memeorandum: Letters: Israel critics should respect my decision (Guardian)

11:55 AM ET, January 26, 2011

Top Items:

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: Washington Monthly, TalkLeft, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, National Review and FrumForum

Budget Committee:

Remarks of Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) - As Prepared for Delivery — Good evening. I'm Congressman Paul Ryan from Janesville, Wisconsin - and Chairman here at the House Budget Committee. — President Obama just addressed a Congressional chamber filled with many new faces.

Discussion: Right Turn, Paul Krugman, Guardian, Achenblog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh, msnbc.com, The Gateway Pundit, Firedoglake, The Impolitic, Daily Kos, Pundit Press, Nice Deb and Hot Air

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: Althouse and FrumForum

Paul Krugman:

The Ryan Response — ... was as bad as you might expect. Lots of breast-beating about deficits; you'd never know that no leading Republican, Ryan very much included, has offered a serious proposal to cut the deficit. Some cooked statistics about federal spending. And then there was this curious assertion:

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Wonk Room, The Huffington Post, Prairie Weather and Guardian

The Note:

The Note: Obama's Speech Puts GOP In A Corner — President Obama put Republicans in something of a box last night. He oozed optimism, telling Americans in the last moments of his speech that, “From the earliest days of our founding, America has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream.

Discussion: msnbc.com and Ballot Box

Myglesias / Yglesias: Paul Ryan's Evasion

New York Times:
Obama's Second State of the Union (Text)

Discussion: Slate, Newshoggers.com, Mother Jones, Grist, The Foundry, rubber hose, Left Coast Rebel, The Caucus, Don Surber, Guardian, The Huffington Post, Opinion L.A., Washington Post and Top of the Ticket

Paul Krugman:
SOTU — So, I've read the text, and find it hard to extract any theme.

Discussion: Grist and The Daily Dish

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 …

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

CNN Poll: More than half of speech watchers have very positive reaction — Washington (CNN) - A majority of Americans who watched President Obama's State of the Union address said they had a very positive reaction to his speech, according to a poll of people who viewed Tuesday night's address.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, greenbergresearch.com, Israpundit, Mother Jones, ABCNEWS, Politics Daily, The Politico, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos and Guardian

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Obama wins SOTU insta-polls …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Eric Ostermeier / Smart Politics:
A Content Analysis of Barack Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Swampland and Hot Air

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
First thoughts on President Obama's State of the Union Speech

Discussion: The New Republic and Guardian

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, Politics Daily, The Caucus, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, The Plum Line, AOL News and FrumForum

CNN:

Bachmann calls for full repeal of ‘Obamacare’ — Washington (CNN) — Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, responded to President Obama's State of the Union speech on Tuesday night from the Tea Party Express headquarters. Here is a transcript of Bachmann's speech. — Bachmann: Good evening.

Discussion: Guardian, The Informer, AMERICAblog Elections, Swampland, Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice and The Gateway Pundit

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 and Weasel Zippers

Joan Walsh / Salon:
Why does the GOP hide its agenda?

Discussion: The Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, TPMDC and Daily Kos

Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
The Bachmann Speech

Discussion: Right Pundits, RedState, FrumForum and Hot Air

Matt Schneider / Mediaite:
Chris Matthews Yells At Tea Partier: Why Is ‘Balloon-Head’ …

Discussion: Big Journalism, nancynall.com and Lez Get Real

Lbentzterp / CNN:
Bachmann back to Iowa in March

Discussion: GOP 12 and Des Moines Register

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: National Review, The Note, Director's Blog and protein wisdom

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

CBO: Deficit widened to $1.5 trillion this year — The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office made it official on Wednesday morning: America's free fall into debt is accelerating. — The budget deficit is now estimated to have widened to this year to $1.5 trillion, the CBO said.

Discussion: The Politico, The Gateway Pundit and Scared Monkeys

Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:
FACT CHECK: Obama and his imbalanced ledger

Discussion: Sweetness & Light, NewsBusters.org blogs, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers

National Journal:

EXCLUSIVE: Obama to Declare ‘The Rules Have Changed’ — Full text of speech draft obtained by National Journal — President Obama speaks to both houses of Congress during his first State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on January 27, 2010. — Insisting bipartisanship …

Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:
Where was Obama the centrist in his State of the Union?

Discussion: National Review, The Politico, CNN, Althouse, The Daily Caller, GayPatriot, Power Line, Right Wing News, American Power and The New Republic

New York Times:

Good News From the Middle East (Really) — IT has lately become the accepted wisdom that the Middle East peace process is dead, finished, kaput. This belief has been reinforced by Al Jazeera's release this week of some 1,600 documents that are said to describe the inside workings of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2008.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and The Atlantic Online

Osama Hamdan / Guardian:
The Palestinian cause has been betrayed. But no more

Discussion: Just Journalism, Robin Shepherd Online and Harry's Place

Guardian:
Letters: Israel critics should respect my decision

Discussion: Just Journalism, normblog, Commentary, Harry's Place and Firedoglake

Political Correction RSS:

Fact Checking Rep. Bachmann's “Tea Party Response” To The State Of The Union — Insisting that she was not upstaging the official GOP response to President Obama's State of the Union, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) offered a combative and highly misleading speech of her own following the president's address.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Political Correction RSS: Fact Checking Rep. Ryan's State Of The Union Response

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, Weasel Zippers and Vox Popoli

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Rep. Broun to Obama: ‘You believe in socialism’ — GOP Rep. Paul Broun (Ga.) rebuked President Obama using perhaps the sharpest language among his Republican colleagues following the State of the Union address Tuesday night. — Broun took to Twitter during the address, accusing the president of believing in socialism.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers, TPMDC, Daily Kos and FrumForum

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Dear commenters, Steve Doocy is reading — One of the themes of the Esquire profile of Roger Ailes, with which Ailes cooperated, is that Ailes reads ever word written about him. — You might think that was an exaggeration. But apparently he does, or someone over on Sixth Avenue does.

Discussion: Swampland, Esquire and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Steve Bousquet / St. Petersburg Times:

Gov. Rick Scott stalls new voter-approved redistricting standards — TALLAHASSEE — Two voter-approved constitutional amendments requiring the Legislature to draw political districts along nonpartisan standards could be jeopardized by one of Gov. Rick Scott's first acts.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Naked Politics and AMERICAblog News

Times of India:

Egypt president's son, family flee to Britain — CAIRO: Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's son, who is considered as his successor, has fled to Britain along with his family, a US-based Arabic website reported. — The plane with Gamal Mubarak, his wife and daughter on board left …

Discussion: Guardian, The Agonist, Informed Comment, The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online and Israel Matzav