memeorandum: Krugtron the Invincible, Part 1 (Niall Ferguson/The Huffington Post)

11:20 AM ET, October 9, 2013

Top Items:

POLL: GOP GETS THE BLAME IN SHUTDOWN — You are here — Home » United States Congress » Poll: GOP gets the blame in shutdown — WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are holding Republicans primarily responsible for the partial government shutdown as public esteem sinks for all players …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, National Review, Mediaite, Daily Kos, The Right Scoop, Independent Journal Review, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Yahoo! News, Jammie Wearing Fools and Associated Press

John Podhoretz / New York Post:

Suicide of the Right — Every piece of evidence we have so far on the government shutdown shows the public is blaming Republicans most of all for the standoff. On Monday, an ABC poll showed 71 percent fault the GOP; 61 percent fault Congressional Democrats; 51 percent fault President Obama.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Politico:

John Boehner's endgame — As he tries to navigate the politics of a government shutdown that he never wanted, leading a Republican Conference with little interest in being led, House Speaker John Boehner in recent days has scored an unlikely victory of sorts.

Discussion: Reuters

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:

MEDIA FAIL: OBAMA APPROVAL PLUMMETS TO 37% — In today's edition of polls the media will collectively ignore, a new AP-GFK polls finds that Barack Obama's job approval rating has plummeted to 37%. The President's disapproval rating is up to 53%. There is no good news in this poll for anyone …

Discussion: Power Line

Associated Press:
Obama claims GOP extortion, Boehner vows no surrender amid hints of short-term budget truce

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Real Clear Politics, msnbc.com and Washington Times

Julie Pace / ABC News:
For Obama, Little to Say That Hasn't Been Said

Discussion: Politico, CNN and Associated Press

Paul Ryan / Wall Street Journal:

Here's How We Can End This Stalemate — Both Reagan and Clinton negotiated debt-ceiling deals with their opponents. We're ready to negotiate. — The president is giving Congress the silent treatment. He's refusing to talk, even though the federal government is about to hit the debt ceiling.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, RedState, NBCNews, Post Politics, msnbc.com, Mediaite, The Plum Line, The Daily Caller, CNN, Business Insider and Hullabaloo

Eric Cantor / Washington Post:
Divided government requires bipartisan negotiation

Discussion: Slate and Post Politics

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

Many in G.O.P. Offer Theory: Default Wouldn't Be That Bad — WASHINGTON — Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, a reliable friend of business on Capitol Hill and no one's idea of a bomb thrower, isn't buying the apocalyptic warnings that a default on United States government debt …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Talking Points Memo, Daniel W. Drezner, AEIdeas, Roll Call, Politico, Shakesville, The Jawa Report, DealBook, Salon, Reuters, Wonkblog and Slate

Justin Wolfers / Bloomberg:

Why I'm Very Happy About Janet Yellen — President Barack Obama plans to nominate Janet Yellen as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. In doing so, he will promote the pre-eminent policy economist of her generation to the role of the most powerful central banker in the world.

Discussion: News Desk, The Week, Real Time Economics, Economix and Prairie Weather

The New / New York Times:
Obama to Pick Yellen as Leader of Fed, Officials Say

Discussion: Firedoglake, Economix, Washington Post, Guardian, Feministing, AEIdeas, The Week, Outside the Beltway, Online NewsHour, New Economic Perspectives, Wall Street Journal, Shakesville, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider and msnbc.com

By Nbc / NBCNews:
Janet Yellen to be nominated Fed chair Wednesday

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Bloomberg, Real Time Economics, Vox Popoli and The Raw Story

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Obama to name Yellen as Federal Reserve chairman on Wednesday

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wonkblog, Hot Air and The Fix

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

George Will Compares Obamacare To Fugitive Slave Act, Segregation — Conservative columnist and pundit George Will on Wednesday compared Obamacare to the Fugitive Slave Act and segregation to demonstrate the “bruising, untidy, utterly Democratic” process of changing laws.

Discussion: Analysis and Shakesville

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

Waterboarding Is A Big Joke At Cheney Roast — A sentimental evening at the Plaza for Cheney, Rumsfeld, Mukasey, and Lieberman. “Really tasteless,” says a guest. — The cover of the program at the Oct. 7 “Roast of Dick Cheney.” — Dick Cheney is ready to laugh about waterboarding.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Obama meets with Krauthammer, Gigot — President Obama held an off-the-record meeting with five conservative journalists on Tuesday afternoon. — Present at the meeting were Charles Krauthammer, the Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor; Paul Gigot, the Wall Street Journal …

Discussion: Right Wing News, BizPac Review, BREITBART.COM, BuzzFeed, Mediaite and Booman Tribune

Niall Ferguson / The Huffington Post:

Krugtron the Invincible, Part 1 — It's an ill wind that blows no one any good. The financial crisis that came to a head five years ago with the failure of Lehman Brothers has been especially beneficial to the economist Paul Krugman. In his widely read New York Times column and blog …

Discussion: The Grumpy Economist

Quinnipiac News + Events:

Release Detail — October 9, 2013 - Big Gender Gap, But Booker Up 12 Points In NJ Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Stripper-Tweet Not An Issue, Voters Say 4-1 — A 31-point lead among women overcomes his deficit among men to give Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the Democrat …

Discussion: Politico, CNN and Taegan Goddard's …

Kristin Roberts / NationalJournal.com:

Republicans Are Awfully Close to Violating the Constitution — Who cares if President Obama has 14th Amendment obligations? The critical sentence in that block of text should be read as instruction for lawmakers first, and last. — Have Republicans forgotten that they too must abide by the Constitution?

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Booman Tribune and Prairie Weather

Elizabeth Titus / Politico:

Chris Christie makes point on Obamacare — Republican Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday that he doesn't like Obamacare but that he found a way to deal with it in New Jersey, another signal that he sees the government shutdown as an opportunity to contrast himself with feuding parties in Washington.

Discussion: CNN

Shushannah Walshe / ABC News:
Chris Christie Faces Off With Challenger Barbara Buono, Does Not Rule Out White House Bid

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Taegan Goddard's …

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

Liberal Intolerance: You Believe What? — I was at a dinner recently where I happened to be seated at a table with new acquaintances of the liberal political persuasion. — We went around the table introducing ourselves. As I said that I work for a “conservative website,” …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll, ProfessorBainbridge.com and The Other McCain

CBS News:

Obamacare website looks “like nobody tested it,” programmer says — (CBS News) Healthcare.gov launched more than a week ago, and while millions of Americans have signed into the site, not many have been able to actually sign up for insurance because of glitches with the website.

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools and USA Today

Michael Linden / Center for American Progress:

A Piecemeal Approach to Funding the Government Makes No Sense — With the government shutdown now stretching into its second week, the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has turned to a novel—and ultimately futile—approach for funding the government.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Dish and The Atlantic Online

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Dysfunctional Gov't Surpasses Economy as Top U.S. Problem — Highest percentage citing dysfunctional government in Gallup history — This article is part of an ongoing series analyzing how the government shutdown and the debate over raising the debt ceiling are affecting Americans' views of government …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, CNN and Reuters

Politico:

It's hard to delete an ACA account — Once you finally make it into HealthCare.gov, it's not clear how you get out. — For those who've busted through glitches on the federal Obamacare insurance website to create an account, there's no clear, obvious way for consumers to delete the accounts …

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

Many remain locked out of federal health-care Web site — Major insurers, state health-care officials and Democratic allies repeatedly warned the Obama administration in recent months that the new federal health-insurance exchange had significant problems, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Discussion: Hot Air and Jammie Wearing Fools

Nick Bilton / New York Times:

All Is Fair in Love and Twitter — Right in the center of South Park, a large, grassy oval near San Francisco's financial district, there is a rinky-dink playground with slides, ladders and firefighter poles, all dented and dinged, connected by gritty brown pylons.

Discussion: Mashable and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »

John Tozzi / Businessweek:

What Kentucky's Obamacare Success Might Mean in 2014 — If you want to see how the success or failure of the Affordable Care Act might shape the nation's future electoral battles, watch Kentucky. — The state's health-insurance exchange, Kynect, stood out for having worked smoothly …

Discussion: Guardian