memeorandum: Republicans blame each other after shutdown fiasco (Richard Wolf/USA Today)

10:50 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: The Huffington Post, Taegan Goddard's …, Daily Kos, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, The Week, Post Politics, Politico, 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, Weekly Standard, CBS News, Talking Points Memo, Power Line, Business Insider, The Plum Line, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, National Review, The Daily Beast, Betsy's Page, 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

TIME:

No More Apologies: Why Obama Has to Get Mad About His Broken Obamacare Websites — Whenever a President of the U.S. stops believing his own spin, the people should take notice — When the Obamacare website debuted on Oct. 1, Barack Obama walked into the Rose Garden and compared it to Amazon.com, Kayak.com and the iPhone.

Discussion: First Read and Althouse

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

Discussion: The Week

Justin Sink / The Hill:
White House photographer weds in Rose Garden

Discussion: Reuters, CNN and The Impolitic

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

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, Health Insurance Blog, Right Wing News, The Daily Caller, 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

Justin Sink / The Hill:
ObamaCare enrollees to join president in Rose Garden (Video)

Discussion: National Review

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: Talking Points Memo, 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 …

Roby Brock / Talk Business:

Cong. Tim Griffin Won't Seek Third Term (UPDATED) — Second District Cong. Tim Griffin (R) says he will not seek a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, citing his young family as his primary reason. — “God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, Elizabeth, and two precious children …

Discussion: Politico, CNN and ABC News

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: Booman Tribune

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

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

Billy House / NationalJournal.com:

House Starts What Could Be a Bellwether Week — Administration officials don't plan to testify at a House Energy and Commerce hearing Thursday on the rocky first few weeks of the Affordable Care Act's implementation. Committee leaders sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urging her to reconsider.

Discussion: Politico

Meredith Shiner / The World's Greatest …:

Reid: GOP Will Lose House if Government Shuts Down Again — Reid's interview with Univision aired Sunday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in an interview aired Sunday that Republicans would be at risk of losing their majority in the House …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo