Pelosi’s statement today, like the leak of the Super Committee Democrats’ proposal yesterday, is part of an extremely depressing pattern. It is the Democratic party slowly moving from defending entitlement programs to taking the official position that Medicare and Social Security should be cut.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has received a lot of the headlines for his no-holds-barred investigations against the banks, but he’s had a partner in Delaware’s Beau Biden. Because New York and Delaware were where most of the securitization trusts were originated, having a united front on this issue of fraud is vital, and despite the family ties with the White House, Biden has been uncompromising. His latest salvo is a lawsuit against MERS, the electronic registry owned and funded by the banks, which they used to evade the public land transfer system and save money on county recorder fees.

Bunch tells the story of the bridge through the eyes of several vividly drawn characters: A 19-year-old veteran street protester with working class roots and a genius for escaping arrest; a 69-year-old retired lawyer who showed up on impulse after being moved by a play about the final day of Martin Luther King’s life; a painfully shy theater tech who found the movement online; a self-styled branding expert/saxophonist; and a 24-year-old Jewish immigrant from the former Soviet Union, drowning in student debt.

If the Secessionist is too scared to stand up to Mitt Romney, how’s he going stand up to China?

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released a third quarter GDP number, covering the months of July, August and September, of 2.5%. This is a high among the three quarters so far this year, and moves GDP back toward respectability. The threat of a double-dip recession was overhyped.

And yet think about the jobs numbers for these three months. Based on the latest numbers, in those three months the economy gained 127,000, 57,000 and 103,000 jobs. That’s an average of around 95,000 jobs per month, well below the increase in population. This is actually in line with a 2.5% GDP increase.

Mitt Romney currently holds the lead in four of the early primary states according to new polling from CNN/Time. Romney has a double digit lead over second place Herman Cain in Florida and New Hampshire.

I made my second stop on Firedoglake’s Occupy Supply tour yesterday night. I met occupiers with Occupy Columbus and had them talk to me about their occupation.

If Susie Tompkins Buell is in the streets protesting Barack Obama, he needs to seriously re-think his strategy. Something is seriously amiss.

According to exclusive reporting from Reuters the Democrats on the Super Committee are offering to cut Medicare and Medicaid benefits as part of a roughly $3 trillion grand bargain, which would well exceed the $1.2 trillion minimum goal the committee is tasked with meeting.

• Some good news from Europe?
• Occupy Oakland marches without Scott Olsen.
• Yeah, but this time — they really see green shoots.
• America, meet the GOP’s front-runner.
• The most assholish state in the country.