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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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, 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
Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
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 …
Discussion:
RedState
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:
Reuters, Daniel W. Drezner, Daily Kos, Politics, Washington Monthly and ThinkProgress
Bob Cusack / The Hill:
GOP leader: ‘I believe there will be a vote today’ on debt 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:
Outside the Beltway and The Gateway Pundit
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 and The Hill
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
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:
Taegan Goddard's …
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The great divide
The great divide
Discussion:
Cato @ Liberty, The Daily Dish and The New Republic
The Politico:
As clock ticks, default or deal?
As clock ticks, default or deal?
Discussion:
The Heritage Foundation, Politics, The Moderate Voice, PERRspectives, The Gavel and Hot Air
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, Erick's blog, The Hill, RedState, The Right Scoop, Bearing Drift and Weasel Zippers
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
The Politico:
Debt ceiling bill puts South Carolina vs. the world in House
Debt ceiling bill puts South Carolina vs. the world in House
Discussion:
The Hill, FT Alphaville, No More Mister Nice Blog and Politics
Joe Klein / Swampland:
Republicans' Debt Ceiling Charade Is Downright Dangerous
Republicans' Debt Ceiling Charade Is Downright Dangerous
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Hill, Shakesville, Connecting.the.Dots and Mother Jones
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 …
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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 …
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
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
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
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
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
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 »
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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
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
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
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 …
Virginia Heffernan / Opinionator:
When Shilling on the Web, Think Small — Mariah Carey and Barack Obama each had something to sell this week, and they made live videos to do it. Both videos bombed. Ms. Carey's pitch on HSN, for tracksuits and other sundries from her fashion label, was too weird.