americans split on New York gay marriage law — As New York gears up for its second weekend of same-sex nuptials, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Americans split 50 to 46 percent over whether the state's law legalizing such unions is a positive or negative outcome.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Towleroad News #gay

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Congressional Freshmen - For Such A Time As This — Out here in proverbial politico flyover country, we little folk are watching the debt ceiling debate with great interest and concern. Today I re-read the open letter I wrote to Republican Freshman Members of Congress in November 2010 …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Hotline On Call, FiveThirtyEight, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, National Review, The Other McCain, The Note and Taylor Marsh

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Palin's Well-Timed Reminder to Freshmen

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, Guardian, Connecting.the.Dots, New York Times, The Washington Independent, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Reality-Based Community and The Daily Dish

Donald Marron:

Why Do Half of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax? — You may have heard the claim that about half of Americans pay no federal income tax. That's a true fact. My Tax Policy Center colleagues estimate, for example, that 46% of households either will pay no federal income tax in 2011 …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, The Incidental Economist, Democracy in America, The Daily Dish and Mother Jones

Elissa Gootman / New York Times:

Atheists Sue to Block Display of Cross-Shaped Beam in 9/11 Museum — In the days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, some workers and mourners at the World Trade Center site seized upon a cross-shaped steel beam found amid the rubble as a symbol of faith and hope.

Discussion: Don Surber, The Gateway Pundit, 911memorial.org and How Appealing

Kathy Kiely / NationalJournal.com:

Culture Clash — Sen. Jim DeMint wants to change the way Washington does business and then “go home and rock on my front porch.” — Two-termer: Jim DeMint — In his new book, The Great American Awakening, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., recalls how he was ostracized for two years by fellow Republicans for his unbending conservatism.

Discussion: GOP 12 and RedState

Anne Bayefsky / Fox News:

U.N. Busy Deciding How to Slam Israel — Member states of the U.N. General Assembly are busy hammering out how to slam Israel and restrict human rights like free speech at “Durban III” - the racist “anti-racism” event to be held in New York on Sept. 22. — With the recent pull-outs …

Discussion: americanthinker.com and Israel Matzav

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Oh, by the way, the U.S. just accused Iran of working with Al Qaeda — A little something light to tide you over while we wait for the next chapter in the debt-ceiling saga. I've been around blogs long enough to remember when claiming that Shiite nuts might collaborate with Sunni nuts …

Discussion: americanthinker.com, FP Passport, The Politico and The Note

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
U.S. accuses Iran of aiding al-Qaeda

Discussion: Washington Times

Financial Post:

U.S. balance now less than Apple cash — Steve Jobs is now more liquid than Uncle Sam. — While it's highly unlikely that President Barack Obama is looking to ask the founder and chief executive of Apple Inc. for a loan, it became a fact as of Thursday afternoon — the world's largest technology company …

Discussion: The Next Web and The Atlantic Online, more at Techmeme »