memeorandum: Gulf states to introduce medical testing on travellers to ‘detect’ gay people and stop them from entering the country (Ted Thornhill/Daily Mail)

4:50 PM ET, October 8, 2013

Top Items:

Democratic cracks open in debt-limit fight — For the past several weeks, Senate Democrats and the White House have shown a remarkable amount of unity in the controversial fight surrounding the debt ceiling. — Then came shutdown Day Seven. — Just as top Senate Democrats began to lay …

Discussion: ABC News, USA Today, Hot Air, RedState, The Hill, Associated Press, Washington Monthly, Reuters, National Review, CNN, Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh, Speaker.gov, The Week, naked capitalism, New York Times, The Daily Beast and Wall Street Journal

Brian Beutler / Salon:

Right-wing nutjobs' last stand: The debt limit endgame arrives — The fight over the debt limit is now eclipsing the ongoing government shutdown fight, and the way things are going, it almost seems like Republicans will grudgingly agree to avoid default so long as they don't have to simultaneously give …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, National Review and Booman Tribune

Caitlin Huey-Burns / Real Clear Politics:

John Boehner's New Headache — Catastrophic. Brutal. Dangerous. Terrifying. — That's how lawmakers, the administration and market analysts have described the prospect of default if Congress fails to raise the borrowing limit on the nation's $16.7 trillion debt by the Treasury Department's Oct. 17 deadline.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daniel W. Drezner and Bloomberg

Jonathan Strong / National Review:

Boehner: Democrats Want to ‘Annihilate Us’ — Speaker John Boehner rallied his troops this morning at a closed-door conference meeting at the Capitol. Democrats are trying to “annihilate us,” he told his members. “We can get through this if we stick together.”

Discussion: Daily Kos, neo-neocon, PoliticusUSA, Taegan Goddard's … and Rush Limbaugh

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Obama open to short-term deal — President Obama said Tuesday he would accept a short-term deal to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. — At a news conference, Obama said he would agree to a deal to allow room for broader negotiations with congressional Republicans.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Politico:
Power play: Harry Reid sidelined Joe Biden

Discussion: Hot Air, msnbc.com, CNN, Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative and The Hill

Chloe Sommers / CNN:
House Democrats amplify criticism of Boehner for shutdown

Discussion: Politico

Michael Falcone / ABC News:
And Then There Were 17: GOP Support For A Clean C.R. Slips

Discussion: ABC News, The Spot, msnbc.com and Weasel Zippers

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
The Federal Government Can't, and Won't, Default on Its Debt Obligations

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Reuters, The Mahablog, Shot in the Dark, neo-neocon and Politico

Shane Goldmacher / NationalJournal.com:
Harry Reid's Getting the Fight He Always Wanted

Discussion: First Read

Emma Dumain / Roll Call:

GOP Proposes New Supercommittee to Resolve Impasse (Updated) — Updated 12:12 p.m. | House Republicans will bring to the floor a bill to create a bipartisan, bicameral committee to address the current fiscal impasse that has shut down much of the government and threatens a debt default.

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog, The Plum Line, Business Insider, Daily Kos and The Dish

Washington Post:
The House GOP has nothing to show for its government shutdown

Discussion: PostPartisan, National Review, Daily Kos, DownWithTyranny! and The Fix

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
GOP shutdown shenanigans giving Dems a big recruiting boost?

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Guardian and The New Republic

Erik Wasson / The Hill:
House eyes supercommittee to settle shutdown, debt limit (Video)

Discussion: Politico and Washington Monthly

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

Four Reasons Debt Ceiling Breach Means Default — A new idea is taking hold among House Republicans that perhaps breaching the debt ceiling isn't such a terrible idea after all. One form this takes is the patently absurd remarks of Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) who muses that “I think, personally …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, msnbc.com, Wonkblog, Business Insider, Hot Air and Mediaite

New York Times:
Obama Says No Negotiating Until G.O.P. Ends ‘Threats’

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Josh Eidelson / Salon:
Inside the mind of the Tea Party: Sen. Ron Johnson talks to Salon

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, DealBook, TalkLeft and Business Insider

USA Today:

Exchange launch turns into inexcusable mess: Our view — Health sites generate more error messages than coverage. — CONNECT — Over the first four days the new online health insurance exchanges were open last week, more than 8 million people visited them, according to the Obama administration.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Questions and Observations and National Review

Kathleen Sebelius / USA Today:
HealthCare.gov simple, user-friendly

Discussion: neo-neocon, Tea Party Patriots, Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com and The Daily Caller

CNN:

Stewart to Sebelius on health care law “Am I a stupid man?” — (CNN) - “The Daily Show” took a more serious turn Monday night when host Jon Stewart introduced his guest for the evening, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. — Sebelius, who has been on a media blitz …

Discussion: First Read, The Hill, Michelle Malkin, Taylor Marsh, VodkaPundit, The Daily Show … and Jammie Wearing Fools

Sam Wang / Princeton Election Consortium:

The risk to the GOP House majority — In the current shutdown, John Boehner might be acting out of fear of losing his position. If he doesn't appease the hardliners who are willing to take the government and economy over the brink for their goals, he could be ejected from the Speaker's seat.

Discussion: Daily Kos, A plain blog about politics, Wonkblog, Paul Krugman, Booman Tribune and Balloon Juice

David Weigel / Slate:

Crisis? What Crisis? — How House Republicans are convincing themselves that defaulting on the country's debt wouldn't be the disaster everybody claims it'd be. — For a couple of days last week, Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer was the Republican face of the government shutdown.

Discussion: Liberaland, The Daily Beast, Paul Krugman, Wonkblog, The Dish, Hullabaloo, ThinkProgress and Pew Research Center …

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist: The Shutdown Government: Powerful, Punitive And Petty

Mark Regnerus / Public Discourse:

A Married Mom and Dad Really Do Matter: New Evidence from Canada — There is a new and significant piece of evidence in the social science debate about gay parenting and the unique contributions that mothers and fathers make to their children's flourishing.

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Spectacle Blog and Good As You

NBCNews:

‘Just disgusting’: Outrage after shutdown delays payment for families of fallen — In what veterans groups call an outrageous slight after the ultimate sacrifice, the shuttered federal government is withholding a $100,000 payment normally wired to relatives of soldiers killed at war.

Discussion: BLACKFIVE, Flopping Aces, Business Insider, National Review, msnbc.com, Weasel Zippers and Daily Kos

Washington Wire:
Shutdown Delays Benefits to Families of War Dead

Discussion: Defense One and Talking Points Memo

Jenn Taylor / Twitchy:

AWKward: WH adviser Dan Pfeiffer apologizes for ‘horrendous’ N-word tweet … White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer is well on his way to having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. … Dude! … Not fast enough! … After the typo was brought to his attention, Pfeiffer apologized and deleted the tweet.

Discussion: Politico, Independent Journal Review, Weasel Zippers and BizPac Review

Politico:

No healthcare questions at Obama presser — President Barack Obama sustained an hour-long press conference today without a single question about his signature healthcare law and the glitches that continue to plague the insurance exchanges — a point that frustrated several conservatives.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers, more at Mediagazer »

Bloomberg:

Insurers Getting Faulty Data From U.S. Health Exchanges — Insurers are getting faulty and incomplete data from the new U.S.-run health exchange, which may mean some Americans won't be covered even after they sign up for an insurance plan. — While it's not clear how widespread the problem is …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Heritage Foundation and Jammie Wearing Fools

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Congress losing out to Zombies, Wall Street, and...Hipsters — There's been no shortage of polls out in the last few days showing that Congress has a poor approval rating and we'll add to the pile- we find that only 8% of voters approve of the job it's doing to 86% who disapprove.

Discussion: Mediaite and TheBlaze.com

Alyssa Brown / Gallup:

Weekly Drop in U.S. Economic Confidence Largest Since '08 — Decline of 12 points to -34 is largest since Lehman Brothers collapsed — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' confidence in the economy has deteriorated more in the past week during the partial government shutdown …

Discussion: Politico, MoneyBeat, Business Insider, Calculated Risk and Wall Street Journal

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:

Michelle Nunn hauls in $1.7M in Georgia Senate race — Former charity executive Michelle Nunn (D) hauled in $1.7 million in the first 10 weeks of her Senate campaign, an impressive sum for the first-time candidate. — “We are off to a great start,” Nunn says in an email to campaign supporters.

Discussion: Politico