memeorandum: House Starts What Could Be a Bellwether Week (Billy House/NationalJournal.com)

11:50 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, AMERICAblog News, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's …, Hullabaloo, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Post Politics, The Week, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times and Prairie Weather

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 … and CNN

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Cruz: Senate Republicans are ‘single-most damaging thing’ for the GOP in 2014

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

Benjamin Bell / ABC News:
Jeb Bush to GOP: ‘Have a Little Bit of Self-Restraint,’ Offer Alternative to Achieve Obamacare Repeal

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin and The Gateway Pundit

Meredith Shiner / The World's Greatest …:
Reid: GOP Will Lose House if Government Shuts Down Again

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

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 …

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, CBS DC and Althouse

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 and ThinkProgress

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

Discussion: Shakesville, Reuters, CNN and The Impolitic

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

Discussion: NPR, National Review, Politico and The Reaction

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, Washington Wire, CBS DC, Mediaite, First Read, TheBlaze.com, 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 …

Emily Cahn / Roll Call:

Tim Griffin to Retire After 2 Terms (Updated) — 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

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

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

Klein Online:

INVESTIGATIVE RADIO SHOW — Listen to this shows podcast — How Obama is secretly negotiating away United States sovereignty, including some shocking rights. How the home front is wide open for an Iranian missile attack. Inside secret White House-brokered talks to divide Jerusalem...and guess who is leading the way!

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story and CBS DC

Rachel Zarrell / BuzzFeed:
Republican Senator Says Obamacare Would Have Killed Him

Discussion: The Right Pundit

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

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