memeorandum: Senate chaplain knocks shutdown ‘insanity’ (Austin Wright/Politico)

5:10 PM ET, October 13, 2013

Top Items:

Government Shutdown Negotiations Stuck On Sequestration — WASHINGTON — As the United States government approaches a deadline for raising the debt limit and the government shutdown nears its second week, Senate Democrats are taking a stand on sequestration.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, ThinkProgress, The Reality-Based Community, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, No More Mister Nice Blog, National Review and Politico

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

Lindsey Graham: No Debt Deal Without House GOP Support — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday that no Senate Republicans would vote to advance a government spending/debt-limit increase bill that replaces the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration, which Senate Democrats are reportedly considering.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Government Shutdown Talks Move To Spending Levels As Mitch McConnell Holds The Line — WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are holding the line against Democratic demands for a framework to alleviate the across-the-board spending cuts established by sequestration as part of any deal to end …

Discussion: Post Politics, Outside the Beltway and Hullabaloo

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Corker: ‘Things Are Not Moving Now’ On Debt Deal

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Connecting.the.Dots

Greg Clary / CNN:
Talking seen as ‘breakthrough’ on Capitol Hill

Discussion: Politico, The People's View and National Review

Jonathan Karl / ABC News:
Talks to End Shutdown, Raise Debt Ceiling Deadlocked

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway and Politico

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
How Collins budget plan collapsed

Discussion: Heritage Action for America, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and Daily Kos

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Senate Leaders Talk but Fail to Reach Deal on Shutdown

Discussion: Gawker and Roll Call

CNN:

Rallier tells Obama to ‘put the Quran down’ — Washington (CNN) - Angered by the closure of national landmarks due to the partial government shutdown, a crowd of conservatives removed barricades Sunday at the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial as they rallied against President Barack Obama …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, Washington Monthly, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers

WTOP.com:

Crowd storms World War II Memorial … WASHINGTON - Thousands of people converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall on Sunday morning and tore down the barricades blocking it off, protesting the closure of the memorial during the federal government shutdown.

Discussion: Associated Press, Guardian, TheBlaze.com, Taylor Marsh, The Raw Story and Scared Monkeys

Associated Press:

Protesters reopen World War II Memorial on National Mall that's closed for gov't shutdown — WASHINGTON — A crowd of people has converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, pushing through barriers to protest the memorial's closing under the government shutdown.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Outside the Beltway and Lawyers, Guns & Money

nbcwashington.com:
Rally at World War II Memorial Ends at White House

Discussion: Fox News and Hot Air

Robert Pear / New York Times:

From the Start, Signs of Trouble at Health Portal — WASHINGTON — In March, Henry Chao, the chief digital architect for the Obama administration's new online insurance marketplace, told industry executives that he was deeply worried about the Web site's debut.

Discussion: neo-neocon, The Strata-Sphere, Business Insider and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Scott Johnson / Power Line:

Baghdad Bobs of Obamacare — The technical issues that have bedeviled the rollout of Obamacare don't go to the root of the law's evil. Nonetheless, the dishonesty with which the administration has publicly addressed them is endemic and representative of the foundational lies of Obamacare.

Discussion: BillMoyers.com and The Daily Caller

Jijo Jacob / International Business Times:

Debt Ceiling: China Calls for World to Be ‘De-Americanised’ — Chinese government mouthpiece says ‘Pax Americana’ has failed on all fronts — China's official news agency has called for the creation of a “de-Americanised world”, saying the destinies of people should not be left in the hands …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, PoliticusUSA, The PJ Tatler, Independent Journal Review and The Gateway Pundit

Eric Liu / The Atlantic Online:

3 Reasons ‘Saving Face’ Is Overrated — There's a lot of talk now about how any resolution to the shutdown/default crisis will have to allow leaders to “save face”—particularly Speaker John Boehner, whose weakness in his own caucus precipitated the crisis and now prolongs it.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Nick Gass / Politico:

Rand Paul: Sequester's the law of the land — Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday “the one thing” he could not accept as part of a deal to end the government shutdown is an increase in the sequestration caps. — “It's funny,” the Kentucky Republican said of Democrats.

Discussion: Business Insider

Keith Laing / The Hill:
Paul ‘cannot accept’ sequester increase

Discussion: Politico

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

A Mad Tea Party — WASHINGTON — HOW awful are Ted Cruz and his Cruzettes? — They have done the impossible. They have made Americans look back at the Bush II era, the most reckless wrecking ball in American history, with relative nostalgia. — With 78 percent of Americans feeling blue …

Discussion: Daily Kos

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Attorney General Gansler depicted as reckless passenger by Md. troopers who drove him — Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler regularly ordered state troopers assigned to drive him to turn on the lights and sirens on the way to routine appointments, directing them to speed …

Discussion: WJLA-TV and Power Line