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10:25 AM ET, August 7, 2011

Top Items:

Edmund L. Andrews / NationalJournal.com:

Why S&P's Downgrade is No Joke — The real impact of S&P's downgrade is political, not economic. — It's tempting to dismiss Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. long-term Treasury bonds as no big deal in the real world. It's also tempting to describe it as a broad criticism …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

John Bellows / U.S. Department of the Treasury:

Just the Facts: S&P's $2 Trillion Mistake — In a document provided to Treasury on Friday afternoon, Standard and Poor's (S&P) presented a judgment about the credit rating of the U.S. that was based on a $2 trillion mistake. After Treasury pointed out this error - a basic math error …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Jared Bernstein, Guardian, Economics One, Ben Smith's Blog, Politics, Fortune, FOXBusiness.com and Wall Street Journal

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

A timeline of events — Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we? — 1980: Ronald Reagan runs for president, promising a balanced budget — 1981 - 1989: With support from congressional Republicans, Reagan runs enormous deficits, adds $2 trillion to the debt.

Felix Salmon:

The credibility and integrity of S&P's ratings action — Treasury's official response to the S&P downgrade has arrived, and it makes for pretty depressing reading. Treasury's taking a shoot-the-messenger approach: S&P made a mistake in its debt-sustainability calculations, they say …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, New York Times, The Curious Capitalist, Patterico's Pontifications and Conservatives4Palin

Josh Boak / The Politico:

S & P warns of a second downgrade — One day after lowering the nation's platinum triple-A credit rating, Standard & Poor's analysts warned Saturday that the U.S. government could face a second downgrade if the economy continues to struggle and the government fails to make the cuts outlined in the debt ceiling agreement.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Outside the Beltway, Firedoglake, Towleroad News #gay, PERRspectives and AMERICAN FUTURE

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Standard and Poors versus Mitch McConnell

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, The Political Carnival and Daily Kos

GetEQUAL.org:

Protesters Travel From Across Texas to Picket Hate-Based Event — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Michael Diviesti, GetEQUAL Texas State Lead Organizer, (512) 694-3394, michael@getequaltx.org — HOUSTON, TX — On August 6th, Governor Perry spoke at an event inside Reliant Stadium in Houston …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Towleroad News #gay

Manny Fernandez / New York Times:
Perry Leads Prayer Rally for ‘Nation in Crisis’

Discussion: Gawker, New York Magazine and Towleroad News #gay

Kasie Hunt / The Politico:
Perry prays for the U.S.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, CNN, Runnin' Scared, JammieWearingFool, The Note and Ballot Box

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Obama's soft response to Tea Party draws liberal criticism — Liberals are growing frustrated with President Obama's soft response to the Tea Party after fractious negotiations over the debt limit led to the loss of nation's AAA credit rating on Friday. — Republicans and Democrats …

Discussion: The Democratic Daily and Weasel Zippers

Janet Daley / Telegraph:

If we are to survive the looming catastrophe, we need to face the truth — The idea that a capitalist economy can support a socialist welfare state is collapsing before our eyes, says Janet Daley. — Getting it right: the Tea Party recognised where America's policies were heading

Discussion: National Review

Mark Tapscott / Washington Examiner:

Wisconsin Democratic Party flak threatens to sic union bullies on independent news group — A spokesman for the Wisconsin Democratic Party has threatened to sic union bullies on an independent news organization whose reporting he thinks is “biased.” — Graeme Zeilinski was upset …

Discussion: RedState and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Drew Westen / New York Times:

What Happened to Obama? — Drew Westen is a professor of psychology at Emory University and the author of “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.” — Atlanta — IT was a blustery day in Washington on Jan. 20, 2009, as it often seems to be on the day of a presidential inauguration.

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots and Corrente

Washington Examiner:

Obama won't escape blame for credit downgrade — Standard and Poor's explanation for why it downgraded U.S. debt is written in such a way that it can be seized upon by all ideological stripes. The statement cites the unwillingness of Republicans to raise taxes and of Democrats to agree to entitlement cuts.

Discussion: The Impolitic

Kurt Andersen / New York Times:

The Madman Theory — I had breakfast this week with one of Hollywood's most ferocious, self-confident and successful doers of deals. He was still steamed about what an unforgivably lousy negotiator his president had been on the debt ceiling agreement. — One particular Obama move he found appalling above all the rest.

Washington Post:

Origins of the debt showdown — This article was reported by Lori Montgomery, Paul Kane, Brady Dennis, Alec MacGillis, David Fahrenthold, Rosalind Helderman, Felicia Sonmez and Dan Balz. It was written by Dennis, MacGillis and Montgomery. — In mid-January, newly installed …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Prairie Weather

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Former Obama Economic Adviser on Downgrade: We're ‘Pretty Darn F—ked’ — Christina Romer, the former chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers on Friday offered a rather strong opinion concerning the announcement by Standard & Poor's that the credit rating agency downgraded America's debt to AA+.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit and The Lonely Conservative