memeorandum: Watching the SOTU Speech on ABC (Joel Topcik/Broadcasting & Cable)

11:45 AM ET, January 24, 2007

Top Items:

Democratic Response of Senator Jim Webb to the President's State of the Union Address — Good evening. — I'm Senator Jim Webb, from Virginia, where this year we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown an event that marked the first step in the long journey …

Discussion: Redstate, Democratic National Committee, Obsidian Wings, The Reaction, Kiko's House, TigerHawk, All Spin Zone, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Don Surber and Sister Toldjah

Jonathan Alter / Newsweek:

A Powerful Response — Jim Webb tore up his party's playbook—and helped point the Democrats in a new direction. — Something unprecedented happened tonight, beyond the doorkeeper announcing, "Madame Speaker." For the first time ever, the response to the State of the Union Message overshadowed the president's big speech.

Discussion: The Mahablog and The Carpetbagger Report

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

Sen. Webb's Democratic Response to the SoTU: The war's costs to our nation have been staggering — Jim Webb of Virginia was selected to give the Democratic response to Bush's SoTU, and boy, did they make the right choice. Webb hit all the right notes, his points impressive and unassailable.

Discussion: MyDD, Hot Air, The Sideshow, The Anonymous Liberal, Shakespeare's Sister, Jesus' General, Gun Toting Liberal ™, DownWithTyranny!, Eschaton and Tennessee Guerilla Women

Think Progress:
Embargoed: State of the Union Text

Discussion: Publius Pundit, The Mahablog, The Moderate Voice, QandO, TAPPED, The New Republic, No More Mister Nice Blog, CorrenteWire, Gun Toting Liberal ™ and Angry Bear

speaker.gov:
Pelosi and Reid: We Should Work Together to Take America in a New Direction

Discussion: The RBC

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

President's Portrayal of 'The Enemy' Often Flawed — In his State of the Union address last night, President Bush presented an arguably misleading and often flawed description of "the enemy" that the United States faces overseas, lumping together disparate groups with opposing ideologies …

Discussion: Cato-at-liberty and NewsBusters.org

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:

The toxicity of Joe Lieberman's treason accusations — (updated below) — Joe Lieberman has probably become the single most poisonous Beltway voice when it comes to the war in Iraq. The Bush administration's principal rhetorical tactic for the last five years, of course …

Discussion: Right Wing News

White House:

President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address — Washington, D.C. — State of the Union 2007 — State of the Union 2007 Policy Initiatives — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own — as the first President to begin …

New York Times:

The State of the Union — The White House spin ahead of George W. Bush's seventh State of the Union address was that the president would make a bipartisan call to revive his domestic agenda with "bold and innovative concepts." The problem with that was obvious last night — in six years …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Brilliant at Breakfast, Prairie Weather, The Mahablog, PoliBlog (TM) and Washington Post

New York Times:
Bush Insists U.S. Must Not Fail in Iraq

Discussion: Washington Post and CNN Political Ticker

New York Times:
President Bush's State of the Union Address

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Matthew Yglesias, Althouse, MaxSpeak and Obsidian Wings

Media Bloggers Association:

Associated Press To Carry Bloggers' Coverage of Libby Trial — Wire service partners with Media Bloggers Association to put bloggers' coverage of high-profile trial of former Cheney aide on more than 600 newspapers' websites. — The Associated Press has partnered with the Media Bloggers Association …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and Bill Hobbs

Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Libby Defense Portrays Client as a Scapegoat

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Hullabaloo, TBogg and Washington Post

Michael Isikoff / Newsweek:
'Scapegoat:' Scooter's Stunning Defense

Discussion: The Nation, Firedoglake, Slate, Dick Polman's American Debate, JustOneMinute, Brilliant at Breakfast, TalkLeft, Editor and Publisher, Althouse and The RBC

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

General Says New Strategy in Iraq Can Work Over Time — Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, President Bush's new choice as the top commander in Iraq, told senators on Tuesday that the new military strategy to secure Baghdad can work, and that he had asked that the additional troops the administration promised …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

John Holusha / New York Times:
Petraeus Calls Iraq Situation 'Dire'

Discussion: Washington Times, Don Surber, Washington Post and INTEL DUMP

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
New Face on a Tough War

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Lara Setrakian / ABCNEWS:

Former Duke Prosecutor Faces New Ethics Charges — Nifong Accused of Withholding DNA Evidence From Defense, Making Misrepresentations to Judge — ABC Law & Justice Unit — Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been charged with new ethics violations for his conduct on the Duke lacrosse sex assault case.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Blue Crab Boulevard

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters: Nifong Faces More Serious Charges

Joel Topcik / Broadcasting & Cable:

Watching the SOTU Speech on ABC — Did they really need to drag World News anchor Charles Gibson all the way down from New York just to do a stand-up intro with the Capitol dome over his shoulder? George Stephanopoulos and Martha Raddatz were in separate locations, so it wasn't as though he was joining them in the studio.

Discussion: A Blog For All, Wonkette, Reason Magazine and Classical Values

Forbes:

The Web Celeb 25 — THE FACE OF FAME IS CHANGING. The ranks of the world's celebrities used to be dominated by millionaire actors, athletes and musicians, but the Internet has leveled the playing field. A kid with a video camera has access to as large an audience as the biggest Hollywood star.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Sister Toldjah, Blue Crab Boulevard and Power Line

BBC:

Watergate plotter Hunt dies at 88 — Howard Hunt, the CIA officer who helped to plan the Watergate break-in that led to the downfall of US President Richard Nixon has died, aged 88. — Mr Hunt, who was jailed over the incident, had died after a lengthy bout of pneumonia in Miami, his son said.

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Howard Hunt Dies At 88

Discussion: Jon Swift, The Moderate Voice and Attytood

Con Coughlin / Telegraph:

N Korea helping Iran with nuclear testing — North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year. — Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Hot Air and Blue Crab Boulevard

Damien Cave / New York Times:

Iraq Parliament Finds a Quorum Hard to Come By — Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the speaker of Parliament, read a roll call of the 275 elected members with a goal of shaming the no-shows. — Ayad Allawi, the former prime minister? Absent, living in Amman and London. Adnan Pachachi, the octogenarian statesman?

Discussion: Booman Tribune and TPMmuckraker

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:

The Knee-Jerk Opposition — If George W. Bush proposes something, it must be bad. Such is the knee-jerk state of partisan suspiciousness that when the president actually endorses a tax increase — a tax increase that would primarily hit the well-off, no less — Democrats still howl.

Discussion: Political Animal and Eschaton

Matthew Yglesias / American Prospect:

Smears for Fears — Wes Clark just got caught up in the rigged rules for discussing Israel-related issues in America. — Retired General Wesley Clark is, like me, concerned that the Bush administration is going to launch a war with Iran. Arianna Huffington spoke to him in early January …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Reason Magazine, Prairie Weather and Matthew Yglesias

Tom Shales / Washington Post:

Getting a Read On the Speech Makes for Quite A Snapshot — George W. Bush flirted with eloquence only at the end of his so-so, nuts-and-bolts State of the Union speech last night: "The state of our union is strong," he said, "our cause in the world is right, and tonight that cause goes on."

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Brendan Nyhan

Yale Daily News:

Letter to the editor — Univ. can and should honor those who serve in military — To the Editor: — What is Yale doing to recognize those from Yale — graduates, staff, faculty — who have served in combat in the Persian Gulf or in Afghanistan or the other troubled areas of the world …