memeorandum: Washington's uneasy alliance with Bahrain (Thomas W. Lippman/Washington Post)

10:35 AM ET, August 6, 2011

Top Items:

Govt Officials: US Expecting S&P Downgrade — Based on ‘Serious Mistake’ in Analysis* — Two government officials tell ABC News that the federal government is expecting and preparing for bond rating agency Standard & Poor's to downgrade the rating of U.S. debt from its current AAA value.

Paul Krugman:

S&P and the USA — OK, so Standard and Poors has gone ahead with the threatened downgrade. It's a strange situation. — On one hand, there is a case to be made that the madness of the right has made America a fundamentally unsound nation. And yes, it is the madness of the right …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politics, The Mahablog, Guardian, HousingWire and Hullabaloo

Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal:

Math Error Fuels Fight Over Rating — A mathematical error discovered late Friday by Treasury Department officials threw into limbo, at least temporarily, plans by ratings firm Standard & Poor's to downgrade the top-notch AAA credit rating the U.S. has held for 70 years, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune, JammieWearingFool, Riehl World View, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Crooks and Liars, Truthdig, The Moderate Voice, Politics and Tim Blair

Walter Brandimarte / Reuters:

United States loses AAA credit rating from S&P — (Reuters) - The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy. — S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus …

New York Times:

S.&P. Downgrades Debt Rating of U.S. For the First Time — WASHINGTON — Standard & Poor's removed the United States government from its list of risk-free borrowers for the first time on Friday night, a downgrade that is freighted with symbolic significance but carries few clear financial implications.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Runnin' Scared, JustOneMinute, Online NewsHour and New York Magazine

standardandpoors.com:

United States of America Long-Term Rating Lowered To ‘AA+’ Due To Political Risks, Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative … TORONTO (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 5, 2011—Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA’.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online, Libertarian Republican, The Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org and DealBook

MarketBeat:

S&P Downgrades U.S. Debt Rating — Press Release — Standard & Poor's took the unprecedented step of downgrading the U.S. government's “AAA” sovereign credit rating Friday in a move that could send shock waves through global. The following is a press release from Standard & Poor's:

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Free exchange, Prairie Weather, NO QUARTER, The Gateway Pundit, Erick's blog and The Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

S&P Strips U.S. of Top Credit Rating — Unprecedented Downgrade Comes After Last-Minute Standoff; Treasury Says Decision Is ‘Flawed by a $2 Trillion Error’ — A cornerstone of the global financial system was shaken Friday when officials at ratings firm Standard & Poor's said U.S. Treasury debt …

Discussion: Swampland, Guardian and Corrente

Washington Post:

S&P downgrades U.S. credit rating for first time — Standard & Poor's announced Friday night that it has downgraded the United States credit rating for the first time, dealing a huge symbolic blow to the world's economic superpower in what was a sharply worded critique of the American political system.

Discussion: FT Alphaville, And So it Goes in Shreveport, theblogprof, The Lonely Conservative, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers, Conservatives4Palin, Scared Monkeys, Connecting.the.Dots, AmSpecBlog, Shakesville and Newshoggers.com

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

Boehner's Folly Leads To S&P Downgrade of US Debt — I'm no expert, but I don't think S&P downgrading its rating of US debt will, as such, have any really big practical implications other than becoming the next political football. If you look at S&P's definition of the AA rating, after all …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and HotAirPundit

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Standard & Poor's has been wrong before. But they're right now. — Standard Poor's decision to downgrade the United States has led to a lot of criticism of Standard Poor's. The White House called their performance, which included a miscalculation of about $2 trillion, “amateur hour.”

Jamie Klatell / The Hill:

Reid: S&P downgrade backs Dems' call for more revenue — Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the nation's credit rating reinforces Democrats' call for increasing tax revenue, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday. — In a statement, Reid said:

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool

Tyler Durden / zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml:
S&P Downgrades US To AA+, Outlook Negative - Full Text

Discussion: Doug Ross, FrumForum, Sky Dancing, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Atlas Shrugs and ECHIDNE of the snakes

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Five thoughts on the potential S&P downgrade

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Crooks and Liars

Robert Reich:
Why S&P Has No Business Downgrading the U.S.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

John Detrixhe / Bloomberg:
S&P Cuts U.S. Rating for First Time on Deficit Reduction Pact

Discussion: naked capitalism, Discourse.net, The New Civil Rights Movement, Gothamist, The Huffington Post and Pajamas Media

MarketBeat:
U.S. Debt Rating in Limbo as Treasury Finds Math Mistake by S&P in Downgrade Warning

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Politics, FT Alphaville and Daily Kos

Felix Salmon:
Why the S&P downgrade was delayed

Discussion: Daniel W. Drezner, Mother Jones and Balloon Juice

Tyler Cowen / Marginal Revolution:
A few quick thoughts on the likely pending S&P downgrade

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

CNNMoney.com:
S&P downgrades U.S. credit rating

Discussion: Firedoglake, Zandar Versus The Stupid, CNN, The Hill and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

The Politico:
U.S. credit rating downgraded

Discussion: CNN

Steve Goldstein / MarketWatch: U.S. triple-A debt rating cut by Standard & Poor's

Daniel Indiviglio / The Atlantic Online:
Report: S&P Preparing to Downgrade the U.S.—But Why?

Discussion: Viking Pundit

New York Times:

U.S. Troops Killed as Copter Shot Down in Afghanistan — KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents shot down a NATO Chinook helicopter during an overnight operation in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 37 people on board, a coalition military official said on Saturday.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, msnbc.com, emptywheel, americanthinker.com, The Agonist and Politics

Michael O'Brien / Ballot Box:

Perry's prayer gathering sets stage for national attention — Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) high-profile prayer gathering Saturday is set to pave the way for his possible but increasingly likely late entry into the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: The Note

Beltway Buzz:
Rick Perry: “I Pray for the President Everyday”

Discussion: Politics and The Page

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
What to Expect From Rick Perry's Prayer Festival

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Hot Air, Right Wing Watch, Towleroad News #gay, Hullabaloo and No More Mister Nice Blog

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Hypocrisy, irony, and the New Civility — Meet Froma Harrop, syndicated columnist and head of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, a group that has a project called Restoring Civility as a featured part of its website. Her twice-weekly column appears in more than 200 newspapers, and she also blogs at RealClearPolitics.

Discussion: Don Surber, Froma Harrop, Popehat and AmSpecBlog

Thomas W. Lippman / Washington Post:

Washington's uneasy alliance with Bahrain — The political crisis in Bahrain appears to have subsided, even if the issues that provoked it remain unresolved. Now, the challenge before Washington is redefining the terms on which it deals with an important but seriously tarnished ally.

Discussion: Eunomia and The Daily Dish