memeorandum: Newt Gingrich Wants The Government Out Of The Panda Cam Business (Hunter Walker/Talking Points Memo)

6:45 PM ET, October 4, 2013

Top Items:

White House's Hard Line on Shutdown, Debt Ceiling Has Risks Attached … President Barack Obama is sticking to his stance that he won't negotiate with Republicans over the government shutdown or the higher-stakes fight over the federal debt ceiling. — The question, for Republicans …

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Senior Admin. Official: 'We Are Winning...It Doesn't Really Matter to Us' When Shutdown Ends

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, USA Today, Hot Air, Heritage Action for America, Connecting.the.Dots, Independent Journal Review and National Republican …

Washington Free Beacon:
Boehner to White House: 'This Isn't Some Damn Game'

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wall Street Journal, msnbc.com, Washington Wire, Mediaite, Politico, The Right Scoop, Independent Journal Review and Speaker.gov

Jonathan Bernstein / PostPartisan:
The Insiders: The World War II Memorial is not a political prop

Discussion: Gawker and EconLog

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Shutdown hampering Iran sanctions, White House says

Discussion: Politico

Robert Costa / National Review:

The Emerging Offer — It hasn't been announced, and you won't hear about it today, but the final volley of the fiscal impasse, at least for House Republicans, is already being brokered. And according to my top sources — both members and senior aides — it won't end with a clean CR, or with a sprawling, 2011-style budget agreement.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Fix, The World's Greatest …, Wonkblog, Business Insider, Washington Post, Hot Air and Liberal Values

Brian Beutler / Salon:

Dumbest extortion attempt ever: Republican scheme's perverse logic — GOP's demands are putting the economy and American presidency on the line — and now they can't back away from them — This is the fourth day of the GOP's government shutdown and the sequence of events that will ultimately end it …

Discussion: The New Republic and The Raw Story

Ramesh Ponnuru / Bloomberg:
How to Make a Non-Disastrous Debt-Limit Deal

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Political Capital, The Dish, National Review, Economix, Wonkblog and Washington Post

ThinkProgress:
Boehner Suggests Taking The Country Into Default Unless Republicans Get Additional Spending Cuts

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Matt Fuller / Roll Call:
Boehner Vows He Won't ‘Roll Over’ to Obama, Democrats (Updated)

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and First Read

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Dems move to force Republicans to reopen the government — House Democratic leaders believe they have hit on a new way to potentially force House Republican leaders into allowing a vote on a “clean CR” funding the government without any defunding of Obamacare attached.

Discussion: Roll Call, Hot Air, PoliticusUSA, Daily Kos, A plain blog about politics, Campaign for America's Future and The Monkey Cage

Politico:

Democrats tap procedural trick to force House CR vote — House Democrats will use a parliamentary procedure to try to break a logjam over government funding and bring a “clean” continuing resolution to the floor, according to senior Democratic lawmakers and leadership aides.

Discussion: protein wisdom

Matt Fuller / Roll Call:

Democrats Plan to Discharge GOP Bill to End Shutdown (Updated) — Miller, right, is heading up a Democratic plan to end the government shutdown by bringing up a GOP measure through a discharge petition. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call) — Updated: 3:13 p.m. |

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, voteview blog and Crooks and Liars

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

House Democrats Propose Hail Mary Strategy For Ending Shutdown — House Democrats think they've found a legislative ploy to bring the Senate-passed temporary spending bill to the House floor and end the government shutdown. — The move amounts to a legislative Hail Mary …

Discussion: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Balloon Juice and Eschaton

Peter Suderman / Reason:

Obamacare Poster Boy Chad Henderson and His Dad Haven't Signed Up for Obamacare, Says His Father — An exclusive Reason.com interview with Bill Henderson. — Chad Henderson is the media's poster boy for Obamacare. Reporters struggled this week to find individuals who said they had been able …

Discussion: Politico, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, Independent Journal Review, Hit & Run, Mediaite, protein wisdom, Cato Institute, The PJ Tatler, The Right Scoop, Michelle Malkin and Wonkblog

Sarah Kliff / Wonkblog:

Is Obamacare's celebrity enrollee actually signed up? — And so Chadgate begins. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters) — Yesterday, Chad Henderson became a verified Obamacare celebrity. The 21-year-old from Georgia was hounded by reporters after Enroll America identified him as someone …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Twitchy, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and ThinkProgress

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Rare health exchange enrollee gets 15 minutes of Obamacare fame

Discussion: NewsBusters, Poynter and Wonkblog

Brett Taylor / Twitchy:
Surprise: Media's Obamacare health insurance exchange poster boy is OFA volunteer

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Ed Driscoll, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

NBCNews:

Woman in DC chase may have thought Obama was stalking her, sources say — Investigators have found indications that the woman who led authorities on a chase from the White House to the Capitol before she was shot to death by police thought that President Barack Obama was stalking her, law enforcement sources told NBC News.

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Economic Confidence Plummets as Gov't Shutdown Begins — Current -34 three-day average is worst since December 2011 — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' confidence in the U.S. economy has dropped sharply as the partial government shutdown caused by Congress' inability to pass a spending bill has become reality.

Discussion: Economix, Business Insider and Outside the Beltway

Fox News:

Arizona Gov. Brewer, local businesses fight to reopen Grand Canyon — Oct. 1, 2013: Sebastian Ramirez, 27, of Austin, Texas, hikes out of the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park.AP — With the partial suspension of U.S. government services showing no signs of ending …

Discussion: Chicago Boyz, Right Wing News, americanthinker.com and National Review

Politico:

Bad blood: Four feuding leaders — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid privately told fellow Democratic senators this week what he really thought of Speaker John Boehner. — “He's a coward,” Reid angrily said, referring to Boehner's private push for federal health care contributions for lawmakers and their staff.

Discussion: CNN, National Review, New York Times, American Prospect, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo, WJLA-TV, NBCNews and Reuters

Tom Corbett / CNN:

Gov. compares same-sex marriage to incest — (CNN) - Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's stance on same-sex marriage is no secret, after bringing a legal challenge against a county clerk who tried to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples. Friday, Corbett went a step further, comparing gay marriage to a union between siblings.

ThinkProgress:
Pennsylvania Governor Laughingly Compares Same-Sex Marriage To Incest

Discussion: Associated Press, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Towleroad News #gay and Philly.com

Elizabeth Titus / Politico:

Davis supporters sent to wrong site — Texas Democrat Wendy Davis's newly official bid for governor hit a minor snag on Thursday when the campaign sent thank-you emails to donors that linked to an anti-Davis website with a similar address to that of the campaign's actual site.

Discussion: LifeNews.com, The PJ Tatler, BuzzFeed and Off the Kuff

Robert Brodsky / Newsday:

Hillary Clinton to begin considering presidential run ‘sometime next year’ — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a group of Long Island business and political leaders Friday that she would begin seriously considering a White House run sometime next year.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Ballot Box and The Caucus

Ellie Hall / BuzzFeed:

Obama And Biden Go Out For Lunch — President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walked out of the White House to grab lunch at a nearby restaurant. — The two headed for Taylor Gourmet, a sandwich shop a few blocks away. — Via taylorgourmet.com — Cable news had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Harvard University:

Fossil Fuel Divestment Statement — Climate change represents one of the world's most consequential challenges. I very much respect the concern and commitment shown by the many members of our community who are working to confront this problem. I, as well as members of our Corporation Committee …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Fossil Free, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Gawker and Power Line

Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:

Newt Gingrich Wants The Government Out Of The Panda Cam Business — Former Speaker of the House and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has has a lifelong love affair with zoos. Because of this, TPM wondered how he was handling the closure of the Smithsonian's National Zoo …

Discussion: DCist