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.
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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 …
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:
Outside the Beltway, Healthwatch and The Politico
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
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, The Gavel and Hot Air
Washington Post:
Debt ceiling deadlock: What will Mitch McConnell do?
Debt ceiling deadlock: What will Mitch McConnell do?
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Booman Tribune and Ballot Box
Josiah Ryan / The Hill:
Reid: The House is ‘having trouble’ conducting its work
Reid: The House is ‘having trouble’ conducting its work
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Post, Boston Globe and NY Daily News
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Dems suggest compromise on debt
Dems suggest compromise on debt
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Crooks and Liars, CNN, Hot Air, The Heritage Foundation, Washington Monthly, RedState, The Hill, Bearing Drift and The Right Scoop
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, Pajamas Media, PoliPundit.com, Scared Monkeys, International Liberty and americanthinker.com
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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, naked capitalism, Daily Kos, CRFB.org, Calculated Risk and Worthwhile Canadian Initiative
Catherine Rampell / New York Times:
Recovery Still Slow as New Data Show Little Growth
Recovery Still Slow as New Data Show Little Growth
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and The Page
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Q2 GDP falls to 1.3%; Whoa: Q1 revised downward to 0.4%?
Q2 GDP falls to 1.3%; Whoa: Q1 revised downward to 0.4%?
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, National Review and The Right Scoop
CNBC:
Economy Grows at Sluggish 1.3%; Consumers Pull Back
Economy Grows at Sluggish 1.3%; Consumers Pull Back
Discussion:
theblogprof, Don Surber, The Gateway Pundit, RedState and The Agonist
Shobhana Chandra / Bloomberg:
Economy in U.S. Grows Less Than Forecast After Almost Stalling
Economy in U.S. Grows Less Than Forecast After Almost Stalling
Discussion:
TalkLeft
The Politico:
Eric Cantor non-committal on debt ceiling vote Friday — On Friday morning, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was non-committal about bringing Speaker John Boehner's debt ceiling package back to the floor — less than 12 hours after GOP leadership pulled the bill fearing it would fail without enough Republican votes.
Discussion:
Daniel W. Drezner, Daily Kos, Politics and ThinkProgress
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Joe Hallett / The Columbus Dispatch:
Payback may be coming for congressman's ‘disloyalty’
Payback may be coming for congressman's ‘disloyalty’
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Maggie's Notebook, NationalJournal.com, CNN, Michelle Malkin, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, Hotline On Call, The Politico, The Hill, The Daily Dish, Outside the Beltway, Ballot Box, Dependable Renegade, The Reality-Based Community, Don Surber, The Hill, The Right Scoop, Booman Tribune, ThinkProgress, AmSpecBlog and RedState
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Conservatives angry over Pell Grant funding in Boehner debt bill
Conservatives angry over Pell Grant funding in Boehner debt bill
Discussion:
CNN, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, TPMDC, CANNONFIRE, The New Republic, Hullabaloo, Open Congress, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Cato @ Liberty and The Hill
Bob Cusack / The Hill:
GOP leader: ‘I believe there will be a vote today’ on debt plan
GOP leader: ‘I believe there will be a vote today’ on debt plan
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Joe Klein / Swampland:
Republicans' Debt Ceiling Charade Is Downright Dangerous
Republicans' Debt Ceiling Charade Is Downright Dangerous
Discussion:
The Hill, Shakesville, Connecting.the.Dots and Mother Jones
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, 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
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Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Tea Party groups target ‘defectors’ on debt vote
Tea Party groups target ‘defectors’ on debt vote
Discussion:
The Note, ThinkProgress and The Hill
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, The Next Web, The Atlantic Online and The Daily Caller, more at Techmeme »
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Matt Rosoff / Politics:
Apple Now Has More Cash Than The U.S. Government
Apple Now Has More Cash Than The U.S. Government
Discussion:
Pajamas Media and National Review
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:
ThinkProgress
Investor's Business Daily:
ATF: The White House Knew — Scandal: A former ATF special agent tells Congress a National Security Council staffer was informed about Operation Fast and Furious before guns allowed into Mexico wound up at the murder scene of a U.S. agent. — The latest evidence that both the White House …
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:
The Gateway Pundit, Don Surber, 911memorial.org and How Appealing
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
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:
The Huffington Post, Grasping Reality …, Weasel Zippers, Balkinization, Maggie's Notebook, Hot Air and Pundit & Pundette