memeorandum: CNN's GUT CHECK for January 23, 2013 (CNN)

8:40 PM ET, January 23, 2013

Top Items:

THE BREITBART/O'KEEFE-IZATION OF AMERICAN POLITICS, PART MCMLXXVII — I haven't been able to watch the Benghazi hearings, but I've checked my Twitter feed, and the lefties who've been watching are 100% convinced that Hillary Clinton has been wiping the floor with the Republicans who are trying to take her down.

Discussion: Twitchy, Washington Wire, Weekly Standard, Theo Spark, Campaign for America's Future, BREITBART.COM, American Power, TheBlaze.com, The Daily Caller, The Other McCain, Riehl World News, Balloon Juice, Liberal Values and his vorpal sword

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Ron Johnson: Hillary Clinton Planned To Get Emotional To Evade Questions — “I think she just decided before she was going to describe emotionally the four dead Americans, the heroes, and use that as her trump card,” the senator tells BuzzFeed. — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pounds …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, msnbc.com, Little Green Footballs, Mediaite and Daily Kos

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:

Ron Johnson: Hillary Clinton evaded with ‘theatrics’ — Sen. Ron Johnson on Wednesday knocked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for dodging his questions with “theatrics” during their tense exchange at today's Benghazi hearing. — “I wasn't trying to get under her skin …

Discussion: CNN, ABCNEWS, The Hill, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, americanthinker.com and Althouse

Washington Wire:

Text of Hillary Clinton's Senate Testimony on Benghazi — Here is the prepared text of Hillary Clinton's testimony on Benghazi. — SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS — WASHINGTON, DC — Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee, thank you for this opportunity.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Lonely Conservative, The Other McCain, Sky Dancing, The Gateway Pundit, Taylor Marsh, Fox News Insider, Little Green Footballs, The PJ Tatler, The Hinterland Gazette, protein wisdom and The Agonist

Nick Wing / The Huffington Post:

Hillary Clinton, Ron Johnson Engage In Heated Exchange At Benghazi Hearing (VIDEO) — FOLLOW: — WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got testy on Capitol Hill Wednesday in response to a query from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who called into question her department's accounting of the Sept. 11 …

Discussion: The Raw Story, National Review, Addicting Info and Crooks and Liars

Brent Budowsky / Pundits Blog:
Hillary Clinton 69, Rand Paul 10

Discussion: Politico

Washington Free Beacon:
Paul to Clinton: ‘I would have relieved you of your duty’

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, The PJ Tatler and Weasel Zippers

Luke Johnson / The Huffington Post:
Rand Paul To Hillary Clinton: ‘I Would Have Relieved You Of Your Post’

Discussion: Washington Post, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Daily Kos and Crooks and Liars

CNN:
CNN's GUT CHECK for January 23, 2013

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Rush Limbaugh and Politico

New York Times:
Updates: Clinton Testifies on Benghazi Attacks

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Jon Cohen / The Fix:
Hillary Clinton reaches new heights of political popularity

Discussion: msnbc.com, Washington Post, Roll Call, Right Turn, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Hot Air and The Daily Caller

Igor Bobic / Talking Points Memo:
Hillary Clinton Wrangles With Senators Over Benghazi Attacks

Discussion: Stinque

Lolita C. Baldor / bigstory.ap.org:

AP SOURCES: PANETTA OPENS COMBAT ROLES TO WOMEN — You are here — Home » United States government » AP sources: Panetta opens combat roles to women — WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military's ban on women serving in combat …

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Daily Kos, Jezebel and Gawker

CNN:

Military to open combat jobs to women — By Chris Lawrence, with reporting from Barbara Starr — The U.S. military is ending its policy of excluding women from combat and will open combat jobs and direct combat units to female troops, CNN has learned. Multiple officials confirm to CNN …

Discussion: Hot Air, Taylor Marsh and The Political Carnival

Ernesto Londoño / Washington Post:
Pentagon to remove ban on women in combat

Discussion: American Prospect, The Moderate Voice, FP Passport, Right Turn, Wonkblog and American Forces Press Service

Luis Martinez / ABCNEWS:
Pentagon to Allow Women in Combat

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico and The Daily Dish

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Boehner: Obama's goal is to ‘annihilate’ the Republican Party — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he believes the primary goal of President Obama's second term is to “annihilate the Republican Party.” — “Given what we heard yesterday about the president's vision for his second term …

Discussion: CNN, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Democratic Daily, Booman Tribune and Stinque

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Boehner: Let's Destroy Math Instead of the Economy

Discussion: The Hill, Hullabaloo, Business Insider, The Maddow Blog, Politico, National Review, msnbc.com, Washington Wire and The Hill

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

Obama Speech Leaves G.O.P. Stark Choices — WASHINGTON — President Obama's aggressive Inaugural Address on Monday presented Congressional Republicans with a stark choice over the next two years: accommodate the president's agenda on immigration, guns, energy and social programs and hope …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Plum Line, Daily Kos, JustOneMinute, Weekly Standard, The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, Hullabaloo, Washington Post and Pundits Blog

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
House votes to suspend debt limit

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Slate, Real-Time News from Huntsville, The Plum Line, PostPartisan, The Week and LewRockwell.com Blog

Alex Pareene / Salon:
The brilliantly stupid new plan to raise the debt ceiling without raising it

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Wonkblog and Slate

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
House Votes to Extend Debt Limit to May, Averting Fight

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway, The Plum Line, The Buzz Florida Politics Feed, Hot Air, Quartz, Politico and Washington Post

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

Everything You Think You Know About Health Care Spending Is Wrong — This is the chart that I think ought to dominate the conversation about public-sector health care spending in the United States, and yet it is curiously ignored. The data show government health care spending per capita in the United States and Canada.

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

Mississippi Governor: 'There Is No One Who Doesn't Have Health Care In America' — In an interview with Kaiser Health News on Wednesday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) explained he remains a staunch opponent of Obamacare because health care reform is unnecessary.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

David Weigel / Slate:

Virginia State Senate Moves Ahead on Electoral College-Rigging Bill — Congressional clerks open certificate envelopes from different states during a joint session of the 113th Congress to count the Electoral College votes January 4, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Associated Press, Business Insider, The Political Carnival, The Maddow Blog and msnbc.com

Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:
Virginia Republicans Move Forward with Mass Disenfranchisement

Discussion: www2.wsls.com, The Atlantic Online and Michigan Radio

Mary Elizabeth Williams / Salon:

So what if abortion ends life? — I believe that life starts at conception. And it's never stopped me from being pro-choice — Of all the diabolically clever moves the anti-choice lobby has ever pulled, surely one of the greatest has been its consistent co-opting of the word “life.” Life!

Discussion: msnbc.com, Liberal Values, LifeNews.com, National Review, Mother Jones, Twitchy and Care2 Causes

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Union Members Summary — For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Wednesday. — Technical information: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov — UNION MEMBERS — 2012 — In 2012, the union membership rate …

Discussion: American Prospect, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Wonkblog, Washington Examiner, msnbc.com, Mother Jones, Washington Free Beacon and The Greenroom

Sam Hananel / Associated Press: UNIONS SUFFER SHARP DECLINE IN MEMBERSHIP

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Sen. Durbin: Democrats lack votes to pass talking filibuster reform — Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), a leading liberal, said Wednesday Democrats do not have enough votes to implement the talking-filibuster reform. — He said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Wonkblog, Slate, Daily Kos, The Political Carnival and LifeNews.com

John Hawkins / Right Wing News:

2/23/2013 Will Be A Day of Resistance — “The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to.” — Thomas Jefferson Yes, Barack Obama did beat Mitt Romney in 2012. But, he was reelected as President- not king.

Discussion: American Power, “The Lid”, Moonbattery and Vox Popoli

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Americans Back Obama's Proposals to Address Gun Violence — Criminal background checks on gun sales garner highest level of support — PRINCETON, NJ — Given the chance to vote “for” or “against” each of nine key proposals included in President Barack Obama's plan to reduce gun violence, Americans back all nine.

Discussion: Politico, The Political Carnival, Business Insider and The Fix

Jgalloway / Political Insider:

Your daily jolt: GPB producer resigns over hiring of Chip Rogers — News that former state Sen. Chip Rogers has been given an executive position at Georgia Public Broadcasting with a hefty starting salary of $150,000 has prompted the resignation of a longtime executive producer at the network.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Mother Jones, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and The Hill

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Contemplating Obama's Place in History, Statistically — With President Obama's second term under way, we have begun to see more reflections on how he might come to be regarded historically. — As common sense might dictate — and as the statistics will also reveal — it is far too soon to conclude very much about this.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Shushannah Walshe / ABCNEWS:

Aretha Franklin ‘Really Laughed’ About Beyonce Lip-Sync Controversy — Beyonce sings the National Anthem at the inauguration, Jan. 21, 2013. ; Singer Aretha Franklin performs during the inauguration ceremony for President Obama at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2009.