Visual Source: Newseum
NY Times editorial:
The House planned a deliberately obstructionist vote on Saturday against the Reid bill, but some Senate Republicans are signaling they are willing to agree to this more reasonable framework. If enough of them can join the Democrats and ignore the bleats of the Tea Party, it may still be possible to avert calamity.
Bloomberg:
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad expressed confidence that lawmakers will be able to head off a government default, likely at the last minute on Aug. 2.
“I don’t believe there will be a default,” Conrad said yesterday. “Leaders on both sides are sufficiently responsible that they understand if there were a default it would be a disaster for this country.”
I presume he's talking about 3 of 4 leaders.
NY Times:
“Zealots are great on the campaign trail,” said Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton, “but a huge problem when it comes to governance. They often don’t believe in the art of a deal, even with their allies. If they are not tamed, they can eat their own party alive.”
Ezra Klein:
Lately, Boehner has not been governing. What should have happened Friday is obvious: Having failed to pass a conservative resolution to the debt crisis without Democratic votes, he should have begun cutting the deals and making the concessions necessary to gain Democratic votes. That, after all, is what he will ultimately have to do anyway, as whatever he passes will also require the approval of the Senate and the president.
But Boehner went in the opposite direction. He made his bill less conservative. He indulged his members in the fantasy that they wouldn’t have to make compromises. It’s as if Pelosi, facing criticism for dropping the public option, had tried to shore up her support by bringing a single-payer health-care bill to the floor. Even if that would have pleased her left wing, what good would it have done her? Her job was to prepare her members to take a vote that could lead to a successful outcome. Pretending that that outcome could be far further to the left than it actually could be would ultimately make her job harder.
Behind the Numbers:
Nate Silver:
The most complicated question may be what this will do to the relationship between the Republican establishment and insurgent groups like the Tea Party. Last night was a point of evidence that the Tea Party has enough direct influence on the Republican Congress to have a de facto veto over its agenda. That is to say, even in the House, the Republican majority is not large enough to pass bills without either the Tea Party’s support, or the Democratic Party’s support.
On the other hand, the Tea Party has been repudiated by everyone from John McCain to The Wall Street Journal to Ann Coulter — hardly a bunch of RINOs. And the two most likely outcomes are now a bill that looks something like Mr. Reid’s — or no agreement at all. Neither of those will make the Tea Party’s strategy look good, and it may find its influence limited in future debates.
Democracy Corps (D) looks at independent reaction after the prime time speeches:
Eighty percent of Independents say they are paying a lot or some attention to this debt ceiling and deficit reduction debate. Ninety percent tell us that they are concerned about what it might mean for the economy if Congress doesn’t act. This includes 65 percent who say they are ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ concerned.
See also:
New conventional wisdom: GOP refusal to compromise is pushing country to edge of catastrophe Still, while we know whose "intent" is favored, the issue for the WH is execution. Intent is no substitute for jobs.
Charlie Cook:
Over the course of history, Congress and the White House have seen highs and lows. Times that can be remembered with pride and other times when politicians failed to meet the American people’s expectations. Right now, we are at a very, very low point—the worst I’ve seen since I moved to Washington in September 1972. Never in my memory have both parties and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue appeared as dysfunctional as they do today. The stakes are so high and the performance is so utterly disappointing. The goals of most of the debt-ceiling proposals being debated are so modest that victory would really be a defeat in terms of what needs to be done.