memeorandum: Reid plotting to stay in power (Manu Raju/Politico)

3:25 PM ET, October 7, 2013

Top Items:

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:

White House official says Obama would accept short-term agreement on debt ceiling — President Obama would accept a short-term increase in the debt ceiling, rather than a permanent one, a senior White House official said Monday, acknowledging that it may not be possible to reach agreement …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, VodkaPundit, Hot Air, Ed Driscoll, The Fix, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Business Insider, Guardian, The Plum Line, AEIdeas and ABC News

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: National Review, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Manu Raju / Politico:

Reid plotting to stay in power — Republicans are eager for November 2016 — and not just because Barack Obama's presidency will be in its final days. — It's when Harry Reid, the man reviled by Republicans for his inflammatory rhetoric and hardball tactics during the government shutdown, could be booted from his Nevada Senate seat.

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

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

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
Schumer predicts Boehner will cave

Discussion: Politico and CNN

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

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
White House: Obama Will Never Negotiate On The Debt Limit Again

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Reuters:
Democrats eye long-term debt ceiling hike

Discussion: Politico

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

Discussion: FreedomWorks blogs, The PJ Tatler and Weasel Zippers

Manu Raju / Politico:
Harry Reid talks tough, ramps up for 2016

Discussion: Ed Driscoll, TheBlaze.com and National Review

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 Big Picture, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Guardian and Daniel W. Drezner

Tal Kopan / Politico:

Tom Coburn: No default if ceiling stays — Sen. Tom Coburn said Monday that warnings of a U.S. default if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling by Oct. 17 are untrue. — “I would dispel the rumor that is going around that you hear on every newscast that if we don't raise the debt ceiling we will default on our debt.

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

NationalJournal.com:

Republicans Downplay ‘Default’, Dismiss Debt Deadline — Some GOP lawmakers say White House officials—and global financial experts—are exaggerating the potential impact of missed payments. — Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew arrives at the Capitol on Thursday during the government shutdown.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, The Raw Story and susiemadrak.com

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: Wonkblog, The Lead with Jake Tapper, Wake up America, The Strata-Sphere, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, Prairie Weather, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Daily Caller, First Read and Washington Free Beacon

Reuters:
Obamacare exchange websites still full of glitches and errors

Discussion: Hit & Run, National Review, Talking Points Memo and USA Today

The Right Scoop:

AMBER WEBSITE NOW WORKING - Obama plays POLITICS with LOST CHILDREN, shuts down Amber Alert website — This is unbelievable. The Obama administration has shut down the Amber Alert website because of the government shutdown and it now renders this message when you attempt to access it:

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Independent Journal Review, BizPac Review, Post Politics, Ridgewood-Glen Rock Patch News, Mediaite, The Jawa Report, Flopping Aces, Outside the Beltway and NewsBusters

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:
Amber Alert System Unaffected By Government Shutdown, Justice Department Says

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Brandon Lowrey / nbclosangeles.com:
Amber Alert Website Offline Due to Gov't Shutdown

Discussion: Politico, Twitchy, The Lead with Jake Tapper, New Urban Legends, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys, The Strata-Sphere, FreedomWorks blogs, americanthinker.com, Pirate's Cove, Patterico's Pontifications, The PJ Tatler, NewsHounds blog, WQAD-TV, The Raw Story and Michelle Malkin

Jennifer Senior / New York Magazine:

In Conversation: Antonin Scalia — On the eve of a new Supreme Court session, the firebrand justice discusses gay rights and media echo chambers, Seinfeld and the Devil, and how much he cares about his intellectual legacy ("I don't"). — a day that just happened to be the 27th anniversary …

John Solomon / Washington Times:

ATF tries to block whistleblowing agent's ‘Fast and Furious’ book — 1st Amendment battle over ‘gun-walking’ expose — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is blocking the main whistleblower in the Fast and Furious case from publishing a book for pay …

Discussion: Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Scared Monkeys, Washington Free Beacon and The Lonely Conservative

Alicia A. Caldwell / Associated Press: ACLU SAYS ATF BLOCKS WHISTLEBLOWER BOOK ON SCANDAL

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:

TV ad in Wyoming Senate race hits Liz Cheney on gay marriage — U.S. Senate candidate Liz Cheney, right, campaigns in Emblem, Wyo., this summer at the same time as her opponent, Sen. Michael B. Enzi, left. (Dan Cepeda / Casper Star-Tribune / August 24, 2013)

Discussion: Advocate, ThinkProgress and Towleroad News #gay

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Outside group hits Liz Cheney on gay marriage in Wyoming

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Tracy Seipel / Mercury News:

Obamacare's winners and losers in Bay Area — Cindy Vinson and Tom Waschura are big believers in the Affordable Care Act. They vote independent and are proud to say they helped elect and re-elect President Barack Obama. — Yet, like many other Bay Area residents who pay for their own medical insurance …

Discussion: neo-neocon, Jammie Wearing Fools, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, National Review, Ricochet Conversations Feed, 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: Weasel Zippers and Mediaite

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: Politico, CNN, Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Ballot Box, Taegan Goddard's … and msnbc.com

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

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Boehner Bunglers — The federal government is shut down, we're about to hit the debt ceiling (with disastrous economic consequences), and no resolution is in sight. How did this happen? — The main answer, which only the most pathologically “balanced” reporting can deny, is the radicalization of the Republican Party.

Discussion: The Mahablog, msnbc.com, The Week and Prairie Weather