FROM THE WEEKEND…. We covered a fair amount of ground over the weekend. Here’s a quick overview of what you may have missed.
On Sunday, we talked about:
* President Obama will deliver a speech Wednesday on a long-term debt reduction plan. This may not turn out well.
* The mantra regarding the debt ceiling should be pretty simple: Pass a clean bill.
* During last week’s budget negotiations, Democrats probably didn’t draw enough lines in the sand, but they made a point of protecting family planning funds. I’m glad.
* For a few hours on Saturday morning, did the federal government technically shut down? Policymakers missed the midnight deadline, but the shutdown never actually happened.
* Rachel Maddow had some extraordinarily nice things to say about my work the other day.
* Fox News’ Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade believe women don’t need Planned Parenthood centers for pap smears and mammograms, since Walgreens offers the same services. That’s not even close to being true.
And on Saturday, we talked about:
* President Obama spoke about the budget deal on Saturday morning, but he probably couldn’t say what he wanted to say.
* The fight over the budget was ugly. The fight over the debt ceiling will probably be worse.
* There’s a reason Republicans rely so heavily on hostage strategies: they’ve found a way to make them work.
* In “This Week in God,” we covered , among other things, creationists’ renewed efforts to undermine biology classes in Tennessee.
* When Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) lied about Planned Parenthood, his bogus claim was “not intended to be a factual statement.”
* I’m glad the government didn’t shut down on Friday night. Other than that, I don’t have a whole lot of positive things to say about the deal.
* Some on the far-right are complaining about the budget agreement. That strikes me as a deeply silly.
