Lazy Caturday Reads

Posted: May 17, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: cat art, caturday, Donald Trump, SCOTUS | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Good Afternoon!!

By Indira Baldano

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Loses Last Triple-A Credit Rating. Moody’s downgrades the U.S. government, citing large fiscal deficits and rising interest costs.

The U.S. has lost its last triple-A credit rating.

Moody’s Ratings downgraded the U.S. government on Friday, citing large fiscal deficits and rising interest costs.

Expanding budget deficits mean U.S. government borrowing will rise at an accelerating rate, pushing interest rates up over the long term, Moody’s said. The firm said Friday that it didn’t believe that any current budget proposals under consideration by lawmakers would do anything significant to reduce the persistent gap between government spending and revenues.

The move strips the U.S. of its last remaining triple-A credit rating from a major ratings firm, following similar cuts by Fitch Ratings in 2023 and S&P Global Ratings in 2011. Moody’s downgraded the U.S. to Aa1, a rating also held by Austria and Finland.

“Successive U.S. administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs,” Moody’s wrote in a statement….

The Moody’s downgrade comes as Republicans in Congress are trying to fashion a giant tax-and-spending bill that would extend expiring tax cuts, add some new tax cuts, reduce spending on Medicaid and nutrition assistance and boost border enforcement and national defense. It is expected to increase budget deficits by about $3 trillion over the next decade, compared with a scenario where the tax cuts expire as scheduled Dec. 31.

House Republican spending hawks blocked the bill on Friday, trying to accelerate spending cuts and hasten the end of clean-energy tax breaks.

A bit more:

At the margin, the Moody’s downgrade could put pressure on the market for U.S. Treasurys, which has already been hit by expectations for greater borrowing and stubbornly high inflation.

Treasurys, however, rallied after S&P’s 2011 downgrade, in part because the economy was weak, demonstrating that investors still considered the U.S. the world’s safest bet. Few expect the Moody’s downgrade to spur market turmoil this time. The U.S. remains the world’s largest economy and the benchmark against which other countries are measured.

But some investors said the downgrade could exacerbate the damage the recent trade war has done to that exceptional position. And that might compel global investors to lift the premium they demand to buy U.S. debt, which could drive benchmark yields beyond their recent level around 4.5%, likely stressing growth and market sentiment.

“That could generate an even bigger deficit because the cost of servicing our debt would also go up,” said Michael Goosay, global head of fixed income at Principal Asset Management.

Obviously, Trump couldn’t care less about what happens to the U.S. credit rating. He’s just going to bleed the country dry and grab as much has he can while doing it.

Ultra right wing members of the House budget committee voted against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” yesterday.

NBC News: Conservatives block Trump agenda bill from advancing in major setback for GOP leaders.

The GOP-led House Budget Committee voted to reject a sweeping package for President Donald Trump’s agenda on Friday, dealing an embarrassing setback to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Republican leaders.

A glass of milk, Nataliya Bagatskaya, (Ucraina, b.1967)

The vote in the Budget Committee was 16-21, with a band of conservative hard-liners who are pushing for steeper spending cuts joining all Democrats in voting against the multitrillion-dollar legislation, leaving its fate uncertain.

The Republicans who voted “no” were Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma. Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania changed his vote from “yes” to “no,” he said, as a procedural move to allow Republicans to call the bill up again.

During the hearing, Roy fired a warning shot at Republican leaders, saying he opposes the bill as written because it will increase the deficit.

“I have to now admonish my colleagues on this side of the aisle. This bill falls profoundly short. It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits,” Roy said. “That’s the truth. Deficits will go up in the first half of the 10-year budget window and we all know it’s true. And we shouldn’t do that. We shouldn’t say that we’re doing something we’re not doing.”

“This bill has back-loaded savings and has front-loaded spending,” Roy added. “I am a no on this bill unless serious reforms are made today, tomorrow, Sunday. Something needs to change or you’re not gonna get my support.”

After the vote tally was read, Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the committee chair, adjourned the hearing and told members they would not be meeting again this weekend.

On the tariff front, CNBC reports on Trump’s response to Walmart’s announcement they they will have to raise prices: Trump tells Walmart to ‘eat the tariffs’ after retailer warned it will raise prices.

President Donald Trump blasted Walmart on Saturday after the retailer warned this week that it will raise prices because of tariffs.

“Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, “EAT THE TARIFFS,” and not charge valued customers ANYTHING,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

Walmart CFO John David Rainey said in an interview on Thursday that “We have not seen price increases at this magnitude, in the speed in which they’re coming at us before, and so it makes for a challenging environment.”

Rainey said he is “pleased with the progress that’s been made by the [Trump] administration on tariffs from the levels that were announced in early April, but they’re still too high.”

He said the company will “try to work with suppliers to keep prices as low as we can.”

Yesterday the Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Trump administration’s deportation plans.

CNN: Supreme Court blocks Trump from restarting Alien Enemies Act deportations.

The Supreme Court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump from moving forward with deportations under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act for a group of immigrants in northern Texas, siding with Venezuelans who feared they were poised for imminent removal under the sweeping wartime authority.

The decision is a significant loss for Trump, who wants to use the law to speed deportations – and avoid the kind of review normally required before removing people from the country. But the decision is also temporary and the underlying legal fight over the president’s invocation will continue in multiple federal courts across the country.

By Sandra Batoni

The justices sent the case at issue back to an appeals court to decide the underlying questions in the case, including whether the president’s move is legal and, if it is, how much notice the migrants targeted under the act should receive….

The court’s unsigned opinion was notably pointed about how the government was attempting to handle the removals and also how US District Judge James Hendrix had dealt with the case at an earlier stage.

The court referenced another case that had reached it previously, that of the Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly removed to El Salvador. The court noted that the Trump administration has represented that it is “unable to provide for the return of an individual deported in error to a prison in El Salvador.”

Given that, the court said, “the detainees’ interests at stake are accordingly particularly weighty.” In other words, the court was saying it is important to get the legal questions correct before people are removed, potentially, forever.

Thomas and Alito dissented, naturally.

Commentary by SCOTUS expert Steve Vladeck at One First: The Supreme Court’s (Alien Enemies Act) Patience is Wearing Thin.

Way back on <checks notes> Wednesday, I wrote a long post updating the state of play in the (many) cases challenging President Trump’s attempt to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to remove from the United States, on a mass, summary basis, individuals the government claims to be Venezuelan members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA)….

As I noted then, the Supreme Court had yet to decide the ACLU’s pending emergency application in the case from the Northern District of Texas—with the unhelpful caption “A.A.R.P. v. Trump.” That’s the case in which the Court had temporarily blocked further removals in its after-midnight ruling early on Saturday, April 19 (which I covered here). But a full ruling on the application has been pending ever since.

Well, around 3:45 on Friday afternoon, that ruling came down. And the decision—in “A.A.R.P. II”—is a pretty big deal. So I thought I’d put together this quick post that walks through what happened—and why it matters….

What Did the Court … Hold? There’s a lot of technical stuff in the eight-page, unsigned majority opinion.1 What’s especially important are, by my count, three different holdings: First, that the Fifth Circuit did have jurisdiction to hear the plaintiffs’ appeal of the district court’s refusal to block their removal (it had concluded otherwise). Second, that the plaintiffs were entitled to more notice than they had received as of April 18. And third—and this is the quiet bombshell in the ruling—that “this Court may properly issue temporary injunctive relief to the putative class in order to preserve our jurisdiction pending appeal,” even without resolving whether full class certification is likely….

The post is pretty technical, so if you want the details, read the whole thing at the link. I’ll just quote one more section:

Is It Me, Or is the Majority Opinion … Unusually Pointed? It’s not you. There are at different passages in which the majority openly seems to be expressing … frustration … with the government; the lower courts; and Justice Alito (who wrote a dissenting opinion that was joined by Justice Thomas), respectively.

It appears that at least some of the justices are getting sick and tired of the Trump administration’s dishonesty and refusal to obey the courts.

A bit more immigration news:

NBC News: Trump attorneys draw judge’s ire by saying ‘state secrets’ keep them from sharing details on Abrego Garcia’s return.

GREENBELT, Md. — In a contentious court hearing on Friday, Trump administration attorneys argued before a federal judge in Maryland that they should be allowed to withhold information regarding efforts to facilitate the return of a Salvadoran man to the United States.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in the Salvadoran prison system despite orders from a federal judge and the Supreme Court calling for the government to facilitate his return to the United States.

Drawing of old woman with cat, Max Leibermann

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said the government’s refusal to provide certain information in the case has been “an exercise in utter frustration.” In a back-and-forth that has continued for weeks,Xinis has ordered the administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release and provide documentation on what steps it has taken, if any, to comply with that order.

Government lawyers said the administration has not been able to answer questions about Abrego Garcia’s case because that information would be considered protected under “state secrets” or “deliberative process” privileges that should not be shared with the public.

On Friday, Xinis said the administration has not made a good-faith effort to comply with the court order. She repeatedly called on the administration to show how turning over evidence of actions it has taken or will take to return Abrego Garcia would pose a reasonable danger to foreign affairs.

“There is simply no detail. This is basically, ‘Take my word for it,’” the judge said.

From Garcia’s attorneys:

Abrego Garcia’s team said the discovery they’ve received from the government thus far has been inadequate, and Xinis appeared to agree. The plaintiffs said they received 164 documents, and 132 of them were photocopies of court filings and their own discovery requests. Rossman said that of the remaining 32 new documents, half were related to Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s recent trip to El Salvador to see Abrego Garcia.

Rossman said the government logged 1,140 documents as “privileged,” in “every manner of privilege that I’ve ever heard of.”

“My head is spinning, your honor,” he said.

Rossman also said it was “deeply disturbing” that while the administration has claimed in court that it’s complying with the order to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release, high-ranking officials including Trump himself have contradicted that in public.

The administration’s claims, Xinis says, have been hampering efforts to get to the bottom of whether the government has disobeyed the court order by not facilitating the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States.

Politico: Trump administration acknowledges another error in a high-profile deportation.

When a Guatemalan man sued the Trump administration in March for deporting him to Mexico despite a fear of persecution, immigration officials had a response: The man told them himself he was not afraid to be sent there.

But in a late Friday court filing, the administration acknowledged that this claim — a key plank of the government’s response to a high-stakes class action lawsuit — was based on erroneous information.

Manfred W. Juergens, The girl with the cat

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials now say they have no record of anyone being told by the man, identified only by the initials O.C.G. in court papers, that he was unafraid of going to Mexico. The error, they say, was attributable to a “software tool” known as ICE’s “ENFORCE alien removal module” that tracks individual deportation cases and allows staff to insert comments.

“Upon further investigation … ICE was unable to identify an officer or officers who asked O.C.G. if he feared a return to Mexico,” said Brian Ortega, assistant field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, in a sworn statement to the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit.

The mistake may have been costly: The judge overseeing the lawsuit said last month he did not order the administration to facilitate O.C.G.’s immediate return from Mexico in part because of the dispute. Instead, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, a Biden appointee based in Massachusetts, ordered expedited fact-finding, which helped unearth the mistake.

ICE’s acknowledgment is the latest in a string of errors that have led judges to fault the administration for attempting to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign at a breakneck pace — often at the expense of due process.

The latest on DOGE’s slimy activities:

The Washington Post: How DOGE’s grand plan to remake Social Security is backfiring.

The U.S. DOGE Service arrived at the Social Security Administration this year determined to slash staff and root out what it claimed was widespread fraud and wasteful spending — a mission Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team has pursued across the government.

But as of this week, many of the major changes DOGE pushed at Social Security have been abandoned or are being reversed after proving ineffective, while others are yielding unintended consequences and badly damaging customer service and satisfaction. The problems come as the agency struggles to cope with a record surge of hundreds of thousands of retirement claims in recent months.

DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency but is not a Cabinet-level agency, had to cancel a plan to cut phone service for retirement and disability claims after drawing outrage from lawmakers, seniors and advocates. Staff reductions and reassignments led by DOGE are slowing the pace of claims processing as field offices lose longtime staff and gain a smaller number of inexperienced replacements. DOGE-driven changes to the agency’s website are causing crashes almost every day, and phone customers complain about dropped calls and long wait times. A DOGE-imposed spending freeze is leading to shortages of basic office supplies, from printer cartridges to the phone headsets staff need to do their jobs.

And on Friday, Social Security leaders told employees that the agency was ending a security check, developed at DOGE’s request, that was meant to root out allegedly fraudulent claims filed over the phone, according to three employees familiar with the situation and an email obtained by The Washington Post. But the measure — which involved placing a three-day hold on all phone claims as other staffers checked into the caller’s background — had only identified a couple of potential fraud cases while causing significant delays in claims processing, two employees said.

Kathleen Romig, a former Social Security official who is now at the left-leaningCenter on Budget and Policy Priorities, said there were already safeguards in place to detect fraud through the agency’s phone service. DOGE’s efforts have only delayed claims processing and, like most of the team’s attempts to reshape Social Security, placed serious stress on the agency, she said.

“So much of this is self-inflicted wounds,” Romig said.

The Washington Post: Trump’s actions are pushing thousands of experts to flee government.

At the National Institutes of Health, six directors — from institutes focused on infectious disease, child health, nursing research and the human genome — are leaving or being forced out.

t the Federal Aviation Administration, nearly a dozen top leaders, including the chief air traffic officer, are retiring early.

Siesta, Irina Orazio Orazi (Italian, 1848-1912)

And at the Treasury Department, more than 200 experienced managers and highly skilled technical experts who help run the government’s financial systems chose to accept the Trump administration’s resignation offer earlier this year, according to a staffer and documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Across the federal government, a push for early retirement and voluntary separation is fueling a voluntary exodus of experienced, knowledgeable staffers unlike anything in living memory, according to interviews with 18 employees across 10 agencies and records reviewed by The Post. Other leaders with decades of service are being dismissed as the administration eliminates full offices or divisions at a time.

The first resignation offer, sent in January, saw 75,000 workers across government agree to quit and keep drawing pay through September, the administration has said. But a second round, rolling out agency by agency through the spring, is seeing a sustained, swelling uptick that will dwarf the first, potentially climbing into the hundreds of thousands, the employees and the records show.

There’s no way I’m trusting anything this government has to say about health and safety.

I’ll wrap this up with a couple of ridiculous stories:

CNN: Former FBI Director James Comey interviewed by the US Secret Service.

Former FBI Director James Comey was interviewed by US Secret Service agents at their Washington, DC, field office on Friday afternoon, according to law enforcement sources.

Comey was interviewed by agents investigating a social media post he posted Thursdayshowing shells in the sand on a beach spelling out “86 47,” which has become a popular social media code for removing Trump from the presidency.

Comey was not in custody and appeared voluntarily, a source said.

Trump and fellow Republicans have attacked Comey for the post, demanding an investigation.

Comey “knew exactly what that meant,” Trump said in a Fox News interview. “A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination.”

In explaining why he removed the post, Comey wrote on Instagram that he had “posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message.”

It was expected that Comey will be asked if he intended the message as a threat, or to inspire others who might consider an act of violence against Trump, the source said. Ultimately, a decision on whether the case is chargeable as a threat against the president may lie with the US attorney in Washington.

Funny how no Trumpers were interviewed by the FBI when they posted 86 46 when Biden was president.

HuffPost: Trump Has Embarrassing Public Meltdown After Bruce Springsteen Diss.

The president of the United States used the full power of his office Friday to have an embarrassing public meltdown online.

Donald Trump, you see, appears to be freaking out after he got scolded by the Boss on the first night of his European tour.

Figure with Black Cat, 2020 by Mary Sauer (American, b. 1986)

“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States,” Trump wrote, glossing over the fact that he, too, is currently in a foreign country speaking badly about someone.

“He’s not a talented guy,” Trump sniped of the decorated Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who’s won 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, a Special Tony Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Trump also called Springsteen “a pushy, obnoxious JERK” without a hint of self-awareness.

Springsteen opened the first show of his tour with an unambiguous rallying cry for democracy, warning that America “is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”

“Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us,” he said. “Raise your voices against the authoritarianism, and let freedom ring.”

That’s it for me today. What’s on your mind?

What is John Boehner Up To Now?

Posted: July 23, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Democratic Politics, Republican politics, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics, voodoo economics, We are so F'd | Tags: , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Bloomberg reports that John Boehner

told Republican lawmakers they need to provide a positive signal on a plan to avert a U.S. default before Asian financial markets open tomorrow, Republican congressional aides said.

Boehner wants at least $3 trillion in spending cuts in a two-step plan to accompany an increase in the U.S. debt limit, one of the aides said. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warned President Barack Obama and congressional leaders during a White House meeting today of a possible reaction by Asian markets, said an official familiar with the meeting.

Did what Geithner said light a fire under Boehner or is he getting pressure from other sources–like Wall Street donors?

The markets could be tumultuous if a plan isn’t negotiated over the weekend, said Christian Cooper, head of U.S. dollar derivatives trading in New York at Jefferies & Co.

“The markets will be under very real pressure at the open because the assumption will be there is really no resolution to this,” Cooper said. “The breakdown in negotiations has crossed the line from the political posturing of the last few weeks to potentially a very real crisis.

“The Tea Party is effectively playing Russian roulette with the bond market and they will, with certainty, lose,” Cooper said. Jefferies is one of 20 primary dealers that trade with the U.S. Federal Reserve.

So suddenly the drop dead day is no longer August 2, but tomorrow?

Derek Thompson of the Atantic wrote today that “Dave Beers, director of the sovereign debt division at S&P” told him that S&P is losing faith in the ability of Washington politicians to agree on anything.

“The debt ceiling is not the central preoccupation that we have,” Beers told me this afternoon. “We put the United States on credit watch because we’re growing less certain that this political debate can be resolved. This was not merely about the debt ceiling.”

What about other AAA-rated sovereigns, like France and Canada, who also have high debt burdens? “They all have a strategy that went through the political process, and we think those strategies are credible,” he said. “The problem with the U.S. is that there is no strategy. There is a debate about what the strategy would be. But there’s nothing close to a consensus. If consensus isn’t possible now, when will that be?”

Basically the kabuki nonsense that has been going on for weeks now between President Obama and House and Senate Republicans has already done serious damage to the U.S. credit rating. These guys look like fools to the rest of the world, and we all know the reason for the continuing game playing is that Obama actually wants massive cuts–especially in social programs. Anyone who is paying attention knows that now, even though Obama is still trying to put the blame on the Republicans, he owns this mess.

There is every sign at this point that Congressional leaders on both sides have decided the President just isn’t going to lead on this, and they have decided to work something out without him.

And, to emphasize responsibility now lies with Congress, Boehner and the congressional held their own meeting at the Capitol Saturday evening.

Pelosi and Reid left the meeting with Boehner and McConnell after less than an hour, retreating to Pelosi’s office across statuary hall in the Capitol. The two Democratic leaders refused to answer repeated questions from reporters. McConnell returned to the Senate side of the Capitol minutes later.

On Friday evening the Speaker announced that he was ending on-again-off-again talks with the White House with only days remaining before the Aug. 2 deadline when the U.S. will exceed its borrowing authority.

After a meeting in the White House with Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, Boehner

told his colleagues that any deal will be a product of congressional leadership – not a compromise struck with the White House, the Republican source said, noting that “strategically not working with the president, but with the Senate could be better for him.”

Boehner was backed up by Democratic leaders Reid and Pelosi, when he said to Obama, “Mr. President, I need to deal with the House and the Senate because we [the White House and Congress] aren’t getting anywhere,” the source said.

Very interesting. It’s also interesting to note that Eric Cantor was not at that meeting this morning. Has Boehner decided to clip Cantor’s wings? We haven’t seen or hear much from him for the past few days.

Sam Stein at Huffpo is reporting that

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is set to call the Democratic Party’s bluff on the debt ceiling. The Ohio Republican, in a briefing with his conference on Saturday, announced that he would press for a short-term deal, with major spending cuts paired with longer-term deficit-reduction strategies, as a way around the current impasse.

That strategy puts the speaker directly at odds with the White House and allied Democrats, who have insisted for weeks that they would not support a short-term extension of the debt ceiling.

Actually, Obama already waffled on that, but other Democratic leaders seem determined that whatever deal they reach will carry through the 2012 election. So how serious can Boehner be if he still plans to play chicken on the short-term/longer-term-deal issue?

There are lots more stories out there tonight speculating about what will happen tomorrow. What kind of “positive sign” does Boehner plan to send to Asian markets? Will it convince the ratings agencies not to downgrade U.S. Credit. Will there be a massive sell-off of U.S. Treasury bonds (Our resident expert, Dakinikat, already dumped hers).

I know it’s late, but I thought I’d put all this out there, since tomorrow could be a big day for news on the debt ceiling kabuki fight. Dakinikat told me that Tim Geithner will be making the rounds of the Sunday shows tomorrow. Maybe we’ll learn something from those shows for a change. Stay tuned….

Late Night: Moody’s Reviewing Downgrade of U.S. Credit Rating; Obama Slaps Down Eric Cantor.

Posted: July 13, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Republican politics, Surreality, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Eric Cantor

Bloomberg:

The U.S., rated Aaa since 1917, was put on review for the first time since 1995 on concern the debt threshold will not be raised in time to prevent a missed payment of interest or principal on outstanding bonds and notes even though the risk remains low, Moody’s said in a statement yesterday. The rating would likely be reduced to the Aa range and there is no assurance that Moody’s would return its top rating even if a default is quickly cured.

President Barack Obama is considering summoning congressional leaders to Camp David this weekend to work on a plan to raise the debt ceiling after yesterday’s negotiations on a deficit-cutting plan of at least $2 trillion stalled, according to two people familiar with the matter. A failure to raise the debt limit that causes a default may lead to slower economic growth and another financial crisis.

“It’s obviously very serious in so many different ways,” said James Caron, head of U.S. interest-rate strategy at Morgan Stanley in New York, one of 20 primary dealers that trade bonds with the Federal Reserve. “Most people still believe there will be some type of an agreement struck to avoid all this stuff, and that’s what the market’s banking on.”

Meanwhile, according to the NYT, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke

warned on Wednesday of a “huge financial calamity” if President Obama and the Republicans cannot agree on a budget deal that allows the federal debt ceiling to be increased. Moody’s, the ratings agency, threatened a credit downgrade, citing a “rising possibility” that no deal would be reached before the government’s borrowing authority hits its limit on Aug. 2.

The one piece of good news is that President Obama may be finally waking up to the reality that Republicans are totally insane and there is no point in negotiating with them.

the latest bipartisan negotiating session on Wednesday evening ended in heightened tension, if not outright discord. Republicans said Mr. Obama had abruptly walked out in an agitated state; Democrats described the president as having summed up with an impassioned case for action before bringing the meeting to a close and leaving.

Politico has a better description of what happened–basically, Obama told lit into Eric Cantor and brought him up short for once.

When Cantor said the two sides were too far apart to get a deal that could pass the House by the Treasury Department’s Aug. 2 deadline — and that he would consider moving a short-term debt-limit increase alongside smaller spending cuts — Obama began to lecture him.

“Eric, don’t call my bluff,” the president said, warning Cantor that he would take his case “to the American people.” He told Cantor that no other president — not Ronald Reagan, the president said — would sit through such negotiations.

That’s Cantor’s version. Democratic sources said that

“Cantor’s account of tonight’s meeting is completely overblown. For someone who knows how to walk out of a meeting, you’d think he’d know it when he saw it,” a Democratic aide said. “Cantor rudely interrupted the president three times to advocate for short-term debt ceiling increases while the president was wrapping the meeting. This is just more juvenile behavior from him and Boehner needs to rein him in, and let the grown-ups get to work.”

Now here’s the kicker:

“Obama lit him up. Cantor sat in stunned silence,” said an official in the meeting. “It was incredible. If the public saw Obama he would win in a landslide.”

Maybe Obama really does have some balls guts? Maybe it just took a snot-nosed squirrely creep like Cantor to get a rise out of him. It does seem that for once Obama has managed to force the Republicans into a corner by offering cuts in Medicare and Social Security and then threatening not to write checks in August.

Stay tuned. There will be more discussions at the White House tomorrow afternoon. Maybe it’s time for Obama to do the the Chicago way. The heck with bipartisanship–time for some major arm-twisting. Just raise the frickin’ debt ceiling and be done with it.