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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, TPMDC, Althouse and FrumForum
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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 …
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CNN, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, GOP 12, TPMDC, AOL News, Balloon Juice, Left Coast Rebel and FrumForum


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, Swampland, Crooks and Liars, AMERICAblog Elections, The Gateway Pundit and The Moderate Voice

Axelrod mocks Tea Party response: ‘Am I looking at the right camera?’
Discussion:
CNN, TPMDC and Weasel Zippers


Why does the GOP hide its agenda?
Discussion:
The Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Daily Kos

TV Watch: Michele Bachmann's Rogue Rebuttal Defies Unity Theme
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Indecision Forever and AOL News

Chris Matthews Yells At Tea Partier: Why Is ‘Balloon-Head’ …
Discussion:
Big Journalism, nancynall.com and Lez Get Real

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.
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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

Obama's Second State of the Union (Text)
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Top of the Ticket, Slate, Mother Jones, democracyarsenal.org, Grist, The Foundry, The Caucus, Don Surber, Guardian, The Huffington Post, rubber hose, Opinion L.A. and Washington Post

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 …
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, Firedoglake, Newsweek, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, PostPartisan, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Mediaite, Pajamas Media, The Daily Caller, Guardian, The New Republic, Crooks and Liars, News Hounds, The Other McCain, The Political Carnival, Nice Deb, Daily Kos, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, iOwnTheWorld.com, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Ballot Box, The Page, FrumForum, JammieWearingFool and AOL News
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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.

First thoughts on President Obama's State of the Union Speech
Discussion:
The New Republic and Guardian

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 Atlantic Online, National Review, The Caucus, The Note, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Raw Story, YID With LID, Director's Blog and protein wisdom
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FACT CHECK: Obama and his imbalanced ledger
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Sweetness & Light, The Politico, NewsBusters.org blogs, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers

CBO: Deficit widened to $1.5 trillion this year
Discussion:
The Politico, The Gateway Pundit, Right Pundits and Scared Monkeys

SOTU, the Middle East and the end of the audacity of hope? — The Arab world is in flames. The Palestinian Papers have created a sensation in the Middle East. And what has President Obama got to say about it? “And tonight, let us be clear: The United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia …
Discussion:
The Politico
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The Palestinian cause has been betrayed. But no more
Discussion:
Just Journalism, Commentary, Robin Shepherd Online, normblog and Harry's Place


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 …
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, Climate Progress, Questions and Observations, Althouse, The Gateway Pundit, Lez Get Real, Mediaite, Wonk Room, Firedoglake, Derek Wallbank, Daniel W. Drezner, Michelle Malkin, The BRAD BLOG, Salon, FrumForum, Blue Virginia, Taylor Marsh and Outside the Beltway, more at Mediagazer »
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Where was Obama the centrist in his State of the Union?
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National Review, CNN, Althouse, The Daily Caller, The Politico, GayPatriot, Right Wing News, Power Line, American Power and The New Republic


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
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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, The Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers, TPMDC, FrumForum and Daily Kos


Charlie Louvin, Country Singer, Dies at 83 — Charlie Louvin, a member of one of the pre-eminent brother acts in country music and an inspiration to several generations of rock musicians, died Wednesday at his home in Wartrace, Tenn. He was 83. — The cause was complications of pancreatic cancer …


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

Get A Better Metaphor — A reader writes: … The problem here is imagining that war analogies map onto public discourse. In a war, the object is to kill the people on the other side. So bringing a knife to a bazooka fight isn't very effective. But in politics, the object is to persuade …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice

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

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 …

Dow Touches 12,000 for First Time Since 2008 — Stocks on Wall Street broke through a psychologically significant level on Wednesday that markets have not seen for two and a half years. — The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 12,000 points on Wednesday, fueled by President Obama's call …

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