Inside story of Obama's struggle to keep Congress from controlling outcome of debt ceiling crisis  —  President Obama summoned the top four congressional leaders to the White House on Saturday morning, July 23, 2011.  The night before, House Speaker John A. Boehner had withdrawn from negotiations …

Why Is This Election Close?  —  For a long time I have been predicting that Mitt Romney would get the Republican nomination, and that he would then win the general election.  I have said that the election will be reasonably close-demographic realities dictate that all national elections …

Obama tells ‘birther’ joke, asks young boy if he has birth certificate  —  President Obama poked fun at conspiracy theories which question whether he was born in the United States during a campaign stop in Orlando, Fla. on Saturday.  —  The president made a stop at a local sports bar …

Mass Arab Attack on Jewish Village  —  Hundreds of PA Arabs assault Jewish villagers in the Binyamin region, children cry as mob screams ‘slaughter the Jews.’  —  Hundreds of Palestinian Authority Arabs have been assaulting a Jewish village in the Binyamin region since Saturday afternoon, Tatzpit reports.

The GOP convention negative bounce: a final look  —  (Greetings, readers of Political Wire, Andrew Sullivan, Reddit, DailyKos, and others.  To see what our low-noise approach implies for directing both Democratic and Republican campaign donations, click here.)  —  Soon, post-DNC state polls will begin to arrive.

Joe Walsh To Sandra Fluke: ‘Get A Job’ (VIDEO)  —  Add freshman tea party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) to the list of Republicans attacking Sandra Fluke after her appearance at the Democratic National Convention.  —  At a campaign stop Saturday in Addison, IL, Walsh, who faces a tough reelection battle …

Cutting the Deficit, With Compassion  —  ASIDE from the empty chair that Clint Eastwood debated, the main prop at the Republican convention was a debt clock, highlighting the federal deficit and the growing national debt.  The importance of dealing with the deficit will clearly be a major Republican theme this fall.

Spotify Will Launch A Browser-Based Version  —  If you're wondering why the Spotify desktop software has hardly been updated in a year, it's because the company is preparing to launch a completely overhauled browser-based version of its streaming music service, multiple sources confirm.

Those Jobless Numbers Are Even Worse Than They Look  —  Still above 8%—and closer to 19% in a truer accounting.  Here's a plan for improvement.  —  Don't be fooled by the headline unemployment number of 8.1% announced on Friday.  The reason the number dropped to 8.1% from 8.3% in July …

OBAMANOMICS: 173K NEW FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS, 96K NEW JOBS  —  It's like a corrupt media ritual.  The moment a Republican enters the Oval Office, America's homeless are suddenly discovered, dragged before news cameras, and used as props to prove how heartless the current administration is.