Top Items:
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:
Washington Monthly, Oliver Willis, Weasel Zippers, Politics, Guardian, HousingWire, The Mahablog, Swampland, Hullabaloo and Suburban Guerrilla
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Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
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
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.
standardandpoors.com:
United States of America Long-Term Rating Lowered To ‘AA+’ Due To Political Risks, Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative … TORONTO (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 5, 2011—Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA’.
New York Times:
S.&P. Downgrades Debt Rating of U.S. For the First Time — WASHINGTON — Standard & Poor's removed the United States government from its list of risk-free borrowers for the first time on Friday night, a downgrade that is freighted with symbolic significance but carries few clear financial implications.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, UrbanGrounds, Washington Post, NewsBusters.org, Runnin' Scared, Gawker, Swampland, Mogulite, Online NewsHour and New York Magazine
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:
The Politico, AMERICAN FUTURE and Towleroad News #gay
Wall Street Journal:
S&P Strips U.S. of Top Credit Rating — Unprecedented Downgrade Comes After Last-Minute Standoff; Treasury Says Decision Is ‘Flawed by a $2 Trillion Error’ — A cornerstone of the global financial system was shaken Friday when officials at ratings firm Standard & Poor's said U.S. Treasury debt …
Discussion:
Guardian, Firedoglake and Corrente
Robert Reich:
Why S&P Has No Business Downgrading the U.S.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and Bark Bark Woof Woof
Jamie Klatell / The Hill:
White House: S&P downgrade is why Obama ‘pushed for grand bargain’
Discussion:
CNN
MarketBeat:
S&P Downgrades U.S. Debt Rating — Press Release
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Free exchange, Prairie Weather, NO QUARTER, The Gateway Pundit, RedState and The Raw Story
Walter Brandimarte / Reuters:
United States loses AAA credit rating from S&P
Discussion:
Hot Air, Firedoglake, UPI, Dow Jones Newswires, Pajamas Media, ThinkProgress, Conservatives4Palin, CBS News, Outside the Beltway, National Review, The Reality-Based Community, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, TalkLeft, blogs.abcnews.com, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Agonist and The Right Scoop
Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Boehner's Folly Leads To S&P Downgrade of US Debt
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and HotAirPundit
Jamie Klatell / The Hill:
Reid: S&P downgrade backs Dems' call for more revenue
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool
Political Punch:
Govt Officials: US Expecting S&P Downgrade — Based on ‘Serious Mistake’ in Analysis*
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Politics, Deal Journal, PoliticusUSA, The Agonist, Guardian, TPMDC, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, MarketBeat, The Gateway Pundit, The Political Carnival, Outside the Beltway, Don Surber, Daily Kos, Viking Pundit, Wonkette, Booman Tribune, Marginal Revolution, The Raw Story, Taylor Marsh, The Lonely Conservative, The Other McCain, Pajamas Media, HotAirPundit, Vox Popoli, CNBC, Questions and Observations, Jared Bernstein, Gretawire, FT Alphaville, The Right Scoop, Hot Air, Capital Tonight, Donklephant and Patterico's Pontifications
Felix Salmon:
Why the S&P downgrade was delayed
Discussion:
Daniel W. Drezner, Mother Jones, Balloon Juice, FT Alphaville and Politics
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
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Five thoughts on the potential S&P downgrade
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Crooks and Liars and The Atlantic Online
Tyler Durden / zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml:
S&P Downgrades US To AA+, Outlook Negative - Full Text
Discussion:
Doug Ross, FrumForum, Sky Dancing, Atlas Shrugs, Hot Air, Pajamas Media and ECHIDNE of the snakes
New York Times:
31 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 31 Americans and 7 Afghan commandos on board, American and Afghan officials said.
Discussion:
Atlas Shrugs, Hot Air, msnbc.com, The Gateway Pundit, New York Magazine, Politics, Gothamist, emptywheel, The Agonist, HotAirPundit and americanthinker.com
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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:
Firedoglake, BBC, CNN, The Moderate Voice, Guardian and Outside the Beltway
Martha Raddatz / ABCNEWS:
31 Americans Killed Including 25 SEALs in Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan
Discussion:
The Long War Journal and Gawker
Solomon Moore / Associated Press:
31 Americans, 7 Afghans killed in helicopter crash
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, Scared Monkeys, Wizbang and Weasel Zippers
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, The Moderate Voice, Sydney Morning Herald, americanthinker.com and The Political Carnival
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CNN:
Questions abound after agency downgrades U.S. credit rating — (CNN) — A day after Standard & Poor's rating agency downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from its top rank of AAA, there were more questions than answers Saturday about what effects the move will have on the economy and American consumers.
Discussion:
Xinhua News Agency, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Poynter
David Barboza / New York Times:
China Tells U.S. It Must ‘Cure Its Addiction to Debt’
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Balkinization, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and China Digital Times
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:
Riehl World View, NewsBusters.org, JammieWearingFool, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Crooks and Liars and Wake up America
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:
Power Line, PoliPundit.com and Hot Air
Michael O'Brien / Ballot Box:
Perry's prayer gathering sets stage for national attention — Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) high-profile prayer gathering Saturday is set to pave the way for his possible but increasingly likely late entry into the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Discussion:
The Note
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