Visual source: Newseum
The New York Times comes out guns blazing against Republicans for their shockingly irresponsible behavior during debt ceiling negotiations:
House Republicans have lost sight of the country’s welfare. It’s hard to conclude anything else from their latest actions, including the House speaker’s dismissal of President Obama’s plea for compromise Monday night. They have largely succeeded in their campaign to ransom America’s economy for the biggest spending cuts in a generation. They have warped an exercise in paying off current debt into an argument about future spending. Yet, when they win another concession, they walk away.
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This increasingly reckless game has pushed the nation to the brink of ruinous default. The Republicans have dimmed the futures of millions of jobless Americans, whose hopes for work grow more out of reach as government job programs are cut and interest rates begin to rise. They have made the federal government a laughingstock around the globe.
The Washington Post joins in, calling out Republicans for wanting to kick the debt can down the road for political purposes:
The political climate for a balanced deal will not be any more hospitable as the election draws nearer. It is unfortunate that the two sides have been unable to use the debt-ceiling moment as the impetus to achieve a broader deal. But given the impasse, the White House is correct to try to postpone another such showdown until after the election.
Major Garrett on the lack of a veto threat:
Washington may have become, as President Obama said on Monday, a place where "compromise has become a dirty word," but in the context of the menacing debt-limit crisis there was a far dirtier word he didn't utter.
Veto.
While Obama warned House Speaker John Boehner not to turn Americans into "collateral damage," he did not vow to veto the bill Boehner's now pushing to lift the debt ceiling by $1 trillion (good for six months). [...]
That Obama didn't promise to veto Boehner's bill signals that Obama may already know the sweet spot between divided government and dysfunctional government. He may not sign the Boehner bill, but the absence of a veto threat is a tell-tale sign that, in the end, Obama may tolerate something much closer to it than Monday night's speech conveyed.
Dana Milbank on the silliness of "blaming Washington" and the real source of the stalemate:
There is something rich about the president of the United States and the speaker of the House pretending that they are somehow not part of Washington. If these two aren’t Washington, what is? The International Spy Museum? Ben’s Chili Bowl? Wolf Blitzer?
Actually, the ones really bollixing up the debt-limit talks are the newest arrivals in town, the freshmen Republicans who have handcuffed Boehner and prevented him from striking any sort of deal with Obama. The president and speaker shouldn’t be blaming Washington; they should be blaming Utah (which sent us Sen. Mike Lee) or Florida (which gave us Rep. Allen West).
Karen Finney runs down the sordid record of Grover Norquist, who has defined the GOP side in the debt ceiling debate:
Perhaps a case of selective amnesia explains the exalted platform given to Grover Norquist both in the media and among congressional Republicans. Just a few years ago, Norquist was a central figure in the GOP culture of corruption and cronyism that helped Democrats retake control of Congress in 2006. [...]
Which raises the question: Just what is it that 236 GOP House and 41 GOP senators fear from an operative known to be involved in illegal activity involving taxpayer fraud and influence peddling?
Catherine Rampell looks at the harsh reality for the long-term unemployed:
The unemployed need not apply.
That is the message being broadcast by many of the nation’s employers, making it even more difficult for 14 million jobless Americans to get back to work.
A recent review of job vacancy postings on popular sites like Monster.com, CareerBuilder and Craigslist revealed hundreds that said employers would consider (or at least “strongly prefer”) only people currently employed or just recently laid off.