What's President Obama's next move now that House Speaker John Boehner scuttled the debt talks by rejecting the president's bold $4 trillion proposal? We'll get some clues at 11am, when the president holds a news conference “on the status of efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction.” He'll later meet with Congressional leaders, but do the Republicans even want a deal? http://nyti.ms/nR1Im7 http://nyti.ms/rqBLwm
So as conservatives stand firm against tax increases, progressives are digging in against any cuts to entitlement programs. We'll hear from both sides tonight on Hardball about why they're not in the mood for compromise.
Pawlenty vs. Bachmann -- T-Paw thought he'd be top tier, but he's got to be envious watching fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann take his place at the front of the pack. Pawlenty said Bachmann's record of accomplishment in Congress is "non-existent" and Bachmann fired back, saying the campaign is not about "negativity". Meanwhile, Bachmann now leads in Iowa.
Speaking of Bachmann, a social conservative group in Iowa that she supported has taken back language that suggested slavery was a good thing for African-American children. The group "Family Leader" offered a candidate's pledge to which Bachmann and Rick Santorum signed on. In its preamble, it said: "Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President." http://politi.co/oCBqru
Finally, Sarah Palin is on the cover of Newsweek, saying the Republican field needs more candidates and arguing that she could win a general election. Really? http://politi.co/pDP1cR