memeorandum: Conservatives Clear The Way For Boehner's Six-Week Debt Limit Hike (Sahil Kapur/Talking Points Memo)

5:55 PM ET, October 10, 2013

Top Items:

Erick Erickson / RedState:

House GOP Preparing to Give Up — I'm being told by several sources that Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are plotting to give up trying to either defund or delay Obamacare. — This comes at the same time the Obama administration admits it will be months before their Obamacare website …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Business Insider, The Hinterland Gazette, Talking Points Memo, The Lonely Conservative, Politico, neo-neocon, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, The Dish and Washington Post

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

GOP's New Strategy: Avert Default But Keep Government Shut — Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced Thursday that the House will move forward with a six-week debt limit extension after pitching the idea to his Republican conference during a closed-door meeting.

Discussion: American Prospect, Little Green Footballs, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Dish and Shakesville

Politico:

John Boehner's bet: Democrats will talk — Speaker John Boehner's latest gambit — to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks while leaving government shut down — isn't exactly a magic bullet. — It's a bet that President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders will want so desperately …

Discussion: CNN, National Review, Washington Examiner, NewsBusters, NationalJournal.com, ABC News, Daily Kos, New York Times, Taylor Marsh, The Hill, The Impolitic and The Hill

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

The House GOP's Little Rule Change That Guaranteed A Shutdown — Late on the night of Sept. 30, with the federal government just hours away from shutting down, House Republicans quietly made a small change to the House rules that blocked a potential avenue for ending the shutdown.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Balloon Juice

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Senate GOP rallies around rival plan on debt ceiling, shutdown — Senate Republicans are unhappy with a House GOP plan to raise the debt ceiling for six weeks without funding the federal government. They are coalescing around their own proposal to pair a short-term debt-ceiling increase …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Tim Mak / Washington Examiner:

John McCain regrets ‘wacko birds’ comment, worries about GOP infighting — SENATE REPUBLICAN PARTY TEA PARTY PENNAVE JOHN MCCAIN SEQUESTER — Sen. John McCain said Thursday that he's worried about the Republican Party's future and the infighting that is dividing it, calling efforts …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Taegan Goddard's …, The Daily Caller, National Review and The PJ Tatler

James Lankford / USA Today:

Rep. Lankford: Republicans seek fairness, less debt — We're looking for two things on Obamacare and one on the borrowing limit. It's time for negotiations. — CONNECT — There's no question that Republicans want a different solution for our nation's health care delivery.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Lead with Jake Tapper

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

New GOP strategy: Offer deal on debt limit, but keep shutdown fight going — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL REPUBLICAN PARTY JOHN BOEHNER DEBT CEILING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN — Many House Republicans, including some key leaders, have decided they can live with a government shutdown but not with the threat of default.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Associated Press, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, National Review, Wall Street Journal, The Plum Line, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, The Daily Caller, Taylor Marsh and The Lead with Jake Tapper

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Conservatives Clear The Way For Boehner's Six-Week Debt Limit Hike — The conservative wing that has led Republicans into a government shutdown and to the brink of default has given its blessing to Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) proposal unveiled Thursday to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks.

Discussion: Roll Call, Hullabaloo, The Fix and The World's Greatest …

Damian Paletta / Washington Wire:

House Debt-Ceiling Plan Would Ban ‘Emergency’ Measures — WASHINGTON - The House Republican plan to extend the debt ceiling for six weeks would permanently ban the Treasury Department from using extraordinary measures to avoid default, congressional aides said.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Just Sink / The Hill:
White House: No budget talks until government reopens

Discussion: Reuters, The Plum Line, National Review and The Week

Jim Acosta / CNN:
Official: Obama will sign short term debt ceiling extension

Discussion: Politico, Outside the Beltway and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Ted Cruz Backs House GOP's Temporary Debt-Limit Plan

Discussion: The Raw Story and Washington Monthly

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
The shutdown just saved the world

Discussion: National Review, Politico and The Huffington Post

Ben Domenech / The Federalist:
Boehner's Smart Debt Ceiling Play

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly and The Hill

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Gallup: Cruz's favorability rating plunges

Discussion: Daily Kos

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
GOP offers short-term debt-limit increase, but wants negotiations before ending shutdown

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Fix, The Hill, Wonkblog, The Plum Line, Los Angeles Times, Post Politics and Voices

Igor Bobic / Talking Points Memo:
Carney: Obama ‘Happy’ That House Is Willing To Raise Debt Limit

Discussion: Daily Kos

Michael Kinsley / The New Republic:

Obama Should Just Give in to the Republicans — President Obama should give in. Yes, this mess is all the Republicans' fault. Yes, it's outrageous that they can hold the government hostage in order to reargue a law that's been voted on, signed, enacted, and upheld by the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Taegan Goddard's …, Capitol Report and Shakesville

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

We're not gonna take it! Americans use 1st Amendment to storm shutdown barriers — Taking their lead from the veterans who first pushed through the barricades to visit the World War II Memorial, Americans nationwide are defying the federal government shutdown, tossing aside traffic cones …

Discussion: Hot Air

Matthew Daly / Associated Press:
APNewsBreak: Feds to Let States Pay to Open Parks

Discussion: CNN and Associated Press

Benny Johnson / BuzzFeed:
Insane Tourists Blatantly Defying The U.S. Government's Demands

Discussion: Hit & Run

Fredrick Kunkle / Washington Post:

McAuliffe among investors in Rhode Island insurance scam that preyed on dying people — Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe was one of dozens of investors with a Rhode Island estate planner charged with defrauding insurers by using the stolen identities of terminally ill people …

Discussion: Politico, The Providence Journal, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Associated Press and Washington Free Beacon

Harry J Enten / Guardian:
What the Virginia governor's race tells us about the 2014 midterms

Discussion: Balloon Juice

James Hohmann / Politico:
Virginia governor election: Less money, more problems for Cuccinelli

Discussion: CNN and Right Wing Watch

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Scarborough: A NYT Editor Told Me Krugman's Column Is ‘Their Biggest Nightmare’ (VIDEO) — MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Thursday that a public editor at the New York Times considers liberal columnist Paul Krugman's work to be an ongoing “nightmare.” — During a segment on “Morning Joe …

Discussion: The Grumpy Economist, Balloon Juice, Shakesville, Weekly Standard and NewsBusters

Niall Ferguson / The Huffington Post:
Krugtron the Invincible, Part 3

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Salon, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite and msnbc.com

Peter Baker / New York Times:

The Final Insult in the Bush-Cheney Marriage — In the final days of his presidency, George W. Bush sat behind his desk in the Oval Office, chewing gum and staring into the distance as two White House lawyers briefed him on the possible last-minute pardon of I. Lewis Libby. — “Do you think he did it?”

Discussion: emptywheel

Eric Trager / The New Republic:

Obama Just Made a Terrible Mistake on Egypt — In a certain sense, the Obama administration's decision to withhold much of the $1.3 billion in annual aid given to Egypt isn't surprising. U.S. law mandates cutting off aid to countries in which a coup has taken place, and the Egyptian military's ouster …

Discussion: WorldViews, The Dish, Jihad Watch, VodkaPundit and New York Times

ThinkProgress:

Los Angeles Police Dogs Only Bit Blacks And Latinos In The First Six Months Of 2013 — A new report on the Los Angeles Sheriff Department Canine Special Detail finds that the number of minority individuals bitten by police dogs has dramatically increased between 2004 to 2012.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Hinterland Gazette and The Raw Story

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:

Conservative Media's Tribal Loyalty Weakens the GOP — Instead of rewarding smart political strategy or policy substance, right-wing outlets celebrate those who are merely in a state of conflict with Democrats or liberals. — The strategy that House Republicans have imprudently embraced in recent weeks has many causes.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and The Dish

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

The “Grand” Perspective — As we all go down our various rabbit-holes in trying to understand the fiscal crisis situation, much of which seems to be playing out in John Boehner's nicotine-soaked brain, it's appropriate to step back and look at it all from a broader perspective.

Discussion: Booman Tribune

New York Times:

Business Groups See Loss of Sway Over House G.O.P. — WASHINGTON — As the government shutdown grinds toward a potential debt default, some of the country's most influential business executives have come to a conclusion all but unthinkable a few years ago: Their voices are carrying little weight …