"Isn't the tea party -- I'm not trying to call them names or anything. I just want to ask a very serious question: Aren't they exactly what the Founding Fathers feared most? Which is people who are ignorant about the way the world works come to power. That is what the Founding Fathers hated the most. They were not for direct democracy," Bill Maher

Bill Maher compares the way Republicans are acting in the debt talks to Yassar Arafat during the Israel-Palestine peace talks. His commentary was met with wild applause from the audience. Transcript below: "Obama has the biggest deficit reduction package at the table. This is what I don't understand: How come he's the one who wants t

(source and full audio at The Right Scoop)

Senate Republican Budget Committee: According to the Congressional Budget Act, Congress may not appropriate money for any fiscal year without first passing a budget, which serves as a concrete plan for spending, borrowing, and taxing. Despite this prohibition, Senate Democrats—who have refused to pass a budget for 807 days or make one public at a

Karl Rove reacts to President Obama's press conference immediately after it ended. "He has no plan. Even today he said he was looking for a very serious plan to come from Congress. When he was asked to name one entitlement reform he would be willing to include, he refused to do so. And I thought it was really interesting when the President said

"So there will be huge differences between now and November 2012 between the parties, and whoever the Republican nominee is, you know, we're going to have a big, serious debate about what we believe is the right way to guide America forward and to win the future. And I'm confident that I will win that debate because I think that we've got, we've go

"You know, I'm going to be turning 50 in a week, so I'm starting to think a little bit more about Medicare eligibility, the -- yeah, I'm going to get my AARP card soon ... and the discounts."

"I have not seen a credible plan, having gone through the numbers, that would allow to you get to $2.4 trillion without really hurting ordinary folks. And the notion that we would be doing that and not asking anything from the wealthiest among us or from closing corporate loopholes, that doesn't seem like a serious plan to me."

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) used the race card this afternoon to assess blame in the debt ceiling fight. Jackson Lee, a black Congresswoman, believes the disagreement over raising the debt ceiling is because of President Obama's race. "I am particularly sensitive to the fact that only this president, only this president, only this one ha

"I always have hope. Don't you remember my campaign? [laughter] Even after being here for two and a half years, I continue to have hope. You know why I have hope? It's because of the American people."

"The American people are sold," President Obama said. "The American people are sold, I just want to repeat that." "You have 80% of the American people who support a balanced approach. 80% of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren't sold is not the p

"I generally don't watch what is said about me on cable. I generally don't read what's said about me even in The Hill ... so part of this job is having a thick skin and understanding that a lot of this stuff is not personal."

"We don't need a balanced budget amendment. We simply need to make these tough choices and be willing to take on our bases. Everybody knows it. I mean we could have a discussion right here about what the numbers look like. We know what's necessary. Here's the good news: It turns out we don't have to do anything radical to solve the problem. Contrar

"With respect to senator McConnell's plan, as I said, I think it is a -- it is constructive to say that if Washington operates as usual and can't get anything done, let's at least avert armageddon. That's -- I'm glad that people are serious about the consequences of default."

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "These are obligations that the United States has taken on in the past, that Congress has run up the credit card, and we now have an obligation to pay our bills. If we do not, it could have a whole set of adverse consequences. We could end up with a situation, for example, where interest rates rise for everybody all throughout the

"We don't need more studies. We don't need a balanced budget amendment. We simply need to make these tough choices."

Speaker John Boehner: "We asked him to put forward a plan. Not a speech. A real plan. And, he hasn't. We will."

Charles Krauthammer tells Bill O'Reilly that Republicans are "afraid" Obama will use any debt deal against them in 2012.

Ed Schultz says President Obama is putting politics aside in the debt negotiations, and it's time the Republicans do the same.

Bill O'Reilly warns that "if a debt deal is not reached, Americans will suffer greatly.""All Americans should put ideology aside and urge the politicians to get a compromise done," he says, arguing for a plan that cuts spending and includes tax reform.

Rep. Barney Frank on the "Rachel Maddow Show": "It's important to note that -- and you've made this clear -- it's not because our economy is in any serious trouble or that we can't repay. It is that the right wing that has taken control of the Republican Party might temporarily refuse to pay because they don't think it will make any difference.

President Obama said he was turning 50 next week at his press conference today. Actually, it is more like three weeks. Obama was born on August 4.