Top Items:
New York Times:
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 …
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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:
Washington Post, The Mahablog, Riehl World View, The Heretik, The Carpetbagger Report, The Democratic Daily and INSTAPUTZ
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.
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 …
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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 …
Discussion:
Power Line, The Huffington Post, Drudge Report, Pacific Views, QandO, The Carpetbagger Report, Captain's Quarters, Eclectics Anonymous, Right Wing News, Don Surber, Blogs for Bush, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Chicago Boyz, Bill Hobbs, Making Light, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Political Pit Bull, The American Mind, Daily Pundit, On Deadline and Stop The ACLU
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
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, PoliBlog (TM) and Washington Post
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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.
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David Ignatius / Washington Post:
New Face on a Tough War — For a nation bitterly divided over Iraq, the one point of agreement seems to be that Lt. Gen. David Petraeus is the right commander for U.S. forces in Baghdad. That gives Petraeus a surge of the most important strategic asset in this war — which is time.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
General Says New Strategy in Iraq Can Work Over Time
General Says New Strategy in Iraq Can Work Over Time
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters
Marcus Baram / ABCNEWS:
State of Disunion: Republicans Beat Up on Bush After Speech
State of Disunion: Republicans Beat Up on Bush After Speech
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!
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.
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.
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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.
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?
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.
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 …
Hardball / Hardblogger:
SOTU: MCCAIN — LACK OF SELF-CONTROL? AN EXPRESSION OF CONTEMPT? EMBARRASSING IN ANY CASE. — By Tucker Carlson — "We advance our own interests by helping reformers and advocates for democracy"? That was Bush's position on the Middle East immediately after 9-11 and, remarkably, it remains his position.
Discussion:
Hot Air
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 …
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."