memeorandum: NATO copter shot down; dozens of U.S. troops killed (Kevin Sieff/Washington Post)

3:40 PM ET, August 6, 2011

Top Items:

Standard & Poor's has been wrong before. But they're right now. — Standard Poor's decision to downgrade the United States has led to a lot of criticism of Standard Poor's. The White House called their performance, which included a miscalculation of about $2 trillion, “amateur hour.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Reality-Based Community and The Politico

Jamie Klatell / The Hill:

White House: S&P downgrade is why Obama ‘pushed for grand bargain’ — The White House reacted to the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by calling for more bipartisan compromise to “put our nation on a stronger fiscal footing.” — But the administration didn't miss the chance to say, in essence, “I told you so.”

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Paul Krugman:

S&P and the USA — OK, so Standard and Poors has gone ahead with the threatened downgrade. It's a strange situation. — On one hand, there is a case to be made that the madness of the right has made America a fundamentally unsound nation. And yes, it is the madness of the right …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Oliver Willis, NewsBusters.org blogs, FOXBusiness.com, Washington Monthly, Politics, Weasel Zippers, HousingWire, The Mahablog, Guardian, Hullabaloo, Hit & Run, ECHIDNE of the snakes and Suburban Guerrilla

Kevinliptak / CNN:

TRENDING: GOP candidates slam Obama after downgrade — Washington (CNN) - Republican presidential candidates issued harsh criticism of President Barack Obama Friday after the credit rating agency Standard and Poor's announced it was downgrading America's long-term debt status.

Discussion: zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml, The Politico, Firedoglake, AMERICAN FUTURE and Towleroad News #gay

Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal:

Math Error Fuels Fight Over Rating — A mathematical error discovered late Friday by Treasury Department officials threw into limbo, at least temporarily, plans by ratings firm Standard & Poor's to downgrade the top-notch AAA credit rating the U.S. has held for 70 years, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Outside the Beltway, ABCNEWS, Booman Tribune, JammieWearingFool, Riehl World View, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Crooks and Liars, Politics, TPMDC, Truthdig, Tim Blair, Connecting.the.Dots, Taylor Marsh and Questions and Observations

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Former Obama Economic Adviser on Downgrade: We're ‘Pretty Darn F—ked’

Discussion: Breitbart.tv, The Lonely Conservative and The Gateway Pundit

standardandpoors.com:
United States of America Long-Term Rating Lowered To ‘AA+’ Due To Political Risks, Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, The Politico, The Baseline Scenario, Slate, The Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, Nice Deb, Libertarian Republican, Daniel W. Drezner, Hullabaloo, NewsBusters.org blogs, DealBook, Hot Air and Newshoggers.com

Robert Reich:
Why S&P Has No Business Downgrading the U.S.

Discussion: neo-neocon, Balloon Juice and Bark Bark Woof Woof

New York Times:
S.& P. Downgrades Debt Rating of U.S. for the First Time

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Lede, Washington Monthly, Swampland, nation.foxnews.com, Washington Post, Gawker, UrbanGrounds, Mogulite and Online NewsHour

Wall Street Journal:
S&P Strips U.S. of Top Credit Rating

Discussion: Fortune, Guardian, Swampland, Firedoglake and Corrente

BBC:
US loses AAA credit rating after S&P downgrade

Discussion: Politics, CRFB.org, Exile On Wall Street, Mother Jones, International Liberty and Outside the Beltway

Walter Brandimarte / Reuters:
United States loses AAA credit rating from S&P

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Boehner's Folly Leads To S&P Downgrade of US Debt

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, HotAirPundit and Mother Jones

MarketBeat:
S&P Downgrades U.S. Debt Rating — Press Release

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, Prairie Weather, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NO QUARTER, Free exchange, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, The Raw Story, The Lonely Conservative and Vox Popoli

John Detrixhe / Bloomberg:
S&P Cuts U.S. Rating for First Time on Deficit Reduction Pact

Discussion: naked capitalism, Wizbang, Discourse.net, The New Civil Rights Movement, Gothamist, The Huffington Post and Pajamas Media

Jamie Klatell / The Hill:
Reid: S&P downgrade backs Dems' call for more revenue

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool

New York Times:

30 Americans Killed as Taliban Shoot Down a Copter — KABUL, Afghanistan — In the deadliest day for American forces in the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter on Saturday, killing 30 Americans and 7 Afghan commandos on board, American and Afghan officials said.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Iowa Caucuses, msnbc.com, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Politics, New York Magazine, Gothamist, emptywheel, The Agonist, americanthinker.com and HotAirPundit

Associated Press:

Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Kills Members of SEAL Team 6 — WASHINGTON — The Associated Press has learned that more than 20 Navy SEALs from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden were among those lost in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. — The operators from SEAL Team Six were flown …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Power Line, Telegraph, Runnin' Scared, Weasel Zippers and Fox News Insider

Kevin Sieff / Washington Post:

NATO copter shot down; dozens of U.S. troops killed — KABUL — A NATO helicopter was shot down during an overnight operation against the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan, a U.S. official said. The crash appeared to be the deadliest incident for the coalition in the nearly 10-year-old war …

Discussion: BBC, Guardian, LewRockwell.com Blog, Outside the Beltway and The Moderate Voice

Martha Raddatz / ABCNEWS:

31 Americans Killed Including 25 SEALs in Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan — A helicopter crash in Afghanistan killed 31 Americans, including as many as 25 Navy SEALs in one of the worst single-day U.S. losses of life since the war began, a senior military official told ABC News early this morning.

Discussion: Online NewsHour, The Long War Journal, American Forces Press Service and Gawker

CNN:
U.S. official: About two dozen U.S. deaths in Afghan copter crash

Discussion: Firedoglake, Associated Press, The Raw Story and Runnin' Scared

Reuters:

China tells U.S. “good old days” of borrowing are over — (Reuters) - China bluntly criticized the United States on Saturday one day after the superpower's credit rating was downgraded, saying the “good old days” of borrowing were over. — Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. long-term credit rating …

Discussion: BBC, Sydney Morning Herald, The Moderate Voice, americanthinker.com and The Political Carnival

David Barboza / New York Times:

China Tells U.S. It Must ‘Cure Its Addiction to Debt’ — SHANGHAI — China, the largest foreign holder of United States debt, said Saturday that Washington needed to “cure its addiction to debts” and “live within its means,” just hours after the rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded America's long-term debt.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, Balkinization, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and China Digital Times

CNN:
Questions abound after agency downgrades U.S. credit rating

Discussion: Xinhua News Agency, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Poynter

Thomas W. Lippman / Washington Post:
Washington's uneasy alliance with Bahrain

Discussion: Eunomia and The Daily Dish

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

The Tea Party, Take Two — In the four months since I began writing an Op-Ed column, the thing that has most surprised me is how darned liberal I sound sometimes. I know that seems like a strange thing to say, so let me explain. — Growing up in heavily Democratic Providence, R.I. …

Discussion: Power Line, PERRspectives, Riehl World View, NewsBusters.org blogs, JammieWearingFool, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars and Washington Post

Kasie Hunt / The Politico:

Perry prays for the U.S. — HOUSTON — Texas Gov. Rick Perry prayed with more than 20,000 worshipers at an all-day Christian gathering here — and while he talked about God, not the Oval Office, he repeatedly hit on the themes that would drive his potential presidential campaign.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared and The Note

Michael O'Brien / Ballot Box:
Perry's prayer gathering sets stage for national attention

Discussion: The Note

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Widener Law School goes Soviet, demands law professor undergo psychiatric evaluation — Lawrence Connell is a tenured law professor at Widener Law School in Delaware. I have noted in prior posts that Connell was accused of a wide range of racist and sexist conduct directed at students …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy

Joseph Rago / Wall Street Journal:

Obama and the Narcissism of Big Differences — ‘He becomes visibly agitated. . . . He does not like to be challenged on policy grounds,’ says the House majority leader of the president. — New York — Whatever the rhetoric that preceded this week's deal, the debt-ceiling debate was never really about the debt at all.

Discussion: Hot Air, PoliPundit.com and Power Line