Speaking to the press after today’s debt ceiling talks wrapped up, President Obama ran through a list of principles on which the two sides agree — but not enough agreement to reach a deal yet. He called the talks “very constructive.” The congressional leadership will reconvene at the White House Sunday for another round of talks.

Today’s White House meeting of congressional leaders and the President on a debt deal has wrapped up, and Obama is expected to appear in the White House briefing room shortly to make a statement. Watch live.

Voters still failing to get on board with DC’s entitlement cut consensus, remain overwhelming against received wisdom.

AARP is putting out the message that they’re 100% against cuts to Social Security and Medicare as part of a debt ceiling (hostage taking) negotiation.

AARP releases statement suggesting it’s prepared to go to war over any cuts to Social Security. (It defends Medicare, too, but it saves its big guns for Social Security.)

TPM Reader SR offers below one interpretation of the debt deal trial balloons floated over the past 18 hours. The gist of SR‘s argument is that Democrats are going through the motions of looking as reasonable and compromising as possible because they know no deal is possible and want to fortify their political position that the GOP is to blame for default and economic collapse. It’s a theory worth considering. I’m not convinced that’s what’s happening here, but I remain open to the possibility. As SR suggests, it’s a frightening possibility: Read More

If the GOP is experiencing anti-tax fatigue, the Club for Growth has a message for them: immediate balanced budget or else.

Beyond all the sound and fury of the current political debate, the core reasons behind the current political impasse are structural, driven by the increasingly ideological make up of the Republican party. It’s what makes the party particularly powerful in a vamped-up mid-term election and also virtually incapable of any compromise in a legislative context. Read More

Taxes remain the big unknown in what the proposed grand bargain. Get our very latest report on what we know as of right now.

She’s the toast of the GOP primary field and now the Thatcher biopic with Meryl Streep in the lead role is about to debut. Trailer after the jump … Read More