Obama announces he just got off the phone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani — the first direct communication between Iranian and American leaders since 1979. That puts the government shutdown/debt limit craziness in even starker relief.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Obama actively resists the DC press framing of the government shutdown threat as a Republicans v. Obama fight. It’s a Ted Cruz v. Boehner fight, or a House conservatives v. Senate Republicans fight, or maybe just a Ted Cruz v. everyone fight.
Obama about to make an appearance in the White House briefing room. Watch live.
Senate gives final passage to a temporary government funding bill, free of any defund Obamacare language. Now it goes back to the House. Prospects very uncertain.
After Ari Fleischer suggested that Twitter might have special rules that allow President Obama, the conspiracy theory was rapidly debunked and ultimately recanted. But Republican voters aren’t sure Obama isn’t getting a special character allotment from Twitter.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) held a ceremony this week to honor the Tuskegee Airmen. The only problem: She couldn’t pronounce the word “Tuskegee.” Here’s the painful video.
I didn’t get to mention this myself yesterday because I was in meetings all day and barely had time to get online. But this is too amazing a story for me to pass up. Hero Sheriff elected to clean up the county drug problem shot dead in his car outside the County Court House while eating his lunch. But it turns out the Sheriff was probably a serial rapist who allegedly raped his killer years before he gunned him down. And as for the cleaning up the drugs, well, he was a big user and apparently neck deep in drug running himself. And as for the campaign, well, when the guy who produced his campaign signs asked to be paid, the Sheriff had him arrested for drug dealing. And frankly, it gets freakier from there since it’s not really clear that Sheriff Eugene Crum was the biggest crook in county law enforcement. The big remaining question is whether the Coen Brothers or Tarantino write and direct the film. Check out our full report here.
Harry Reid has managed to streamline the votes today on the temporary funding bill (continuing resolution) so that the Senate can finish its work this afternoon. So instead of votes dragging into Saturday or Sunday, the Senate will wrap up voting today and kick the bill back to the House.
Votes are expected to begin at 12:30 p.m. ET. There will be a series of four votes: Read More
A Republican National Committeeman from Arizona used the phrase “shucking and jiving” to describe President Obama’s handling of Obamacare.