Top Items:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP's McConnell promises no more shutdowns over ObamaCare — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he will not allow another government shutdown as part of a strategy to repeal ObamaCare. — McConnell (Ky.) told The Hill in an interview Thursday afternoon that his party learned …
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Robert Costa / National Review:
McConnell's Exit Interview — On Thursday morning, I sat down with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, in his Capitol office. We discussed his role in brokering the recent fiscal deal, his outlook on future talks, and Republican expectations for divided government.
Discussion:
Watchdog Earth, Guardian, Wonkblog and The Dish
Brian Beutler / Salon:
GOP's huge Tea Party mess has only just begun — The coming months could present him with even more headaches — Last night, Republicans stood aside as Congress increased the debt limit and reopened the government. In return, they got nothing. Or more accurately, they got something …
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Connecting.the.Dots, The Caucus, The Dish, Little Green Footballs and New York Times
Abby D. Phillip / ABC News:
Ted Cruz Won't Rule Out Another Shutdown, But McConnell Does
Ted Cruz Won't Rule Out Another Shutdown, But McConnell Does
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider and RedState
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Grimes leads McConnell by 2
Grimes leads McConnell by 2
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Taegan Goddard's …
Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:
Ted Cruz left with few friends after Obamacare fight fails, government shutdown ends, debt limit rises
Ted Cruz left with few friends after Obamacare fight fails, government shutdown ends, debt limit rises
Discussion:
Boston Herald, The Reaction, Sky Dancing, Mediaite and Althouse
Per Kaplan / Gretawire:
This is what happened ..... Click to read — From FNC CHAD PERGRAM: — Urgent: House Stenographer says Holy Spirit woke her up at night to deliver message to the House — Karrah Kaplan spoke with the husband of House stenographer Dianne Reidy last night. There's an emailed statement here from Dan Reidy.
Discussion:
his vorpal sword, The Hill, ABC News, East Idaho News, Mediaite and Gawker
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Tal Kopan / Politico:
Eureka! Tea partiers know science — A finding in a study on the relationship between science literacy and political ideology surprised the Yale professor behind it: Tea party members know more science than non-tea partiers. — Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week …
Discussion:
Rush Limbaugh, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Viking Pundit, CANNONFIRE and Pew Research Center …
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The Atlantic Online:
The Conservative War on the GOP — What was once an uneasy alliance between Tea Partiers and Republican loyalists is increasingly marked by hostility—and many on the right now want a divorce. — On his radio show recently, Glenn Beck urged his listeners to “defund the GOP.”
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Monkey Cage, Doug Ross, Political Algebra, The Dish, Talking Points Memo and Outside the Beltway
Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:
GOP Sen. Thad Cochran Gets Tea Party Challenger
GOP Sen. Thad Cochran Gets Tea Party Challenger
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:
There's no actual debt ceiling right now — There's no actual debt ceiling right now. — The fiscal deal passed by Congress on Wednesday evening to re-open the government and get around the $16.4 trillion limit on borrowing doesn't actually increase the debt limit. It just temporarily suspends enforcement of it.
Discussion:
The Heritage Foundation
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Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
GOP Frees The Debt Ceiling Hostage — Maybe For Good — “We're not going to pass a clean debt limit increase,” House Speaker John Boehner warned the country on Oct. 6. “I told the president, there's no way we're going to pass one. The votes are not in the House to pass a clean debt limit.
Discussion:
The Dish
Leigh Ann Caldwell / CNN:
Obama may have won now, but next three years could be tough
Kelly Kennedy / USA Today:
Tech experts: Health exchange site needs total overhaul — WASHINGTON — The federal health care exchange was built using 10-year-old technology that may require constant fixes and updates for the next six months and the eventual overhaul of the entire system, technology experts told USA TODAY.
Discussion:
“The Lid”, National Review, Hot Air, Reason and Washington Free Beacon
ABC News:
Obama To Name Jeh Johnson Next Homeland Security Secretary … President Obama is expected to nominate former Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson as the next Homeland Security secretary, ABC News has learned. — The Department of Homeland Security has been without a Senate-confirmed leader for six weeks …
Discussion:
Politico
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David Jackson / USA Today:
Obama to tap ex-Pentagon official for Homeland Security
Obama to tap ex-Pentagon official for Homeland Security
Discussion:
Pat Dollard, Washington's Blog and Weekly Standard
Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:
Design Firm Removes All Reference To Its Work On Obamacare From Its Website — Teal Media was founded by a former member of Obama's campaign design team. The firm says it took down all reference to its work on HealthCare.gov “in consultation” with the administration.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and National Review
Jeryl Bier / Weekly Standard:
Obamacare Website Violates Licensing Agreement for Copyrighted Software — Healthcare.gov, the federal government's Obamacare website, has been under heavy criticism from friend and foe alike during its first two weeks of open enrollment. Repeated errors and delays have prevented many users …
Discussion:
Pat Dollard, The Greenroom and National Review
James Risen / New York Times:
Snowden Says He Took No Secret Files to Russia — WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, said in an extensive interview this month that he did not take any secret N.S.A. documents with him to Russia when he fled there in June, assuring …
Discussion:
Guardian, Techdirt and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
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Domenico Montanaro / firstread.nbcnews.com:
Poll: Amid shutdown, Republican falls further behind in race for Va. governor — National Republicans may be glad the midterm elections are a year away after polls have shown the party's favorability at all-time lows because of the federal government shutdown. But one Republican - in a swing state - is caught in the buzz saw.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, PoliticusUSA, Taegan Goddard's … and NBCNews
Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:
Gohmert Responds to McCain's Dimwit Dig — After Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called Tea Party stalwart Rep. Louie Gohmert “a person of no intelligence” in an interview on NBC Nightly News on Wednesday, the back and forth between the two continued Thursday with Gohmert suggesting that McCain “would be better off with ‘no intelligence.’”
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Talking Points Memo, NBCNews, Mediaite, Pat Dollard and National Review
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Bloomberg:
Shutdown Hit Boehner's Favorite Diner as $24 Billion Lost — Gum Tong owns a diner in Washington, D.C., and Matt Bellinger charters fishing boats in the Florida Everglades. They have this in common: The shutdown of the U.S. government cost them money they will never get back.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
Marshall Sella / GQ Magazine Online:
The Year of Living Carlos Dangerously — Anthony Weiner's sexting addiction nuked his political career (twice!), endangered his marriage (twice!), and turned him into a walking penis joke (forever!). — Marshall Sella tails Weiner through his doomed campaign for New York mayor …
Jim Demint / Wall Street Journal:
We Won't Back Down on ObamaCare — Fighting a law that is unfair, unworkable and unaffordable is reasonable and necessary. — Now that the government shutdown has ended and the president has preserved ObamaCare for the time being, it's worth explaining why my organization, the Heritage Foundation …
Sharon Begley / Reuters:
Insight: As Obamacare tech woes mounted, contractor payments soared — (Reuters) - As U.S. officials warned that the technology behind Obamacare might not be ready to launch on October 1, the administration was pouring tens of millions of dollars more than it had planned into the federal website meant …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler
Michael Hirsh / NationalJournal.com:
Hillary Clinton, Welcome to the White House — She has no Democratic challenger, and the Republican Party is no longer a credible opposition force. — Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiles as she waits to answer questions from an audience at Chatham House on October 11, 2013 in London, England.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, The Hinterland Gazette and Wonkblog
Associated Press:
Va. removes 40K from voter rolls over Democrats' objections — Democrats seek to have names restored; case to be heard Friday — Virginia elections officials say they have already purged nearly 40,000 names from the voter rolls, despite a lawsuit filed by Democrats seeking to keep those voters registered.
Discussion:
GovBeat and The Raw Story
Bruce Vielmetti / JSOnline:
Milwaukee man gets jail time for voting twice in presidential election — By Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel — Chad Gigowski said he was not part of any organized election fraud effort, just high on alcohol and drugs when he voted twice in November's presidential election.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Mental Floss:
Mental Floss Exclusive: Our Interview with Bill Watterson! … For the December issue of mental_floss magazine, Jake Rossen managed to do something we thought was impossible—he snagged an interview with the legendary Bill Watterson! Since we're guessing there are a few Calvin and Hobbes enthusiasts …
Discussion:
Guardian, ThinkProgress, Poynter, The Verge, Lawyers, Guns & Money and PopWatch
Gautham Nagesh / Washington Wire:
Sen. Cruz Places Hold on Obama Nominee — The shutdown may be over, but Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) isn't done making trouble for the Obama administration. — A spokesman for Mr. Cruz said Thursday that he has placed a hold on the nomination of former telecom lobbyist and venture capitalist Tom Wheeler …
Discussion:
Politico and Talking Points Memo