memeorandum: Why Democrats Might Cave On Social Security Cuts (Zach Carter/The Huffington Post)

10:30 AM ET, October 21, 2013

Top Items:

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

GOP, Boehner take shutdown hit in new CNN poll — Washington (CNN) — Just more than half the public says that it's bad for the country that the GOP controls the House of Representatives, according to a new national poll conducted after the end of the partial government shutdown.

Discussion: Politico, The Huffington Post, Taegan Goddard's …, Daily Kos, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Post Politics, The Week, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo and Prairie Weather

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Cruz: Senate Republicans are ‘single-most damaging thing’ for the GOP in 2014 — (CNN) - If Republicans suffer losses in next year's mid-term elections because of the recent partial government shutdown, Sen. Ted Cruz said Senate Republicans-not Democrats-will be responsible.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

Richard Wolf / USA Today:

Republicans blame each other after shutdown fiasco — Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Jeb Bush say the party needs to pick better battles, but Sen. Ted Cruz vows to fight on. — CONNECT — WASHINGTON — Republicans began a new week pointing fingers at each other Sunday following a 16 …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, First Read and CNN

New York Times:

Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site — Federal contractors have identified most of the main problems crippling President Obama's online health insurance marketplace, but the administration has been slow to issue orders for fixing those flaws, and some contractors worry that the system …

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, The Plum Line, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Betsy's Page, The Daily Beast, National Review, Prairie Weather and ThinkProgress

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Lousy Medicaid Arguments — For now, the big news about Obamacare is the debacle of HealthCare.gov, the Web portal through which Americans are supposed to buy insurance on the new health care exchanges. For now, at least, HealthCare.gov isn't working for many users.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:
HealthCare.gov's glitches prompt Obama to call in more computer experts

Discussion: Power Line and The Week

HHS.gov:
Doing Better: Making Improvements to HealthCare.gov

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, Health Insurance Blog, The Daily Caller, Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, The Hill and The Verge

Jason Millman / Politico:
Tech ‘surge’ to tackle Obamacare websites

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Roger L. Simon and National Review

Reuters:
Obama to call healthcare website glitches ‘unacceptable’ as fix sought

Discussion: NPR, National Review and The Reaction

Louise Radnofsky / Washington Wire:
‘Tech Surge’ Planned to Fix Obamacare Exchanges

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots and Power Line

Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Our choice for governor in 2013: none of the above — The Times-Dispatch is not endorsing a candidate for governor in 2013. — The words that follow should not come as a surprise. During recent months, numerous editorials in The Times-Dispatch have lamented the gubernatorial campaign.

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, TheBlaze.com, The Fix, Outside the Beltway, Politico and The Raw Story

Daily Progress:

Bill Bolling for governor — Virginians have a sober and sacred task ahead of them next month: Casting a vote for the next governor of the commonwealth. — That task is made all the more difficult because neither of the two major-party candidates is palatable.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:

CONNECT — Cracks are showing in the Democratic coalition as the next round of budget talks gets under way, hurting the chances for progress toward a broad deal that changes the tax code and significantly narrows future deficits. — While Republicans are still smarting over nasty infighting …

Zach Carter / The Huffington Post:
Why Democrats Might Cave On Social Security Cuts

Discussion: Firedoglake, LewRockwell, Campaign for America's Future, Hullabaloo and susiemadrak.com

Emily Cahn / Roll Call:

Tim Griffin to Retire After 2 Terms — Griffin will not return to Congress after 2014. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo) — Two-term Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., announced Monday that he will not seek a third term in the House, according to a local news outlet.

Discussion: Talk Business, Politico, CNN, ABC News and Booman Tribune

Stan Schroeder / Mashable:

Facebook Suffers Sitewide Errors for Many Users — As of Monday morning, Facebook is experiencing errors across the site. It won't allow many users to update your status, post comments, send messages or post photos. Users are also unable to Like posts — Trying to update your status …

Discussion: TechCrunch and KDVR.com

Spiegel Online:

NSA Accessed Mexican President's Email — The NSA has been systematically eavesdropping on the Mexican government for years. It hacked into the president's public email account and gained deep insight into policymaking and the political system. The news is likely to hurt ties between the US and Mexico.

Discussion: CNET, Business Insider, NBCNews, TechCrunch, The Verge, Gawker, NPR, VodkaPundit, Mediaite, The Hinterland Gazette, emptywheel and Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer »

Mireya Navarro / New York Times:

Widow's Bankruptcy Case Poses Risk to Rent-Stabilized Tenants — After her husband died, Mary Veronica Santiago fell behind on her bills, and the creditors began to call. — So two years ago, she took refuge in bankruptcy, hoping to have her debts wiped away.

Discussion: Hit & Run and Althouse

Justin Sink / The Hill:

White House photographer weds in Rose Garden — President Obama hosted a wedding for White House photographer Pete Souza and Patti Lease on Saturday evening in the Rose Garden, according to a White House official. — “They ceremony was performed by [White House] Chaplain Rev. [Stan] …

Discussion: Reuters, CNN and The Impolitic