Tea Party's War on America  —  You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists.  It only encourages them.  —  These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people.  Their intransigent demands …

Giffords's Return Marks Moment of Unity in Divided House  —  The clock was running down, and the debt ceiling compromise did not yet have enough ayes to pass.  Then, slowly, applause started trickling through the House chamber.  The clapping grew over the next half minute, until finally …

Boehner: I got 98 percent of what I wanted  —  CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley sat down with Speaker of the House John Boehner in his office at the Capitol on Monday.  —  With a brutal partisan fight over the debt ceiling drawing to an apparent close, Boehner said he understands …

We The Stupid  —  I stand here in abject stupefaction.  The so-called “right” or “Tea Party” in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I am struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape . . . and they honesty think that they're “winning.”

Most of Newt Gingrich's Twitter Followers Are Fake  —  Yesterday Newt Gingrich laid out a new argument for why he should be the GOP presidential nominee: He's got the most Twitter followers.  But according to a former Gingrich staffer, he bought them.  —  Gingrich complained yesterday …

Pols all ‘look like idiots’ during debt crisis, but President Obama takes biggest hit of them all  —  WASHINGTON - There are no real winners in the debt-crisis debacle, and in such moments the leader of the country absorbs a larger hit than most.  —  The tawdry spectacle of governmental paralysis …

Egyptians Turn Against Liberal Protesters  —  CAIRO—Mobs of ordinary Egyptians joined with soldiers to drive pro-democracy protesters from their encampment in Tahrir Square here Monday, showing how far the uprising's early heroes have fallen in the eyes of the public.

Debt Ceiling Deal: The Democrats Take a Dive  —  So the debt deal has finally been reached.  As expected, the agreement arrives in a form that right-thinking people everywhere can feel terrible about with great confidence.  —  The general consensus is that for the second time in three years …

The collapse of America's middle class  —  People seem to act irrationally when they have nothing to lose.  Often we observe in wars that the losing side expends more blood and treasure after its position becomes hopeless.  —  The American South sustained most of its casualties in the Civil War …

Who gains from debt deal?  The Pentagon, for one  —  WASHINGTON — The last-minute deal that Congress is considering to raise the federal debt limit probably will mean trillions of dollars in government spending reductions for most agencies.  But one department stands to gain: the Pentagon.

Consumer Spending in U.S. Unexpectedly Fell in June  —  Consumer spending in the U.S. unexpectedly dropped in June for the first time in almost two years as a slump in hiring caused households to retrench.  —  Purchases decreased 0.2 percent, after a 0.1 percent gain the prior month …

Fiscal Conservatives Barred from Supercommittee  —  Will Senate Republicans be able to prevent tax hikes?  —  The debt ceiling deal will pass the Senate early this afternoon.  No suspense there.  But the vote will be worth watching for another reason: Three Republican Senate sources tell TWS …

Dems eat Satan sandwich, GOP looks to next course  —  There's nothing like a vote on federal spending cuts to make one of the most liberal lawmakers on Capitol Hill sound like a Tea Partier.  —  “We're going to read this document,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said Monday …

US employer health plan enrollment up 2% under PPACA's dependent eligibility rule  — Despite concerns about cost, just 2% of respondents say they are “very likely” to terminate medical plans after the insurance exchanges are operational, with another 6% “likely” to do so - essentially unchanged from a year ago.

Amidst Debt Fight, Discontent With Congress  —  Time for recess: The debt battle that turned Congress upside-down nears end.  —  Amidst a tumultuous fight over raising the debt ceiling, Americans are deeply dissatisfied with Washington and eager to elect fresh faces to Congress …

Obama's Top Four Power Grabs  —  The president stretches executive power to expand the warfare state and the regulatory state.  —  Candidates never keep their promises once in office.  But even by the unlovely standards of his political peers, President Obama has pulled a rather impressive switcheroo from the anti-Bush to Bush-plus.

DEMS PLAN PIVOT TO JOBS: Transportation, infrastructure, tax breaks on fall agenda - New Michael Meehan firm - NYT creates Political Desk - Alison Starling, NBC's Peter Alexander engaged  —Arizona Republic A1, “Giffords stuns D.C., casts vote,” by Dan Nowicki: “Giffords' decision to come …

Washington's Next Debt Showdown  —  Few in Congress much like the debt deal, and fighting among Reid, Boehner, and party members begins anew in the fall over more cuts, new taxes, and entitlements.  By Jill Lawrence. … Congress is in a good mood this week, having finally emerged …

Bill Gross: This Deal Does Nothing, And We Still Have An “Unfathomable” $66 Trillion In Liabilities To Deal With  —  Bill Gross's big bet against US Treasuries didn't work out well (latest yield on the 10-year is 2.70%), but nevertheless, as a gigantic bond investor his opinion …

Expiring gas tax may be next battle on the Hill  —  In normal times, renewing the federal excise tax on gasoline would be another routine vote in Congress.  —  But as the past month of rancorous and intensely partisan debate about raising the debt ceiling has shown, the times are anything but normal.

Fine!  Call My Bluff!  —  Obama maximizes his losses by going all in on a weak hand.  —  Remember a few weeks ago when President Obama reportedly said to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor: “Eric, don't call my bluff”?  Lots of commentators said that this was a “tell”—that by referring to …

Judge: Reform doesn't fund abortion  —  A federal judge in Ohio said Monday that the Affordable Care Act does not provide for taxpayer funding for abortion.  The statement was the cornerstone of the judge's ruling to allow a defamation lawsuit brought against the Susan B. Anthony List by a former congressman to move forward.

Mitch McConnell Vows To Hold Debt Ceiling Hostage In The Future: 'We'll Be Doing It All Over'  —  While a deal has been struck to raise the debt ceiling for now, many progressives have worried that the damaged has been already been done in that Republicans learned that …