memeorandum: Dem ‘Referendum’ on Tea Party Fizzles: Booker Margin in N.J. Barely Half of Obama's in 2012 (John Fund/National Review)

11:00 AM ET, October 17, 2013

Top Items:

Bob Cusack / The Hill:

Winners and losers of the debt-limit fight — The 2013 fiscal showdown was ugly, especially for Republicans. — Both parties have scoffed that there are winners and losers in the debate. — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently said, “This isn't a damn game!”

Discussion: Politico and Reuters

Steve Almasy / CNN:

There's a little pork in that bill: The 5 most surprising provisions in the debt deal — (CNN) — So much for a “clean” bill. The measure passed by Congress to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling also contains some goodies and gifts tucked into the 35-page bill.

Discussion: BizPac Review

Todd Starnes / Fox News:

American taxpayers betrayed by chicken-hearted RINOs — American taxpayers have once again been trampled by establishment Republicans - a thundering herd of chicken-hearted Republicans in Name Only (RINOs) galloping to the Left. — The debt ceiling deal struck between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Discussion: Reuters and The Right Scoop

Phillip M. Bailey / WFPL:

McConnell-Reid Deal Includes $3 Billion Earmark for Kentucky Project — A proposal to end the government shutdown and avoid default orchestrated by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Harry Reid includes a nearly $3 billion earmark for a Kentucky project.

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Connecting.the.Dots, Doug Ross, Washington Post, Pat Dollard, The Lonely Conservative, BuzzFeed, The Other McCain, Conservatives4Palin and Politico

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Republicans grapple with stinging defeat

Discussion: Politico

Washington Post:
Deal buys Democrats and Republicans a little time to find a big fiscal fix

Discussion: The Plum Line, The Fix, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Senate Conservatives Fund:
McConnell Deal Includes Kentucky Kickback

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, WFPL, The Hill, Independent Journal Review, Talking Points Memo, Liberaland, ThinkProgress and National Review

Kerry Picket / BREITBART.COM:
Senate Debt Deal Weakens Congress on Debt Ceiling

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air, Politico, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Daily Kos, VodkaPundit, The Lonely Conservative, ThinkProgress, The Week and Hit & Run

David Edwards / The Raw Story:
Cruz: It was a ‘remarkable victory’ until Senate Republicans caved on the shutdown

Discussion: Firedoglake

John Stanton / BuzzFeed:
Shutdown Deal Includes Nearly $3 Billion For Kentucky Dam Project

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Week, Power Line and National Review

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Ryan breaks from Boehner, votes ‘no’ — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) split with his party's leadership and voted against the Senate fiscal agreement on Wednesday night. — In a statement, Ryan called the legislation to reopen the government and lift the debt ceiling “a missed opportunity” to reduce the federal debt.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Fix, NewsMax.com, New York Times, The Reality-Based Community, Washington Post and The Reaction

New York Times:

The Republican Surrender — President Obama signed the bill reopening the government and lifting the debt ceiling early Thursday morning. — The Republican Party slunk away on Wednesday from its failed, ruinous strategy to get its way through the use of havoc.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette, Daily Kos, The Week, Prairie Weather, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire, Speaker.gov, National Review, Sky Dancing and Washington Free Beacon

Fox News:
Obama signs bill ending partial shutdown, raising debt ceiling

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Right Scoop and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Hands Empty but Spirit Unbowed, House Republicans Take Stock

Discussion: ABC News and Daniel W. Drezner

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Conservatives Learned The Wrong Lessons From The Shutdown Debacle

Discussion: The Mahablog

New Jersey Online:

Cory Booker makes history as he defeats Steve Lonegan in U.S. Senate election — NEWARK — Cory Booker's star-quality and his skill at surviving the roughhouse politics of New Jersey's biggest city took him from the mayor's office to the U.S. Senate today in a hard-fought victory over Republican iconoclast Steve Lonegan.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Right Wing Watch

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Only Four African Americans Have Ever Been Elected To The U.S. Senate In All Of American History — New Jersey voters elected Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) on Wednesday to the seat once held by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D). When he is seated, Senator-elect Booker will join Sen. Tim Scott …

John Fund / National Review:

Dem ‘Referendum’ on Tea Party Fizzles: Booker Margin in N.J. Barely Half of Obama's in 2012 — Democrats did everything they could to portray yesterday's special election for a Senate seat in New Jersey as a referendum on Republicans and the Tea Party. They clearly fell short of their expectations …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Sarah Palin / BREITBART.COM:
ON TO KENTUCKY — Todd and I were proud to stand with Mark Levin …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy

Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Booker, Winning Rocky Senate Bid, Gets a Job to Fit His Profile

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Politico and Balloon Juice

Elizabeth Titus / Politico:
Cory Booker wins New Jersey Senate seat

Discussion: Post Politics, Equality Matters, CNN, Ballot Box, Power Line, Yahoo! News, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys and NewsBusters

Jessica L. Taylor / NBCNews:
Booker wins Senate race in New Jersey

Discussion: The Daily Caller, theGrio, Mashable and Shakesville

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Tea Party's Image Turns More Negative — Ted Cruz's Popularity Soars among Tea Party Republicans — The Tea Party is less popular than ever, with even many Republicans now viewing the movement negatively. Overall, nearly half of the public (49%) has an unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party, while 30% have a favorable opinion.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Yahoo! News, The New Republic, Right Turn, CANNONFIRE, Outside the Beltway, Post Politics, Balloon Juice, Independent Journal Review, AMERICAblog News, The Fix, Politico, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, Liberal Values, CNN, WFPL and Political Algebra

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Advancing. Ever Advancing. — Much cynicism has been expressed over the past month about the effort, led by Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, to fight Obamacare. It was about money or defeating Republicans or something other than what it was about — undermining Obamacare with a united front.

Discussion: firstread.nbcnews.com, Commentary Magazine, Right Turn, Rothenblog, Balloon Juice and No More Mister Nice Blog

CNN:
Republican congressman: It was worth the fight

Discussion: The Lead with Jake Tapper

Shane Goldmacher / NationalJournal.com:
GOP Congressman Rips Tea Party Colleagues: 'I'm Not Sure They're Republicans'

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, Hot Air, Yahoo! News, Guardian and Washington Examiner

Fox News:
Hume: Tea Party pushed budget stand-off because GOP ‘utterly failed’ to restrain bloated gov't

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, Outside the Beltway, The Dish, Mediaite, Independent Journal Review, Wall Street Journal, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and RedState

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

Documents reveal NSA's extensive involvement in targeted killing program — It was an innocuous e-mail, one of millions sent every day by spouses with updates on the situation at home. But this one was of particular interest to the National Security Agency and contained clues that put …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Reuters:
U.S. eavesdropping agency chief, top deputy expected to depart soon

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Verge, Techdirt, The Hill and Talking Points Memo

Politico:

House stenographer hauled from floor — A House floor stenographer was abruptly hauled out of the chamber after charging the dais and screaming during Wednesday's late night vote on raising the debt ceiling and funding the federal government. — As the bill sailed toward final passage …

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Graham: Polls factored into GOP folding — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Wednesday that the polling backlash against the Republican Party was one of the reasons Senate Republicans were eager to cut a deal with Democrats. — “Well you can't let 20 or 30 polls cloud you're thinking apparently …

Discussion: Politico and CANNONFIRE

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:
Republican Collapse — Congress has finally worked out a deal …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Raw Story, DownWithTyranny!, The Federalist, Real Clear Politics, TheBlaze.com, Hot Air and The Dish

Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:

Conservatism needs to lighten up — The crisis has been resolved, but this respite is temporary. We are bound to have more standoffs and brinkmanship in the months and years ahead. To understand why, you must recognize that, for the tea party, the stakes could not be higher.

Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:

Obama Wins! Big Whoop. Can He Lead? — With an eye to history, will the president leverage his victory to score a debt-busting deal with the GOP? Doubt it. — Barack Obama is a winning president. Will he be remembered as a great one? (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Discussion: Washington Wire