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House Republicans Show Themselves To Be Dangerously Incompetent, Again — House Republican leaders canceled plans to call a vote Tuesday evening on a Republican plan to raise the debt limit and reopen the government. They couldn't round up enough Republican votes to pass it.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The American Conservative, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Taegan Goddard's …
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Stunned Republicans React to Canceled Vote — Referring to his plan to preemptively send the Senate a House-passed bill, Speaker John Boehner told his conference this morning that he'd “rather throw a grenade than catch a grenade.” But with his right-wing troops abandoning him again it was the speaker left holding the bomb.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …

Graham Admits Republicans Went Too Far — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told TPM that he was “proud” of Speaker John Boehner's handling of the fiscal crisis but thought Democrats should have been more flexible with Republicans. — Said Graham: “We won't be the last political party to overplay our hand.
Discussion:
The Impolitic


Debt Talks in Disarray as House Balks — WASHINGTON — With the federal government on the brink of a default, a House Republican effort to end the shutdown and extend the Treasury's borrowing authority collapsed Tuesday night as a major credit agency warned that the United States was on the verge of a costly ratings downgrade.


Boehner Searches for Votes — After a relatively calm conference meeting this morning, Speaker John Boehner is moving forward with his new fiscal strategy, which slightly revises the bipartisan framework being discussed in the Senate. But he's treading carefully.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, The Dish, Taegan Goddard's …, Defense One, Daily Kos, Hot Air, FreedomWorks and American Spectator


Senate leaders finalizing deal — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are finalizing a deal to avert a debt default and reopen the government, capping a frantic day that had Washington bracing for an economic crisis of its own making.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, NBCNews, Hit & Run, Gawker, Reuters, The Raw Story and The Hill


US Warned of Credit Downgrade as Republicans Inch Closer to the Brink
Discussion:
Guardian

House GOPers Pushing for Anti-Birth-Control Measure in Debt Ceiling Deal
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Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo and The Mahablog

Budget battle escalates
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National Review, A plain blog about politics, CANNONFIRE, CNN, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Mediaite, Hit & Run and Outside the Beltway

John Boehner makes his final move
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Liberaland, PoliticusUSA and The American Conservative

House GOPer: We're Gonna Make Them An Offer They Can't Refuse
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ThinkProgress

Senate leaders race to draft debt-limit bill after House effort collapses
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, Politico, Independent Journal Review, The Hill, ProfessorBainbridge.com, ABC News and The Fix


Exclusive: Glenn Greenwald Will Leave Guardian To Create New News Organization — The reporter who broke the NSA story promises “a momentous new venture.” A “very substantial new media outlet” with serious backing, he says. Updated. — Greenwald in Rio de Janeiro in July. — Sergio Moraes / Reuters


Hearsay from Hillary Clinton: On Joe Biden and the Osama bin Laden raid — Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton was in town today. A few Secret Squirrels, and some not so secret, agreed to be our sources, given that her speech to the National Association of Convenience Stores was encapsulated by a cone of silence.
Discussion:
Politico and Weasel Zippers

Three Theories of House GOP Brinkmanship—And One More — As we await the next development in the fiscal saga, it's worthwhile to look at three theories kicking around today for exactly why House Republicans are continuing to engage in economy-risking and popularity-damaging brinkmanship …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Washington Post, Balloon Juice and Democratic Strategist


Senate GOP Aide: ‘Ted Cruz And His Tortilla Coast Republicans Are Leading Us To A Default’ — With the possibility of breaching the debt limit looking more and more plausible as House Republicans struggle to appease their caucus and come up with a plan to re-open the government and increase the debt ceiling …
Discussion:
Connecting.the.Dots


Antonin Scalia: 14th Amendment Protects Everyone, Not ‘Only The Blacks’ — During oral arguments on an affirmative action case on Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said the 14th Amendment protects everyone, not “only the blacks.” — The quote was tweeted by the New York Times' David Leonhardt:


Judge in Landmark Case Disavows Support for Voter ID — It is the kind of thought that rarely passes the lips of a member of the federal judiciary: I was wrong. — But there was Richard A. Posner, one of the most distinguished judges in the land and a member of the United States Court …
Discussion:
BillMoyers.com


A Bleak First Week: 99.6% of Healthcare.gov Visitors Did NOT Enroll in Obamacare — Since October 1st, Americans living in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. can purchase healthcare through exchanges as part of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare.)
Discussion:
Kantar, Post Politics, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, National Review, Twitchy and The Daily Caller

KEY VOTE: “NO” ON HOUSE SPENDING AND DEBT DEAL — Tonight, the House is scheduled to vote on a plan that would extend government funding to December 15 and the debt ceiling through February 7 in exchange for overturning the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ruling that created the congressional exemption.
Discussion:
The Lead with Jake Tapper, FreedomWorks, Talking Points Memo, Politico, PoliticusUSA and Business Insider


Fitch puts US AAA rating on rating watch negative — Fitch puts US credit rating on negative watch — Fitch has put the U.S. credit rating on negative watch, reports CNBC's Dominic Chu. — Fitch Ratings put the US government's “AAA” credit rating on ‘rating watch negative’ Tuesday …
Discussion:
Daily Kos and The Hinterland Gazette


As Debt Limit Deadline Nears, Concern Ticks Up But Skepticism Persists — Despite Image Problems, GOP Holds Ground on Key Issues — With just two days to go before an Oct. 17 deadline to raise the nation's debt limit, 51% of the public views a rise in the nation's debt limit as …
Discussion:
NPR, Hot Air, Wonkblog, The Fix, Firedoglake, Post Politics, Politico and The Moderate Voice

Obama vows veto over Vitter measure — President Barack Obama told House Democratic leaders Tuesday that he would veto debt-ceiling legislation if it includes a provision pushed by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and House GOP leaders that would cut health subsidies for congressional …
Discussion:
PoliticusUSA and ThinkProgress


Seeing Its Own Money at Risk, China Rails at U.S. — WASHINGTON — China has become shrill in its criticism of the fiscal train wreck in the United States, arguing that the answer to a potential government default is to begin creating a “de-Americanized world.”
Discussion:
The Dish, WORLDMEETS.US and Finance


ObamaCare, Like All Central Planning, Is A ‘Big Failure’ — Bureaucratic Tragedy: ObamaCare promoter Ezra Klein admits the law has been a “big failure.” We could say his comments are those of a useful idiot. But what they really do is underscore the perils of central planning.
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll


Chris Christie discusses gay marriage — Republican Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday that if one of his four children came out as gay, he would “grab them and hug them and tell them I love them.” — He would also tell them “that Dad believes that marriage is between one man and one woman,” he said.
Discussion:
CNN, Pat Dollard and Weasel Zippers


Hillary who? Bloody-minded London traffic warden defies five furious secret service agents to give Hillary Clinton a ticket — This is the extraordinary moment that Hillary Clinton's security staff got into an argument with a traffic warden after he issued her car with a parking ticket.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, The Lonely Conservative, Mediaite, The Hill, The Daily Caller and National Review