memeorandum: We Don't Do Big Things (Matt Welch/Hit & Run)

6:30 PM ET, January 26, 2011

Top Items:

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Rep. Weiner: ‘I just needed a drink’ after GOP response — One Democratic congressman says he was ready to hit the bottle after hearing the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union Tuesday night. — Rep. Anthony Weiner (N.Y.), who is known for his outspokenness …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Left Coast Rebel, TPMDC, Gawker, Althouse and FrumForum

Ross Douthat:

The Politics of Evasion — If you were a visitor from Mars, watching tonight's State of the Union address and Paul Ryan's Republican response, you would have no reason to think that the looming insolvency of our entitlement system lies at the heart of the economic challenges facing the United States over the next two decades.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, New York Times, Yglesias, The Anchoress, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Plum Line, Hullabaloo, The Note, Outside the Beltway, PostPartisan, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Connecting.the.Dots, National Review, Left Coast Rebel, TalkLeft and FrumForum

Lucy Madison / CBS News:

Poll: High Marks for Obama's State of the Union Speech — An overwhelming majority of Americans approved of President Obama's overall message in his State of the Union on Tuesday night, according to a CBS News Poll of speech watchers. — According to the poll, which was conducted online …

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

Michele Bachmann's turn — Rep. Michele Bachmann may fall into that media-savvy cadre of politicians who, as the saying goes, has never met a camera she didn't like, but Tuesday night many Americans got the impression she was talking into the wrong camera. — Bachmann delivered …

Discussion: CNN, The Caucus, Mediaite, Media Matters for America, Gawker, Politics Daily, The Daily Caller, Liberal Values, AOL News, Balloon Juice, Taylor Marsh and FrumForum

The Note:
The Note: Obama's Speech Puts GOP In A Corner

Discussion: www2.timesdispatch.com, Roll Call and Ballot Box

Gawker:

Dennis Kucinich Sues Congressional Cafeteria Over Olive Pit — Congressman Dennis Kucinich bought a sandwich from the Longworth House Office Building cafeteria in April 2008, and bit into it only to find an unpitted olive that cracked a tooth. This month, he sued the cafeteria for selling “dangerous” sandwiches.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Wonkette, Raw Story, Law Blog, Salon, FishbowlDC and Overlawyered

Sabrina Eaton / Plain Dealer:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich sues cafeteria over olive pit in sandwich — Rep. Dennis Kucinich has sued a U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria for selling him a sandwich wrap that caused dental damage when he bit into an olive pit, according to a Jan. 3 lawsuit filed in Superior Court for the District of Columbia.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Pajamas Media and FrumForum

USA Today:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich files lawsuit over olive pit — Rep. Dennis Kucinich has filed a lawsuit over a sandwich he bought at a congressional cafeteria. — Kucinich, D-Ohio, bit into an olive pit in a sandwich wrap in April 2008, which he said led to “serious and permanent dental and oral injuries …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Courthouse News Service, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller and Fire Andrea Mitchell!

CBO's Latest 10 Documents:

BUDGET AND ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: FISCAL YEARS 2011 THROUGH 2021 — Text-only. — The United States faces daunting economic and budgetary challenges. The economy has struggled to recover from the recent recession, which was triggered by a large decline in house prices and a financial crisis …

Discussion: The Caucus, Washington Wire, Yglesias, Director's Blog, National Review, Hit & Run, SFGate, The Atlantic Online, James Pethokoukis, Swampland, YID With LID, Raw Story, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and The Note

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:

U.S. Budget Deficit to Pass $1.5 Trillion This Year — “Grim” doesn't seem to be a terrifying enough word to describe the budget outlook that the CBO released today. Oh, sure, we sort of knew this was coming—tax cuts are expensive if you don't find spending cuts to match.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and Instapundit

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
CBO: U.S. budget deficit to reach $1.5 trillion in 2011, highest ever

Discussion: Politics Daily, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and The Politico

Gallup:

Americans Oppose Cuts in Education, Social Security, Defense — Large plurality call for Congress to agree on deficit reduction before raising debt limit — PRINCETON, NJ — Prior to the State of the Union address, a majority of Americans said they favor cutting U.S. foreign aid …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Top of the Ticket, Hot Air, Daily Kos, The Plum Line, The Hill, Politics Daily and New York Times

Washington Post:
A disappointing State of the Union address

Discussion: Commentary, New York Times, Pajamas Media, Don Surber and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:
Sen. Graham: We Need to Act Like U.S. Troops And Raise The Social …

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Cantor jabs at Reid on Social Security reform

Discussion: Liberty Pundits Blog, Daily Kos and The Politico

ABCNEWS:

Sen. Harry Reid Says Earmarks Will Return, Despite Obama's State of the Union Vow — Senate Democratic Leader Concedes GOP Can Force Health Care Repeal Vote — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told ABC News that earmarks will return to Capitol Hill despite President Obama's vow …

Discussion: Right Pundits and Hot Air

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Senate nears approval of filibuster changes

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Hill and Balloon Juice

The Huffington Post:
Senate Democrats Forfeit 50-Vote Option For Rules Changes

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Outside the Beltway and ThinkProgress

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Against Obligatory Editorials — He still loves his wife. But after 25 years of marriage, he has lost his enthusiasm for sex with her. Still. It is Valentine's Day. And she has been hinting. So he takes her to a nice dinner, uncharactertistically orders an after-dinner drink …

Discussion: USA Today and Hot Air

Sari Horwitz / Washington Post:

Loughner researched lethal injection before Tucson shooting, sources say — TUCSON — In the weeks and days before the shooting rampage in Tucson, suspect Jared Lee Loughner surfed the Internet on his computer in what investigators believe was an effort to prepare for his alleged assassination attempt …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Politico, New York Times, Scared Monkeys, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, TPMMuckraker, msnbc.com and FrumForum

Simmi Aujla / The Politico:

House votes to end public financing — The House passed a GOP-sponsored bill to end public financing for presidential campaigns Wednesday. Ten Democrats, most of them Blue Dogs, joined Republicans in the vote. — The bill suspends a 35-year-old program that lets taxpayers direct $3 …

Discussion: CNN

Pete Kasperowicz / Ballot Box:
House votes to end publicly financed presidential campaigns

Discussion: The Hill

ABCNEWS:

DHS to Scrap Color Code Terror Alerts by April — Homeland Security Advisory System criticized for “scaring, not preparing” — Tomorrow Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano will announce that the much maligned color-code threat level, formally called the Homeland Security Advisory System …

Department of Homeland Security:
Homeland Security Advisory System

Discussion: Politics Daily and This Just In

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

THE MISSING DEPTH OF THOUGHT.... I've long considered Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) the Republican version of John Edwards. After one largely underwhelming term, in which he didn't tackle any noteworthy policy initiatives and failed to distinguished himself as an expert in an area …

Discussion: TPMDC

The Note:
Thune's “Big Opportunity” - Will He Run?

Discussion: Ballot Box, Taegan Goddard's … and AMERICAblog Elections

Associated Press:

Medicare official doubts health care law savings — WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday. — The landmark legislation probably …

Discussion: Right Turn, National Review, The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, Commentary, YID With LID and Pajamas Media

Paul Krugman:

Shiny Lazy People — A few further thoughts about the Ryan response to the SOTU, which was deeply revealing. — Again, let me focus first on this passage: … Imagine yourself in Ryan's position. You've been chosen by one of America's two great political parties to respond to the president of the United States.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

Paul Krugman:
The Ryan Response — ... was as bad as you might expect.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Democracy in America, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Wonk Room, The Mahablog, Firedoglake, Boehner, Prairie Weather, Crooks and Liars, Paul Ryan, The Gateway Pundit, PostPartisan, Guardian and Pundit Press

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Axelrod mocks Tea Party response: ‘Am I looking at the right camera?’ — A top White House adviser gently mocked the Tea Party response to the State of the Union delivered by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Tuesday night. — White House senior adviser David Axelrod joked …

Discussion: CNN, TPMDC and Weasel Zippers

Erick Erickson / RedState:
The Bachmann Speech

Discussion: CNN, Right Pundits, Riehl World View and FrumForum

CNN:

Protesters in Egypt greeted by a police crackdown — Are you in Egypt? Share your protest images with CNN iReport. — Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — Protesters taking to the streets in Egypt on Wednesday felt the wrath of security forces, a day after an unparalleled display of public rage …

Discussion: The Lede, Mashable!, National Review and Israel Matzav

Steven Cook / Steven Cook's Blog:
Protests Rock Egypt

Discussion: Times of India, Guardian, The Daily Dish and The Agonist

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Why an Unexceptional Speech Got an Exceptional Response — The early returns are in, and it's a landslide. — Snap polls (surveys with a small sample size taken immediately after a speech or event) almost always show a positive reaction to the State of the Union address.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

MSNBC's Sarah Palin Sickness … The following article appears in this week's issue of The Hollywood Reporter on newsstands Thursday. — Now that Keith Olbermann has left MSNBC, perhaps cable news can begin weaning itself from its addiction to Sarah Palin.

Discussion: Cubachi, Don Surber, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Liberty Pundits Blog, TPM LiveWire, Weasel Zippers and NewsBusters.org blogs

Barbara Ehrenreich / Los Angeles Times:

A call to protest ignites a call to arms — The reaction to Frances Fox Piven's essay urging the unemployed to protest for change shows that we are no longer a democracy but a tyranny of the heavily armed. — Why are Americans such wusses? Threaten the Greeks with job losses and benefit cuts …

Discussion: American Power, No More Mister Nice Blog, Instapundit, The Political Carnival and National Review

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

For immediate release — Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December confirms that the economic recovery is continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring about a significant improvement in labor market conditions.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, AOL News, New York Times, Economist's View and Calculated Risk

NPR:

The State Of The Union, In Your Words — Right after President Barack Obama finished his State of the Union address, we asked our listeners to describe his speech in three words. We received responses from more than 4,000 of you. We've run them through a word cloud generator and this is what all of you said:

Discussion: Federal Eye, Gawker, Wonkette and The Wire

Mark Tapscott / Washington Examiner:

Why Mike Pence should run for president — One of my favorite moments from my seven years of toiling happily at the Heritage Foundation came in 2006 just before I introduced Rep. Mike Pence as a speaker. As we sat together chatting, I casually asked him if he would run for president.

Discussion: National Review, RedState, AmSpecBlog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Bob Unruh / WorldNetDaily:

Game-changer! Arizona to pass 2012 eligibility law — Obama will have to produce birth certificate to run again — It could be a game-changer. — A plan in Arizona to require presidential candidates to prove their eligibility to occupy the Oval Office is approaching critical mass, even though it has just been introduced.

Discussion: HillBuzz.org, TalkLeft, Weasel Zippers and Vox Popoli