memeorandum: Most Popular Question at Healthcare.gov: How to Get Exemption From Lack-of-Coverage Penalty Fee? (Jeryl Bier/Weekly Standard)

3:25 PM ET, September 30, 2013

Top Items:

CNN:

CNN Poll: Americans would blame GOP if shutdown happens tonight — If the federal government shuts down because of a bitter partisan battle over the new health care law, more people say congressional Republicans rather than President Barack Obama would be responsible, according to a new national survey.

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

Countdown to Shutdown — Think 1996 was bad for the GOP? This time will be much, much worse — The year 1996, the last time the GOP took its toys and went home rather than fund the government, hasn't loomed so large in Washington since it actually was 1996.

Discussion: The Dish, Balloon Juice and The Hugh Hewitt Show

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

John Boehner doesn't have to let the Tea Party paralyze whole government — The New York Times reports this morning that GOP Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate from Pennsylvania, is working to round up House GOP support for allowing a “clean CR” funding the government, with no Obamacare defunding, to get a vote in the House.

Discussion: ABC News, Daily Kos, Democratic Policy & … and National Review

Robert Costa / National Review:

The Speaker's Slog — There were no tears, just cheers, when Speaker John Boehner announced his latest fiscal strategy on Saturday at a closed-door conference meeting. Even Boehner's longtime critics praised him for pushing a government-spending bill that also delayed Obamacare for one year and repealed the medical-device tax.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, The Plum Line, Taegan Goddard's … and The Raw Story

Bloomberg:

Republicans' Shutdown Fight Exposes Simmering Civil War — The Republican war with President Barack Obama over funding the government and the new health-care law will play out in the coming days and months. The conflict now exposed within the party may shape its future for years.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Taylor Marsh

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Senate rejects House funding bill with shutdown in clear sight — Congress took another step toward a government shutdown Monday as the Senate voted 54-46 to strip language from a House funding bill that delayed ObamaCare by a year. — Senate Democrats called on House Republicans to pass …

Discussion: The World's Greatest … and Outside the Beltway

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
The Associated Press Goes to Bat For the Democratic Party

Discussion: Associated Press, The Lonely Conservative, The Strata-Sphere, VodkaPundit and Prairie Weather

NationalJournal.com:
State of Play: Republicans Getting Wobbly on a Government Shutdown

Discussion: Roll Call, TIME, Wonkblog, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Washington Post and Taegan Goddard's …

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Republican Senator Denounces House GOP's Obamacare Strategy

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

New York Times:
Senate Action on Health Law Moves to Brink of Shutdown

Discussion: American Spectator, The Week, Wall Street Journal, The Reaction, The Other McCain, First Read, Business Insider, Politico, msnbc.com, The Hugh Hewitt Show and NBCNews

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama ‘not resigned’ to shutdown

Discussion: Politico

Politico:
Government shutdown: House GOP leaders huddle

Discussion: Daily Kos and Connecting.the.Dots

Reuters:
Government shutdown: Harry Reid spearheads Democratic strategy

Discussion: CNN, Politico, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Hot Air, National Review, BizPac Review, WJLA-TV, Pirate's Cove and Pat Dollard

Politico:
Government shutdown update: Mitch McConnell weighs one-week CR

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Wall Street Journal:
Government Heads Toward Shutdown

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Post, Daily Record, Daily Kos, Washington Wire, Speaker.gov and david-frum

Tal Kopan / Politico:
Dow drops amid government shutdown fears

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hill and CNN

John Dickerson / Slate:
What Will Boehner Do? — The ball is in his court.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Week, The Mahablog, Washington Examiner and The Daily Caller

Charles Ferguson / The Huffington Post:

Why I Am Cancelling My Documentary on Hillary Clinton — In late 2012, CNN Films approached me about directing a documentary. We discussed a number of potential subjects, and eventually settled on Hillary Rodham Clinton. The film would be ambitious, controversial, and highly visible.

Brian Beutler / Salon:

Right-wing extremists “are guilty of murder,” Sen. Angus King tells Salon — In an interview with Salon, Independent senator unloads on conservatives who urge young people to remain uninsured — Tuesday begins a 6-month race to enroll as many uninsured people as possible in the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Gallup:
Two in Three Uninsured Americans Plan to Buy Insurance

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Politico and Talking Points Memo

Cecile Richards / Politico:

The House's war on women — The full picture of what the House of Representatives did late Saturday night is just coming into view, and it's startling. The House voted to keep the government functioning as long as the Affordable Care Act is delayed for a year — and they also voted …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, theGrio, LifeNews.com and ABC News

Holly Yan / CNN:
(CNN) — Let's start with the obvious question: Will the government shut down this week?

Discussion: PolicyMic, Guardian, Global Public Square, Firedoglake and Shakesville

Paul Begala / CNN:
Three ways to score the shutdown battle

Discussion: Roll Call, PoliticusUSA and The Week

ABC News:
Shutdown Showdown: Gridlock Over Obamacare as Deadline Looms

Discussion: CNN, ABC News and Politico

New York Times:

Qaeda Plot Leak Has Undermined U.S. Intelligence — WASHINGTON — As the nation's spy agencies assess the fallout from disclosures about their surveillance programs, some government analysts and senior officials have made a startling finding: the impact of a leaked terrorist plot by Al Qaeda …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, emptywheel, NPR, americanthinker.com, Hullabaloo, Prairie Weather, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hot Air and VodkaPundit

Eric Garland / The Hill:

GOP Rep. Pompeo: I'll try to enroll in ObamaCare exchange — Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), an opponent of ObamaCare, said he will try to sign up for the healthcare exchange when it opens Tuesday. — “I'm going to try to enroll tomorrow morning, October 1,” Pompeo vowed.

Discussion: Politico

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:
POLL: Voters Are ‘Unmoved’ By Government Shutdown Drama, Still Don't Want To Delay Obamacare

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and ThinkProgress

Avik Roy / Forbes:
New Poll: Only One-Third Of Americans Support Repealing, Defunding Or Delaying Obamacare

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and The Morning Consult

Bill Keller / New York Times:

The Right Gets Its '60s — “Something's happening here. — What it is ain't exactly clear. The right-wing campaign to sabotage the Affordable Care Act has driven a lot of normally temperate people past the edge of exasperation. Pundits have described the crusade as crazy, stupid …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, The Raw Story and alicublog

Jeryl Bier / Weekly Standard:

Most Popular Question at Healthcare.gov: How to Get Exemption From Lack-of-Coverage Penalty Fee? — One day away from the launch of the Obamacare marketplaces, the question most on the minds people visiting the Healthcare.gov website is not about coverage, but rather about avoiding the penalty, or tax, for not having health insurance.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Conservatives4Palin

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Rebels Without a Clue — This may be the way the world ends — not with a bang but with a temper tantrum. — O.K., a temporary government shutdown — which became almost inevitable after Sunday's House vote to provide government funding only on unacceptable conditions — wouldn't be the end of the world.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Washington Monthly

Igor Bobic / Talking Points Memo:

6-Year-Old Accidentally Shot In New York — A 6-year-old boy accidentally shot himself while playing with a handgun in Rochester, N.Y. on Sunday, the Democrat & Chronicle reported. — The child was shot in his lower body and was taken to an area hospital with minor injures.

Discussion: Democrat And Chronicle and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jeryl Bier / Weekly Standard:

Obamacare Website Quietly Deletes Reference to ‘Free Health Care’ — Even as President Obama and his administration are making a last minute push to encourage enrollment in Obamacare, a quiet change was made on the Healthcare.gov website regarding those who will still not be able to afford coverage after the program kicks in.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers and msnbc.com

Jon Favreau / The Daily Beast:

House Republican Hostage-Takers Are Unfit to Govern — They're threatening an economic shutdown that will cause financial hardship and even ruin for millions of Americans. So let's call these House Republicans what they are, says Jon Favreau. — The most terrifying speech I ever wrote for President Obama was one he never gave.

Discussion: VodkaPundit