The Commentariat -- July 27

Today's Off Times Square asks "Now What?"

Not to worry. The Obama 2012 campaign is going well. From The Final Editon:

Get your ass in line. -- Speaker John Boehner to House Republican caucus ...

AND here's a headline you don't often see in the right-leaning Politico: "GOP in Chaos." ...

... ** Paul Krugman takes down both David Brooks & Tom Friedman in one short blogpost: Republicans crazies have created "the clearest, starkest situation one can imagine short of civil war," yet "the cult that is destroying America ... the cult of centrism -- portray[s] it as a situation in which both sides are equally partisan, equally intransigent — because news reports always do that. And we have influential pundits calling out for a new centrist party, a new centrist president, to get us away from the evils of partisanship." ...

... Josh Marshall of TPM: "... the conventions of journalistic 'objectivity', as currently defined, frequently make journalists violate their biggest duty, which is honesty with readers. The top headline running now on CNN reads: 'They're all talking, but no one is compromising, at least publicly. Democratic and GOP leaders appear unwilling to bend on proposals to raise the debt ceiling.' By any reasonable measure, this is simply false, even painfully so."

No Way, No How. I want to eliminate any expectation that the Fed through any mechanism could offset the impact of a default on the government debt. -- Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, to a Congressional committee

Why are we going through this trauma/drama now? Felix Salmon of Reuters: because back in December 2010, Harry Reid thought making House Republicans have "skin in the game" would be a great tactical move for Democrats. Really. Thus guy narrowly beat Sharron Angle! and he doesn't know how crazy Teabaggers are?

"We get the sacrifice. They share the wealth." -- Nancy Pelosi, speaking to union workers about the Republican "vision"

Prof. David Barash in a New York Times op-ed, reviews aspects of game theory and elephant mating practices! and concludes that "The president is best advised to ... declare that the other side has foregone all pretense at rational legitimacy, and simply proceed to govern as best he can for the good of the country." ...

... New York Times Editors: The Reid & Boehner deficit reduction "plans each call for cutting federal spending by trillions of dollars over the next 10 years without bringing in any additional revenue. They are a choice between bad and worse. Americans will inevitably be harmed as government programs are cut sooner than they should be in this weak economy and far deeper than they need to be because of the Republicans’ refusal to accept any tax increases — even on the wealthiest Americans." ...

... Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "This week, there were three events in the world of exceedingly complicated financial markets that showed growing concern about the state of the debt negotiations in Washington: The dollar fell sharply against other currencies. Investors who make short-term loans to the government demanded a higher interest rate. Investors who wanted to buy insurance against a U.S. default on its debt had to pay vastly more." CW: of course it isn't "the govenment" who will pay those higher interest rates, it's you, the taxpayer. Thank your Republican representative.

In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus. But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation’s credit card.As a result, the deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office.
-- Barack Obama, in his speech to the nation Monday ...

... Economist Dean Baker: "President Obama does not have the most basic understanding of the nature of the budget problems the country faces. He apparently believes that there was a huge deficit on an ongoing basis as a result of the policies in place prior to the downturn. In fact, the deficits were relatively modest. The huge deficits came about entirely as a result of the economic downturn brought about by the collapse of the housing bubble." [emphasis added] Via Karen Garcia ...

... Jed Lewison of Daily Kos runs down a list of influential conservative groups who oppose Speaker Boehner's deficit reduction plan; those who favor it are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce & Americans for Tax Reform -- both "establishment" Republican groups who are more interested in business than ideology. ...

... Locked out of the House It Built. Binhamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent millions of dollars last year helping elect Republicans to Congressional seats, is struggling to convince the House it helped to build that the debt ceiling must be increased." ...

... Steve Benen runs down some recent polls and finds, "... any fair reading of the polls over the last couple of months, as the Republicans’ debt-ceiling crisis has intensified, finds that while the public is broadly frustrated, the GOP fares the worst — by a wide margin. Republicans are seen as too unwilling to compromise, too reckless, too wedded to bad ideas, too indifferent to the needs of the middle class and seniors, and too reluctant to even consider a balanced agreement with additional revenue. Democrats aren’t winning any popularity contests, but compared to the GOP’s current standing, Dems enjoy vastly more public support." ...

... AND as Joan McCarter of Daily Kos points out, these poll results are a stark warning to Democrats as well as to Republicans. Nonetheless, Republicans are leading clueless Democrats (Obama) "merrily down the path" to entitlement cuts, which will neutralize what would have been the key campaign issue of 2012.

Truth to Power. In his last New York Times column on the economy, David Leonhardt does tell it as it is.

Ben Smith of Politico: "The Navy Times ... reported last week that Navy Secretary Ray Mabus stripped the Silver Star from a Vietnam swift boat veteran, Capt. Wade Sanders.... Sanders is now in jail on child pornography charges. But he's best known as the man who introduced John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and, ironically, vouched for the authenticity of Kerry's service."

News Ledes

A Rare Union Victory in Our Banana Republic. New York Times: "Workers in southern Virginia at Ikea’s only factory in the United States voted Wednesday to belong to a union. Employees at the Swedwood plant in Danville, Va., voted 221-69 to have the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers represent them in collective bargaining, union and plant officials said."

Politico: "... Republicans prepared to bring to a House vote Thursday a two-step $2.5 trillion debt ceiling bill that will avert default next week but threatens more conflict — and renewed instability — in six months. Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell remain in conversation over how to defuse the building confrontation.... But with stocks falling again Wednesday, he fight between Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama has become ... personal.... Fifty-three senators, 51 Democrats and two independents, signed a letter to Boehner on Wednesday vowing to oppose the House bill." New York Times story here. ...

... Making It Even Worse. The Hill: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will rework his two-step plan to raise the debt ceiling after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found the bill would not cut as much spending as promised." ...

     ... Washington Post: "... even before the [CBO] report, some House conservatives had already come out against the plan, arguing that it doesn’t cut deeply enough. On Tuesday, Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio) said that fewer than 218 Republicans would support the measure, meaning that Boehner would need the backing of some Democrats to pass the measure on Thursday. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, insist that few, if any, of their members will back the plan." ...

... New York Times: "Thanks to an inflow of tax payments and maneuvering by the Treasury Department, the government can probably continue to pay all of its bills for several days after Aug. 2, providing potentially critical breathing room for Congress to raise the debt ceiling, according to estimates by several Wall Street banks and a Washington research organization. The consensus is that the government will not run short of money until Aug. 10, when it would be unable to cut millions of Social Security checks without borrowing more money." CW: Good. Now the loonies will have a whole week to say, "See, I told you there was no crisis." ...

... Reuters: "Prioritizing debt payments to avoid a default would be 'deeply disruptive' to the economy, Standard & Poor's global head of sovereign ratings said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday." ...

... New York Times: "A House Financial Services oversight panel on Wednesday will give lawmakers their first chance to ask senior executives at Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s about their judgments in putting the government on notice that its top-flight credit rating is at risk."

Los Angeles Times: "Congressional offices were deluged with feedback Tuesday after President Obama urged Americans to make their voices heard on the gridlocked debt ceiling debate.

AP: "A suicide bomber hiding explosives in his turban assassinated the mayor of Kandahar on Wednesday, just two weeks after President Hamid Karzai's powerful half brother was slain in the southern province that is critical to the U.S.-led war effort."

USA Today: "First lady Michelle Obama, who has made the fight against childhood obesity a major part of her platform, praised McDonald's today for plans to add apples to Happy Meals and other new nutritional projects."

Guardian: Tim DeChristopher, "an activist who became a hero to campaigners for disrupting a Bush administration auction for the oil and gas industry with $1.8m (£1.1m) in bogus bids, was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday.... Environmental and leftwing campaigners, from actress Daryl Hannah to film maker Michael Moore and writer Naomi Klein, immediately denounced the sentence as excessive."

The Commentariat -- July 26

The President speaks about the "debate" in Washington over the national deficit & raising the debt ceiling:

     ... Here's the transcript.

... The topic for today's Off Times Square: We're Screwed! ...

... CW: I guess I have to be responsible & give you a chance to watch Speaker Boehner's response. I couldn't stand to watch it myself, but a friend wrote and said she thought he looked drunk. In fairness, I think Boehner always looks drunk. ...

     ... Steve Stromberg of the Washington Post: "Making the case for his plan on Monday night, Boehner laced his speech with distortions of the president’s position. He mocked Obama’s position as 'we spend more, and you pay more,' accusing the president of asking for 'a blank check.' Neither of which actually describe the $4 trillion debt-reduction plan Obama favors." ...

... Republican Class Warfare. Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities: "House Speaker John Boehner’s new budget proposal would require deep cuts in the years immediately ahead in Social Security and Medicare benefits for current retirees, the repeal of health reform’s coverage expansions, or wholesale evisceration of basic assistance programs for vulnerable Americans. The plan is, thus, tantamount to a form of 'class warfare.' If enacted, it could well produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history." Includes a rundown of what's in the Boehner bill. CW: or why I don't give John Boehner much respect. ...

Reader Peter T. urges me to link to this column by Andrew Sullivan that is a few days old but still true. I'm not much of a fan of Sullivan's, but he's correct here:

The Republican refusal to countenance any way to raise revenues to tackle the massive debt incurred largely on their watch and from a recession which started under Obama's predecessor makes one thing clear. They are not a political party in government; they are a radical faction that refuses to participate meaningfully in the give and take the Founders firmly believed should be at the center of American government. They are not conservatives in this sense. They are anarchists.... Boehner and McConnell have one goal and it is has nothing to do with the economy. It is destroying this president and this presidency.

... New York Times Editors: "House Republicans have lost sight of the country’s welfare.... It’s hard not to conclude now that dysfunction is the Republicans’ goal — even if the cost is unthinkable." President Obama has embraced Harry Reid's plan, which gives Republicans everything they said they wanted. Reid's plan "is, in fact, an awful plan, which cuts spending far too deeply at a time when the government should be summoning all its resources to solve the real economic problem of unemployment. It asks for absolutely no sacrifice from those who have prospered immensely as economic inequality has grown." ...

... Ezra Klein has a synopsis of Reid's "awful plan." ...

Image via the National Journal.... David Beard of the National Journal: "When President Obama told Americans to contact their representatives to show support for his debt-ceiling plan, the response was so strong it knocked out several websites for leading GOP House members. National Journal checks at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. of websites for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., showed a "Server is too busy" response on an otherwise blank screen. Boehner’s separate representative site was down, also, though the district and House Majority Leader sites of Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., were working." ...

... To find out how to contact your congressmember or senator, this site is helpful. Enter your Zip code if you're not sure who your representative is. Click on the rep's name, & the site sends you to a page that provides e-mail & phone info (each rep has constructed her/his own contact page, so they vary as to ease of contact). ...

... Barack Hoover Obama. John Judis of The New Republic: "... in drawing this line with the Republicans, and, in framing the choice the country needs to make, Obama embraced the same Republican economic assumptions about debts and deficits that got Herbert Hoover in trouble after the 1929 stock market crash." ...

... "A False Sense of Security." Jim Tankersley of the National Journal: don't kid yourselves, Congressmen. The effects of a default on the economy will be twofold: the markets will tank & the federal government's inability to pay more than about 60 percent of its bills will mean "Hundreds of thousands of Americans are likely to lose their jobs, and even if Washington gets its act together quickly, the analyst firm Macroeconomic Advisers said last week, the fallout will linger through 2012." ...

... The Ever-so-Plausible Congressmen-Are-Stupid-&-Hateful Theory. Jonathan Bernstein, writing in the Washington Post, argues that a fight over the deficit was inevitable -- if not now, later -- because "Americans elected to Congress a whole bunch of people who are either trying to impose fringe policy views despite apparently having no understanding whatsoever of their consequences — or are so driven by opposition to the president that their highest priority is opposing him, regardless of those consequences." ...

... Republican Bruce Bartlett in the New York Times: "it has become a Republican talking point that the Bush tax cuts did not, in fact, reduce revenue at all — something the Bush administration itself never asserted." In fact, during the 2000 campaign, Bush said the purpose of cuts he proposed was to reduce the surplus: "In this regard, at least, the Bush-era tax cuts were highly successful." ...

... CW: Besides his obvious desire to topple Speaker Boehner & take the top job himself, Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has another personal interest in the deficit reduction standoff. Alec MacGillis of the Washington Post: "Among the White House’s top demands for new revenue are changes in the tax code affecting hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate partnerships.... For the past four years, Cantor has taken the lead in the House on fighting the same changes. He also has been one of the top recipients of contributions from those industries — last year, his two fundraising committees took in nearly $2 million from securities and investment firms and real estate companies, more than double the figure for Boehner (R-Ohio)."

... A Few More Days to Dither? Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "... the Treasury Department is standing by its estimate that the government will need to borrow more money after Aug. 2 to pay for all its obligations. But several new reports — from UBS, Barclays and Wells Fargo ... have said that daily tax receipts have been higher than anticipated and that the Treasury has quite a bit of cash on hand. As of Friday, according to the Treasury, the government had $85 billion in cash."

Chart of the Day. Hope Yen of the AP: "The wealth gaps between whites and minorities have grown to their widest levels in a quarter-century. The recession and uneven recovery have erased decades of minority gains, leaving whites on average with 20 times the net worth of blacks and 18 times that of Hispanics, according to an analysis of new Census data."

The Unemployed Need Not Apply. Catherine Rampell of the New York Times: "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." The practice is so rampant that New Jersey recently passed a law making it illegal. BUT, "Legal experts say that the practice probably does not violate discrimination laws because unemployment is not a protected status, like age or race. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently held a hearing, though, on whether discriminating against the jobless might be illegal because it disproportionately hurts older people and blacks."

Russell Jacoby, in a New York Times op-ed: "Most threats and violence tend to emerge from within a society, not from outside it.... We prefer, however, to imagine threats as emanating from aliens and foreigners." The operative principle may be what "Freud dubbed 'the narcissism of minor differences.' Small variations frequently elicit more rage than large ones because they imperil identity.

Adm. Mike Mullen, outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, writes a New York Times op-ed about the need to improve the relationship between the U.S. and Chinese military.

Having nothing to do with anything -- The Boyfriend from Hell. A rape victim is set up by her alleged rapist, a former boyfriend, and New York police buy the set-up, charging her with multiple crimes staged by the boyfriend and his friends.

Right Wing World ...

... Where Limbaugh Rules. Alicia Cohn of The Hill: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) outlined the GOP's debt-ceiling plan to conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh on Monday before showing it to his conference." ...

... AND Erick Erickson of Red State Thinks He's Pope: he declares he will not grant "absolution" to any Republican who doesn't stand firm & vote only for a deficit reduction bill that incorporates the duck, dodge & dismantle plan.

News Ledes

New York Times: "A preview of the expected showdown over whether to admit a Palestinian state as a full member of the United Nations when world leaders gather here in September played out in the Security Council on Tuesday."

New York Times: "House Republican leaders Tuesday made increasingly frenzied pleas to their members to approve a plan [by Speaker John Boehner] to temporarily raise the nation’s debt ceiling, but passage seemed in growing doubt. The White House reiterated that it strongly opposed the bill and that President Obama’s advisers would recommend a veto should it somehow pass the House and Senate." ...

     ... This story has been updated & has a new lede: "House Republican leaders were forced on Tuesday night to delay a vote scheduled on their plan to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, as conservative lawmakers expressed skepticism and Congressional budget officials said the plan did not deliver the promised savings."

New York Times: "The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, acting just days after the state began allowing gay couples to wed, filed a legal brief on Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Mr. Schneiderman asserted that the law, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, violates the right to equal protection under the law for gay and lesbian couples."

New York Times: "Representative David Wu, a Democrat from Oregon, said Tuesday that he will resign from Congress after allegations that he had had a sexual encounter with a young woman. Mr. Wu, a seven-term member of Congress, said in a statement that he intended to fight what he called 'very serious allegations.' But he said that he would resign as soon as the debt ceiling fight in Washington was over."

Washington Post: "President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner escalated their battle over the national debt on Monday, pressing their arguments in a pair of prime-time television addresses as Congress remained at a loss over how to keep the United States from defaulting next week for the first time. The challenge facing any plan for reducing the debt was underscored when a new Republican proposal to raise the ceiling on federal borrowing was met Monday with misgivings by some conservatives and skepticism by many GOP freshmen. That called into question whether Boehner (R-Ohio) could even get his own caucus to back his approach."

The Hill: "The House early Monday afternoon approved a rule for a bill funding the Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies, over bitter opposition from Democrats who argued that the bill would turn back decades of work to protect the environment. The rule for the bill, H.R. 2584, was passed in a partly-line vote of 205-131."

AP: "Norway's justice minister told reporters Tuesday that employees from his department are still missing after a bombing at government headquarters in Oslo and a shooting spree on a nearby island that killed at least 76. Police plan to start publicly naming the dead for the first time Tuesday."

The Commentariat -- July 25

I've posted an Open Thread for today's Off Times Square.

CW: James Surowiecki of the New Yorker has a very smart post on why the debt limit is so stupid. He incorporates economics, history AND psychology in one short post. Thanks to reader Kelly K. for the link.

** Elizabeth Drew in the New York Review of Books: "What were they thinking? Why, in the midst of a stalled recovery, with the economy fragile and job creation slowing to a trickle, did the nation’s leaders decide that the thing to do — in order to raise the debt limit, normally a routine matter — was to spend less money, making job creation all the more difficult? Many experts on the economy believe that the President has it backward: that focusing on growth and jobs is more urgent in the near term than cutting the deficit, even if such expenditures require borrowing. But that would go against Obama’s new self-portrait as a fiscally responsible centrist." Blame it on David Plouffe.

In a blogpost, Paul Krugman says means-testing Medicare is a bad idea: "... if you want the well-off to pay more, it’s just better to raise their taxes." ...

... In his regular column, Krugman elaborates on that theme and on why, in general, Obama's "Grand Bargain" was a bad bargain. ...

... From The Final Edition:

... By some accounts (see Krugman's post on Medicare means testing, linked above), Paul Krugman & David Brooks had a "duel to the death" on Charlie Rose's show Friday night. Rose hasn't put up the video yet & I can't find a pirated copy. Thanks to reader Bob M. for locating this clip from Heather at Crooks & Liars, who also has the transcript here:

     ... NEW. The full segment is (sort of) up on Charlie Rose's site, but it seems to have an intermittent loading problem. Worth watching if you can get it.

Louise Story & David Kocieniewski of the New York Times: "As Congress and President Obama failed yet again to break their stalemate over the debt limit, Wall Street and Washington turned their attention to a critical question: How long will investors give them? ... Early reaction to the gridlock indicated worries in global markets, with the dollar losing ground to an index of currencies, United States stocks futures declining and gold, deemed a safe investment during times of uncertainty, rising."

OFA Does Something Really Useful. AP: "President Barack Obama’s political arm at the Democratic National Committee is getting involved in the Wisconsin state Senate recall elections. Obama’s Organizing for America is pulling together volunteers in Madison this weekend to knock on doors and make phone calls in support of Democrats in eight recall elections." CW: this is encouraging. During the height of the demonstrations this past winter, OFA (which is now an arm of the Democratic National Committee) planned to bus demonstrators into Wisconsin from neighboring states and "somebody" at the White House evidently put the kibosh on the effort. Looks like "somebody" had a change of heart.

Paul Burka of Texas Monthly writes an open letter to "Yankee" journalists advising them of eight things they should know about Rick Perry before attempting to write about him. A really good read, and a bit scary.

CW: Abby Goodnough of the New York Times surveys Massachusetts Democrats, who are saying the same thing I've been saying about an Elizabeth Warren candidacy for Senate: she's untested, Scott Brown is popular & already has a big ole campaign war chest, AND Warren is a woman in a state that doesn't like to elect women to high public office. I even have a real-money bet going with an Off Times Square commenter on how Warren would fare if she chose to run.

Scott Shane of the New York Times on what Anders Behring Breivik, the accused Norwegian terrorist, learned from American anti-Muslim bloggers.

Stephen Marche, in a New York Times op-ed, sees the Murdoch scandal in terms of Shakespearean tragedy. CW: Personally, I think he's overblowing Rupert Murdoch, but he makes some interesting comparisons. If the government falls because of Murdoch, then you're into Shakespeare territory, but the protagonist would not be Murdoch; it would be David Cameron. ...

... David Carr of the New York Times: "... what [Rupert Murdoch's] sons and daughters could soon find out is that if Mr. Murdoch is forced to choose between the family and the company he has built, he will choose the News Corporation.... James Murdoch is done.... Rupert Murdoch, as we have long known him, is done as well."

... Don Van Natta, et al., of the New York Times: "After his testimony in Parliament was challenged by two former senior employees and referred by a lawmaker to Scotland Yard for investigation, James Murdoch has come under rising pressure in Britain’s phone hacking scandal that is likely to intensify this week. The board of British Sky Broadcasting ... convenes on Thursday for the first time since the scandal erupted, as regulators continue their inquiry into whether the hacking scandal means the broadcaster should continue to be considered 'fit and proper' to hold a broadcasting license. A day later, members of the parliamentary committee investigating the scandal are to meet to consider whether to ask for more information from Mr. Murdoch...."

Nafissatou Diallo, the Sofitel housekeeper who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of raping her, tells her side of the story to Newsweek reporters. ...

... Diallo speaks with ABC News' Robin Roberts. Print story here:

John Thorpe of Benzinga: IT security expert Stephen Spoonamore, a conservative Republican, gives sworn testimony that strongly suggests what liberals have suspected, and some have written about -- that Republicans falsified the 2004 Ohio presidential vote count, the state that gave the election to Bush over Kerry. BTW, I looked to see how the MSM covered this story; they didn't. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

News Ledes

NEW. President Obama spoke about the need to reduce the deficit & the urgent need to raise the debt ceiling. Evidently Boehner is making a statement, too. I'm not listening, but I'll link a report when I find one. Update: here's the New York Times report.

Loonier & Loonier. The Hill: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), "the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, wasted little time announcing his opposition to the House GOP leadership's two-step plan to raise the debt ceiling. Jordan argued that his leadership team should stand behind a measure that the House approved on a party-line vote last week — the 'cut, cap and balance' bill that failed in the Senate."

Los Angeles Times: "Gov. Jerry Brown [D-Calif.] signed legislation Monday allowing undocumented college students to access private financial aid for college, calling the new law 'another piece of an investment in people.' But he said he was not yet ready to commit to signing a second piece of the Dream Act, which would provide public funding for those students."

Politico: "Construction projects at airports across the country have been halted because a bill to extend the Federal Aviation Administration’s operating authority is stuck in Congress, officials said on Monday." CW: this is what you get with a Tea Party Congress. Anybody who thinks this is helping the economy has another think coming.

Good News for Sports Fans. NECN: "The National Football League Players Association executive board, along with 32 team representatives, approved the terms of a new agreement to end the lockout. The players voted on a deal that owners approved last week; they unanimously agreed on a new CBA that will last for ten years."

New York Times: "The Democratic Senate and Republican House put themselves on a legislative collision course Monday as they moved forward with significantly different plans on how to raise the debt limit and avert a possible federal default next week." ...

... Politico, (updated): President Obama is broadly supportive of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s just-unveiled plan to cut $2.7 trillion from the budget – ditching his demand for significant revenue increases – in exchange for a debt ceiling extension through the end of 2012." Update: Washington Post story here.

New York Times: "The 32-year-old man accused of devastating twin attacks in Norway now maintains that two cells of extremists collaborated with him, court officials said here Monday as they ordered solitary confinement for the suspect. The police also significantly reduced the confirmed death toll in the Friday attacks to 76 instead of 93 — still one of the worst mass killings in postwar Europe."

President Obama spoke at the National Council of La Raza early this afternoon. Update: Here's an AP post-speech report.

Politico: "Embattled Rep. David Wu will not seek reelection in 2012, but he won’t resign from office now despite allegations that the Oregon Democrat had an 'unwanted sexual encounter' with the teenage daughter of a close friend last Thanksgiving."

Road to Perdition. AP: "House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, planned to meet with his chamber's Republicans on Monday to discuss the GOP's clash with President Barack Obama.... There were widespread expectations on Capitol Hill that Boehner would unveil debt ceiling legislation by that session, if not earlier. After meeting at the White House on Sunday with Obama and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said bipartisan talks on a solution had collapsed because Republicans were insisting on only extending the debt limit for a short period. He said he was crafting a $2.7 trillion package of spending cuts that would also push the government's borrowing authority through next year, a timeline that Obama and top Democrats are demanding." ...

     ... Update: TPM has Reid's statement here.

Reuters: "Anders Behring Breivik wants to tell Norway and the world why he killed at least 93 people in a bomb attack and shooting rampage, but a judge ruled that Monday's custody hearing would be closed to the public."

AP: "Moody's downgraded Greece's bond ratings by a further three notches Monday and warned that it is almost inevitable the country will be considered to be in default following last week's new bailout package. The agency said the new EU package of measures implies "substantial" losses for private creditors. As a result, it cut its rating on Greece by three notches to Ca — one above what it considers a default rating."

Irish Times: "Private equity investors have committed to buy up to €1.1 billion of the State's shares in Bank of Ireland.... Following the deal the Government will own a maximum of 32 per cent in the bank meaning the institution will avoid falling under State control as had been expected. The move also reduces the State's obligation to capitalise Bank of Ireland as part of stress tests announced in March."

Irish Times: "The Vatican has recalled its envoy to Ireland following Taoiseach Enda Kenny's trenchant criticism of the Holy See’s role in covering up cases of clerical child sex abuse. Deputy Vatican spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, the Apostolic Nuncio of Ireland, had been recalled from Dublin for consultations in the wake of the Cloyne report."

AP: "The cost of prescription medicines used by millions of people every day is about to plummet. The next 14 months will bring generic versions of seven of the world's 20 best-selling drugs, including the top two: cholesterol fighter Lipitor and blood thinner Plavix. The magnitude of this wave of expiring drugs patents is unprecedented."