Abbreviated Pundit Round-up

Visual Source: Newseum

WSJ:

In seeking a big deficit-cutting deal, President Barack Obama, the capital's top Democrat, and John Boehner, its top Republican, were focused on their legacies and the next election. Many of their followers, however, wanted only to stick to what they saw as their parties' basic principles.

Each time their own followers pulled them down.

Democrats don't want entitlements cut in any major way (they can be adjusted, not gutted), and under previous Republican presidents, they weren't. Republicans don't want tax increases, even though under previous Republican presidents they have always been part of the mix. The concerns of each party are not of equal merit. But I'll let Tom Coburn make that point for me:

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Friday said it's "stupid and naive" to think that a grand bargain on reducing the federal deficit can be reached without tax increases.

"I think it's terrible that we would have to raise more taxes," Coburn said on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal." "But if we're going to get an agreement in Washington to fix our problems, when those of us that don't want to raise taxes control the House of Representatives, don't control the Senate, don't control the White House ? I think it's pretty stupid and naive to think you're going to win that battle."

Coburn, a member of the so-called Gang of Six that proposed a $3.7 trillion deficit-reduction proposal earlier this week, continued his war of words with the anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist, saying he "represents the silliness of our political situation today."

"I would rather fix the country and lose a battle with Grover Norquist than send our country down the tubes and pay attention to a point of view that is just suicide," Coburn said. "And the fact is that there's a lot of ways to enhance the revenue to the federal government. Reforming the tax code is a way to do it but we have to get $4 trillion."

The senator's comments were in response to recent criticism from Norquist, who said Coburn has lost the support of Republican leadership by not ruling out tax increases in a debt-ceiling deal.

TPM:

President Obama registered an approval rating in line with other current polls, with 45% of the populace approving of his performance and 54% disapproving, slightly outside the TPM Poll Average of 45.0% approval and 50.1% disapproval.

But the troubling news for the President was within that approval number, where there is a growing number among his base who are disappointed: his rating among self-described liberals in the poll was only 71%, along with 80% self-IDed Democrats in the approval column.

Liberals make up approximately 40% of the Democratic party and 21% of the electorate. Liberals and Democrats are not synonymous.

CBS:

Toward the end of his remarks, Mr. Obama grew particularly animated when he suggested that lawmakers were putting what "some funder says or what some talk radio host says or what some columnist says or what pledge we signed back when we were trying to run" ahead of the concerns of the American people. He called that attitude "inexcusable."

"You know, at some point I think if you -- if you want to be a leader, then you've got to lead," he said before leaving the podium.

Ezra Klein:

But you can?t get a deal unless you can get the votes. And what?s been clear for some time is Speaker John Boehner cannot get the votes. If you need more evidence, look at the letter Boehner sent his caucus, which is more about pretending that he supports Cut, Cap and Balance -- an absurd and unpassable policy that includes a constitutional amendment making tax increases nearly impossible and capping spending at levels not seen since 1957 -- than it is about informing them as to what?s happened in the negotiations. It?s as if the president walked away from the table and sent out a letter saying that Boehner wouldn?t agree to single-payer health care, and so the negotiations are over.

WaPo has some provisions in the putative agreement that were interesting, at least on paper:

? $1.2 trillion in cuts to ?discretionary? spending, which includes the budgets of federal agencies.

? $250 billion in savings from Medicare. These might have been achieved by altering premiums for some programs, reducing payments to hospitals, and raising the eligibility age from 65 to 67 over time.

? Raising $800 billion in new tax revenue, achieved by closing some loopholes, while overhauling the tax code to make personal tax rates lower overall.

? Extending unemployment compensation for the long-term unemployed, as well as a one-year payroll tax holiday Obama won last year to help prop up the economic recovery.

For those following the CT budget saga:

After marathon, all-day talks, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reached a deal Friday night with the state employee unions that would guarantee four years of no layoffs and avert deep budget cuts in many agencies.

The agreement is a clarification of a previous deal reached with union negotiators that was designed to help balance the state's budget...

"I am pleased that an agreement has been reached," Malloy said in a statement after 10 p.m.

There was no indication Friday night on whether the layoff notices already issued would be put on hold pending the union vote.

Ratification of the updated, revised pact should be easier because, after the first deal was rejected, the unions changed their by-laws to simplify the voting process. Previously, 14 of the 15 unions, representing 80 percent of the membership, needed to approve any deal. Now, 8 of the 15 unions, representing a majority of the employees, must approve.

No date has been set for union members to begin voting on the new pact.

For our interview with Gov. Malloy as the previous budget talks were collapsing, go here.

Added from BBC (h/t therealcervantes):

The man arrested following the attacks in Norway, Anders Behring Breivik, describes himself as a "nationalist", according to the police.

In the purest sense of the word, he is not alone. On this day of grief, Norwegian people have united under their flag, vowing to stand firm against terror.

But the suspect, it seems, is no pure nationalist. Instead, he is said to be a right-wing extremist of the kind that police authorities in the West have feared for some time.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/5RRfCi5VY14/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up

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