Republican Congressman Paul Ryan appeared on Fox News Sunday ready to scold President Obama and Democrats for not putting forth a specific budget plan, like he had, that could have tackled the debt crisis and avoided a credit rating downgrade. Yet Chris Wallace reminded Ryan that Republicans are not blameless in the reasoning behind why S&P downgraded the rating of the nation’s debt.

Howard Kurtz spoke with Eric Deggans, a media critic from the St. Petersburg Times about the likely hiring of Al Sharpton to be MSNBC’s newest host of a nightly show. Kurtz and Deggans shared some worries with one another regarding whether or not Sharpton was the person most deserving of getting his own new show.

As S&P downgrades United States debt for the first time ever, many Republicans and Democrats are pointing blame at each other for having caused the unprecedented occurrence. Yet conservative commentator George Will thinks that S&P has so little credibility that their assessment told us nothing new and that it’s rating perspective should have little economic effect.

On Tuesday in Wisconsin, an election to potentially recall several Republican state senators will take place. The founder of the Tea Party Nation Judson Phillips and other conservative leaders appeared in Wisconsin to rally support, and with just a couple of days to go before the election, the rhetoric is quickly getting heated.

Chris Matthews deserves credit for calling ‘em like he sees ‘em (or maybe just having a short-term memory?) as today he had glowing remarks for New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie. It wasn’t too long ago that Matthews dismissed Christie as an unpopular “loudmouth,” yet today he was happy to brand Christie as the “voice [...]

With stocks plunging on Wall Street, tensions were rising in today’s White House press briefing as ABC’s Jake Tapper relentlessly demanded Press Secretary Jay Carney explain exactly what it is that President Obama is doing to help create new jobs. When Carney suggested Obama is urging Congress to pass legislation, Tapper got agitated and responded, “so the same stuff he was doing a couple months ago, calling on Congress to pass things?

Rush Limbaugh saw panic on Wall Street as stocks plunged and he wondered “didn’t they tell us that the stock market would do exactly what it’s doing if we defaulted?” He concludes about the Obama administration that Americans were “lied to yet again” and half-jokingly surrendered, “we may as well default, it’s going to happen at some point down the road.”

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria is not optimistic that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the much publicized “Super Committee” from the debt deal, will be able to achieve any type of “super” results. Instead, Zakaria predicts a compromise will be virtually impossible as both political parties are now likely to dig their heels in even deeper on their positions, with the economy suffering as a result.

Donald Trump gave Greta Van Susteren a lengthy interview where he took on everyone from President Obama (of course), to Congressional Republicans and Mitt Romney. Trump declared “this country is being abused, it’s being taken advantage of, and it’s being run by incompetent people,” and he wasn’t too optimistic about the ability of leaders in either party to change America’s future course.

President Obama’s re-election strategy was the main topic of conversation as the Morning Joe crew assessed what Obama might need to say or do in light of such a bad economy. While Joe Scarborough was most critical of Obama’s policies which have failed to reduce unemployment, Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle politely reminded Scarborough that in politics everything is relative, and essentially Obama just needs to campaign against the Republican nominee rather than simply discuss the economy.

Rush Limbaugh was fed up hearing about how now President Obama is going to shift his attention towards jobs and the economy. Last time Rush checked, he’s heard about such a “laser-like focus” multiple times, and he took out his aggression on MSNBC’s Chuck Todd and Willie Geist for reporting Obama’s announcement like it was new news they heard for the first time.

New York magazine’s Frank Rich stopped by Martin Bashir‘s MSNBC show to express his disappointment with President Obama, his expectation that the backlash against Rupert Murdoch in England will soon come to America and his general bewilderment with everything Sarah Palin. Bashir didn’t let Rich have all the “fun” though, as he compared the Tea Party to recalcitrant children who took control of their parents and wondered about Palin what her purpose might be if she doesn’t run for President?

In the crowded field of Republican presidential contenders, each candidate is struggling to get mainstream media attention. Yet it’s likely the candidates featured in this ABC news report are not happy with this spotlight. Apparently four of the eight GOP candidates are selling campaign merchandise made from overseas, a slap in the face to the frequent Republican rhetoric of needing more American jobs.

Alan Colmes spoke with Don Imus this morning, and no topic was off limits as they tackled Neil Cavuto‘s “big head,” how the Democrats “folded like a cheap suit” during the debt negotiations and whether Pat Buchanan referring to President Obama as “your boy” in a conversation with Al Sharpton was racially tinged. Given Buchanan’s history, Colmes thought Buchanan might have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Democratic Congressman and chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Emanuel Cleaver appeared on Morning Joe and continued talk of how the debt deal was a “Satan Sandwich.” Although since Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski found the description humorous, Cleaver took a light-hearted moment to explain the ingredients of the sandwich, while adding that it will be served with a “demon drink.”

Just as one fire involving a MSNBC contributor and their description of President Obama is finally put out, might a new one be starting? Today on Morning Joe, Mark Halperin returned to the show after his suspension for calling Obama a “dick.” Yet moments after Halperin completed his analysis of the debt deal, it was Pat Buchanan‘s turn to address his fresh controversy.

AP reports at a panel during the Television Critics Association meetings in California, MSNBC president Phil Griffin, along with hosts Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell and Chris Matthews appeared to discuss the news network and also ended up sharing some predictions on the outcome of the 2012 presidential election.

Glenn Beck and his radio crew couldn’t stop laughing today when they played back clips of Chris Matthews talking on Hardball and using words that were only barely recognizable. Matthews kept slurring his words, saying “Prez Obama” instead of “President Obama,” “Hardbo” instead of “Hardball” and “debt seeing” instead of “debt ceiling,” which prompted Beck to worry “I don’t think alcoholism is funny.”

Rush Limbaugh warned his listeners “I’m going to throw up during this I know I am.” “This” turned out to be watching President Obama’s speech on deficit reduction, but Rush didn’t merely just listen to it. Like a rowdy audience member in a movie theater, Rush couldn’t resist the urge to yell at the screen whenever he heard things he didn’t like. And you would be safe to assume Rush felt compelled to interrupt often.

Fox News’ new White House Correspondent Ed Henry spoke with Don Imus for the first time and wasn’t shy about admitting just how happy he is to be working at Fox and how amusing he finds some of the criticism. Imus teed up Henry’s response by asking “when did you come over from the dark side, CNN” and Henry didn’t disappoint by making it clear what team he is on now.

Last night Piers Morgan interviewed Republican Congressman Connie Mack and the exchange got a bit testy when Piers began exploring the relationship between the Tea Party and Speaker of the House John Boehner. Piers wondered how Tea Party congressmen like Mack could argue that the debt deal is terrible, yet still be supportive of Boehner as Speaker since he claimed the deal was great?

Al Sharpton continues to increase his presence on MSNBC, and last night, filling in as guest host for the The Ed Show, he moderated a discussion between three liberal commentators (Michael Eric Dyson, Bill Press and Laura Flanders) who took turns bashing the Tea Party and expressing disappointment with the debt deal. Sharpton kicked off the conversation wondering whether all future votes on raising the debt ceiling will be held hostage by the political opposition, like it was this time? The guests unanimously responded yes, as long as a Democrat is President.

Chris Matthews expressed disappointment with President Obama’s inability to stand up to the Tea Party and wondered whether Obama could potentially fear a primary challenge from his disgruntled liberal base? Jonathan Chait from The New Republic and Cynthia Tucker from The Atlanta-Journal Constitution shared Matthews worry that politically this was not good for Obama, yet on policy, they both seemed to comfort Matthews that actually “it’s not that bad.”

Martin Bashir is happy to see a potential resolution to the debt crisis so that “six months of squabbles and walk-outs” can finally end. However, given the fragile state of the economy, high unemployment and high rates of foreclosure, Bashir angrily concludes that this entire discussion about raising the debt ceiling has done nothing to help ordinary Americans.

Just as some doubt the legitimacy of media speculation that the Tea Party are the big winners in the debt deal, one Tea Party leader appeared on Fox News Channel and demonstrated that she certainly doesn’t feel like a winner. Amy Kremer, chairwoman of the Tea Party Express, bluntly declared about the deal “I am not satisfied at all with this” and that “we’re sick and tired of things going on behind closed doors and then [bills] being crammed down our throats at the last minute.”