memeorandum: Obamacare or the Debt Ceiling (Erick Erickson/RedState)

6:30 PM ET, October 7, 2013

Top Items:

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Senate Dems to call GOP's bluff on debt limit — Senate Democrats are planning to start the process this week for a Senate vote on a clean debt limit increase, sources tell me - a move that could call the bluff of Republicans in both chambers and force them to take a stand on whether …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Taylor Marsh, National Review, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Campaign for America's Future and ABC News

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:

White House, Senate Democrats step up pressure to raise federal debt ceiling — The White House and Senate Democrats on Monday sought to increase pressure on House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to raise the federal debt ceiling — if only for several weeks — with just 10 days until …

Discussion: Post Politics, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, CNN, Voices, VodkaPundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Ed Driscoll, Prairie Weather, Guardian and AEIdeas

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

White House: Obama Will Never Negotiate On The Debt Limit Again — White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that lifting the debt ceiling will be non-negotiable for as long as Barack Obama is president. — “Whether it's today, or a number of weeks from now, or a number of months from now …

Discussion: American Prospect and Little Green Footballs

Jeff Zeleny / ABC News:

Senate to Move Ahead on ‘Clean’ Debt-Limit Increase — The Senate is preparing to move ahead this week on legislation to raise the nation's debt ceiling, Senate aides told ABC News, with Majority Leader Harry Reid expected to file a bill later today or Tuesday on a “clean” debt-limit increase, without any restrictions.

Discussion: The Raw Story and Taegan Goddard's …

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Obamacare or the Debt Ceiling — Republicans are winning the shutdown fight, and Democrats know it. — People turning on the news this week came away with the knowledge that it was about Obamacare and kept hearing that Democrats wouldn't negotiate. They also learned that for some reason …

Discussion: Wonkblog and Washington Monthly

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama dares Boehner to hold vote on ‘clean’ funding bill

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Smash-mouth Reid (Video)

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers and FreedomWorks blogs

Manu Raju / Politico:
Reid plotting to stay in power

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, National Review, Ed Driscoll, Weasel Zippers, WJLA-TV, Connecting.the.Dots, Taegan Goddard's … and Jammie Wearing Fools

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
Schumer predicts Boehner will cave

Discussion: Politico

Carrie Dann / NBCNews:
Obama to Boehner: 'Hold a vote. Call a vote right now. Let's see what happens'

Discussion: Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Reuters:
Democrats eye long-term debt ceiling hike

Discussion: National Review and Politico

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Republican disapproval grows in budget battle, Post-ABC poll finds — By Scott Clement and Peyton M. Craighill, Published: October 7 at 3:01 pm — Disapproval of congressional Republicans' budget wrangling after a weeklong shutdown has shot up to 70 percent, with 51 percent disapproving …

Discussion: Washington Wire, AMERICAblog News, The Plum Line, PoliticusUSA, Real Clear Politics, Wonkblog, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, The Hinterland Gazette and National Review

Gary Langer / ABC News:

Republicans Lose Ground vs. Obama in the Shutdown Blame Game — The Republicans in Congress have lost ground against Barack Obama in blame over the government shutdown, with Americans expressing increasing criticism of both parties in Washington, while the president's avoided that rise in public ire.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Little Green Footballs, Liberal Values, Washington Times and Taegan Goddard's …

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

CNN Shutdown Poll: Plenty of blame to go around — Washington (CNN) - Most Americans say the government shutdown is causing a crisis or major problems for the country, according to a new national poll. — And while a CNN/ORC International survey also indicates that slightly more people …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Shakesville

Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:

Why Obama Must Talk to the GOP — The president doesn't need to cave on Obamacare to help end the GOP-inspired fiscal crisis. — President Barack Obama visits M. Luis Construction on October 3, 2013 in Rockville, Maryland. (Dennis Brack-Pool/Getty Images) — I am on record advocating two seemingly incongruous positions.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ACS Blog, A plain blog about politics, Outside the Beltway, The Hugh Hewitt Show, American Prospect, Balloon Juice, The Moderate Voice and Liberaland

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:
Partisans Dug in on Budget, Health Care Impasse

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Bloomberg

Yalman Onaran / Bloomberg:

A U.S. Default Seen as Catastrophe Dwarfing Lehman's Fall — Anyone who remembers the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. little more than five years ago knows what a global financial disaster is. A U.S. government default, just weeks away if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Banter, Hot Air, The Big Picture, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Daniel W. Drezner and Guardian

NationalJournal.com:
Republicans Downplay ‘Default’, Dismiss Debt Deadline

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, ThinkProgress, National Review, Outside the Beltway, The Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Washington Post and susiemadrak.com

Tal Kopan / Politico:
Tom Coburn: No default if ceiling stays

Discussion: Power Line, National Review, neo-neocon, Post Politics and Washington Wire

Wall Street Journal:

Defects Cripple Health-Care Website — Six days into the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the new health-care law, the federal government acknowledged for the first time Sunday it needed to fix design and software problems that have kept customers from applying online for coverage.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Hit & Run, Wonkblog, The Lead with Jake Tapper, The Strata-Sphere, Wake up America, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, The Lonely Conservative, Prairie Weather, First Read, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Reuters:
Obamacare exchange websites still full of glitches and errors

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and National Review

Daniel Doherty / Townhall.com:

MSNBC Host: “I am Suggesting that” Ted Cruz Doesn't Love America — Kudos to Joe Scarborough this morning for calling out his fellow co-anchor. On Morning Joe today, Mika Brzezinski said that Senator Ted Cruz and all the other conservatives in Congress who want to defund Obamacare …

Discussion: protein wisdom

David Rutz / Washington Free Beacon:
Mika: Ted Cruz, Like-Minded Republicans Don't Love America

Discussion: Independent Journal Review and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

GOP Rep Blames Cruz For Shutdown: ‘He Took A Lot Of Folks Into The Ditch’ (VIDEO) — A Republican congressman said Monday that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is largely responsible for the first government shutdown since 1996. — Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that while he believes …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Tracy Seipel / Mercury News:
Obamacare's winners and losers in Bay Area

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Independent Journal Review, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, neo-neocon, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Jammie Wearing Fools, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, Pirate's Cove, Viking Pundit and The Lonely Conservative

Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
Obamacare epiphanies, part VII: Hey, somebody's got to pay for somebody else's ‘free’ stuff

Discussion: Mediaite and Weasel Zippers

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Want to know why the government is shut down? This chart explains it. — Looking for the roots of the current morass in Washington? Look no further than the chart — built by the WaPo graphics wizards — below that shows the percentage of the vote that all House Members won with in the 2012 election.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

John McCain / Wall Street Journal:

He Beat Us in War but Never in Battle — To defeat any adversary, the late North Vietnamese Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap permitted immense casualties and the near total destruction of his country. — I met Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap—who died on Friday—twice. The first time was in the Vietnamese military hospital …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

David Byrne / Guardian:

If the 1% stifles New York's creative talent, I'm out of here — Rampant inequality is squeezing out the artistic genius that made New York such a vibrant cultural capital. We can't let that happen — I'm writing this in Venice, Italy. This city is a pleasantly confusing maze …

Discussion: Boing Boing and Pitchfork

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:

Anxious Allies Aiding Booker in Senate Bid — Cory A. Booker is an undisputed star of a new generation of African-American leaders, electrifying liberal audiences with his oratory and charming the social media set with his digital savvy. — But the Senate campaign Mr. Booker, a Democrat …

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Gawker, The Week, CNN, Independent Journal Review, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Taegan Goddard's …, Ballot Box and msnbc.com

ThinkProgress:

Nebraska Decides 16-Year-Old Must Give Birth Because She Isn't ‘Mature’ Enough For An Abortion — The highest court in Nebraska has decided that a 16-year-old in foster care must carry her unintended pregnancy to term because she hasn't proven that she's “sufficiently mature and well informed” enough to choose to have an abortion.

Discussion: Liberaland