Top Items:
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Why no vote tonight — A House aide just e-mailed me: “Buckets of crazy.” That's as good an explanation as any as to why Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) won't be able to hold a vote tonight on his debt-ceiling bill. The burn-the-building-down set is weakening, but the speaker is still short on votes.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Power Line, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Bloomberg, The Politico, The Greenroom, The Gateway Pundit, The Page and New York Times
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Douglas Holtz-Eakin / National Review:
Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory — Hard to believe what I'm reading, hearing, and watching. It's a concerted, bipartisan effort to snatch defeat when victory is in sight. — Let's start with the House Democrats, who are content to make a political statement and sit on their hands.
Discussion:
The New Republic, theblogprof and Politics
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 Hill:
Support shifts as Boehner adds balanced-budget amendment — House Republicans will attach a balanced-budget amendment to Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) last-ditch debt-ceiling plan, which GOP lawmakers said would move the measure to passage in a high-stakes vote later on Friday.
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog and Taegan Goddard's …
Bob Cusack / The Hill:
GOP leader: ‘I believe there will be a vote today’ on House debt ceiling plan — House GOP leaders expressed confidence Friday morning that they would move a vote on raising the debt ceiling one day after they had to pull their Speaker's measure from a planned House floor vote.
Discussion:
The Politico, Outside the Beltway and The Gateway Pundit
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The great divide — We're in the midst of a great four-year national debate on the size and reach of government, the future of the welfare state, indeed, the nature of the social contract between citizen and state. The distinctive visions of the two parties — social-democratic vs. limited-government …
Discussion:
americanthinker.com, The Daily Dish, Cato @ Liberty and The New Republic
Washington Post:
Obama urges Senate to forge compromise on debt limit, rejects House efforts — President Obama, warning that time is running out to lift the federal debt ceiling, said Friday that a House GOP plan has “no chance of becoming law,” and he urged Senate Democrats and Republicans to come together on a “bipartisan compromise.”
Discussion:
Questions and Observations
Reuters:
With House debt ceiling bill stalled, Harry Reid makes his move
Discussion:
The Politico and Hot Air
First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: A game of leverage
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Patterico's Pontifications and The Atlantic Wire
Josiah Ryan / The Hill:
Reid: The House is ‘having trouble’ conducting its work
Discussion:
Washington Post, Boston Globe, The Hill and NY Daily News
National / NationalJournal.com:
DOCUMENT: Latest Version of House Speaker Boehner's Debt Plan — This is the latest version of the Boehner bill and reflects changes made after GOP leaders failed to assemble the necessary votes to pass it Thursday. This bill is the current legislative vehicle and may come to the House floor later Friday.
Discussion:
National Review, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Politics and AMERICAblog News
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The Politico:
Balanced budget amendment adds momentum to Boehner plan — House Republican leaders plan to tie a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to their two-step debt-ceiling bill — a move that is turning momentum back toward Speaker John Boehner's plan. — Several GOP conservatives …
Discussion:
Slate, Daniel W. Drezner, Daily Kos, Politics, Guardian, Hit & Run, Washington Monthly and ThinkProgress
Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Tea Party groups target ‘defectors’ on debt vote — Several Tea Party organizations are working to punish conservative Republicans who plan to vote yes on Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) debt ceiling proposal. — Tea Party leaders announced Thursday they are targeting Republican Reps. James Lankford …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, CNN, The Note, The Hill, The Right Scoop, National Review and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*
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 …
RELATED:
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 …
Catherine Rampell / New York Times:
Recovery Still Slow as New Data Show Little Growth
Discussion:
The New Republic, The Confluence, Bloomberg, Outside the Beltway and The Page
CNBC:
Economy Grows at Sluggish 1.3%; Consumers Pull Back
Discussion:
theblogprof, Don Surber, RedState and The Agonist
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Q2 GDP falls to 1.3%; Whoa: Q1 revised downward to 0.4%?
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, National Review and The Right Scoop
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:
No More Mister Nice Blog, The Sideshow, Shakesville, Weasel Zippers, Daily Kos and Prairie Weather
William Yeomans / The Politico:
The tea party's terrorist tactics — It has become commonplace to call the tea party faction in the House “hostage takers.” But they have now become full-blown terrorists. — They have joined the villains of American history who have been sufficiently craven to inflict massive harm …
Discussion:
Pirate's Cove
RELATED:
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:
Fortune, CNN, Mediaite, The Next Web, The Atlantic Online and The Daily Caller, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Matt Rosoff / Politics:
Apple Now Has More Cash Than The U.S. Government
Discussion:
Pajamas Media and National Review
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
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:
Taylor Marsh, Healthwatch, Outside the Beltway and The Politico
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
Monica Potts / American Prospect:
Big Mess — A lawsuit against a Utah polygamy law is a nightmare for liberals and conservatives alike. — Last year, at the end of the first season of Sister Wives, a reality show about a polygamist family in Utah, Kody Brown took a fourth wife, Robyn. Rain threatened to cancel the religious ceremony.
Discussion:
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