memeorandum: Facing Congress, Clinton Defends Her Actions Before and After Libya Attack (Michael R. Gordon/New York Times)

2:40 AM ET, January 24, 2013

Top Items:

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, The Hill, Mediaite, Hot Air, Fox News Insider, msnbc.com, Little Green Footballs, NationalJournal.com, Daily Kos, National Review and Taylor Marsh

Steve M. / No More Mister Nice Blog:

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, BREITBART.COM, CANNONFIRE, TheBlaze.com, Talking Points Memo, Theo Spark, Weekly Standard, Washington Wire, SOOPERMEXICAN, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, American Power, Riehl World News, Rumproast, The Other McCain, The Agonist, Liberal Values and his vorpal sword

Brent Budowsky / Pundits Blog:

Hillary Clinton 69, Rand Paul 10 — I was not planning on writing any more pundit blogs this week, but I do have a brief comment about Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) outburst at the Benghazi hearing with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. — Paul suggesting he would have fired Clinton …

Discussion: Politico and Weasel Zippers

Hayes Brown / ThinkProgress:

GOP Senator Pushes Gun-Running Conspiracy Theory During Benghazi Hearing — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) used today's hearing on the Benghazi attack to confront Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about a conspiracy theory involving moving guns from Libya to Syrian rebels.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The National Memo, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider and Washington Free Beacon

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
Ron Johnson: Hillary Clinton evaded with ‘theatrics’

Discussion: CNN, ABCNEWS, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Althouse, Taylor Marsh and The Hill

Nick Wing / The Huffington Post:
Hillary Clinton, Ron Johnson Engage In Heated Exchange At Benghazi Hearing (VIDEO)

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

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

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

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
Facing Congress, Clinton Defends Her Actions Before and After Libya Attack

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Lawfare, Weekly Standard and The PJ Tatler

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

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Right Turn, BuzzFeed, Politico and Gawker

New York Times:

Pentagon Is Set to Lift Combat Ban for Women — WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is lifting the military's official ban on women in combat, which will open up hundreds of thousands of additional front-line jobs to them, senior defense officials said Wednesday.

Discussion: Addicting Info, The Agonist, LewRockwell.com Blog and ParaPundit

Ernesto Londoño / Washington Post:

Pentagon to remove ban on women in combat — PATRICK BAZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES - U.S. soldiers listen to a briefing as they prepare to leave on a mission in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2004. The decision to lift the ban on women serving in direct-combat roles was influenced by the valor of female troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said.

Discussion: USA Today, American Prospect, Wonkblog, Right Turn, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, American Forces Press Service and Feministing

Associated Press:
AP sources: Pentagon opens combat roles to women

Discussion: Washington Times, Wired and Outside the Beltway

Luis Martinez / ABCNEWS:
Pentagon to Allow Women in Combat

Discussion: Politico, ABCNEWS, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Dish

Wall Street Journal: Combat Ban for Women to End

CNN:
Military to open combat jobs to women

Discussion: Associated Press, Hot Air, The Political Carnival and Taylor Marsh

Politico:
Leon Panetta lifts ban on women in combat

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Wonkette

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: Mother Jones, Associated Press, The Political Carnival, Unqualified Offerings, The Atlantic Online, Business Insider, The Maddow Blog and msnbc.com

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:

UPDATED: Virginia Republican State Senator Declines To Back GOP Electoral College Rigging Scheme … In a subcommittee vote Wednesday, Virginia State Sen. and former Republican National Committee Chief Counsel Jill Holtzman Vogel (R) abstained on a key vote on a bill to rig the state's electoral college vote.

Discussion: Richmond Times-Dispatch

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

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

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

Jeffrey Young / The Huffington Post:
Mississippi's GOP Governor Says No American Lacks Health Care

Discussion: Kaiser Health News

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: riponsociety.org, CNN, The Democratic Daily, Booman Tribune, Stinque and Balloon Juice

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

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

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:

House votes to suspend debt limit — A measure to suspend the nation's legal limit on borrowing for nearly four months cleared a key vote in the House Wednesday, as Republicans broadly endorsed a new tactic that would temporarily remove the threat of a potentially calamitous government default …

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

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

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Slate and Wonkblog

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Obama Speech Leaves G.O.P. Stark Choices

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

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: Opinionator, msnbc.com, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Liberal Values, LifeNews.com, National Review, Twitchy and Care2 Causes

Sam Hananel / Associated Press:

UNIONS SUFFER SHARP DECLINE IN MEMBERSHIP … WASHINGTON (AP) — Union membership plummeted last year to the lowest level since the 1930s as cash-strapped state and local governments shed workers and unions had difficulty organizing new members in the private sector despite signs of an improving economy.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Power Line and Vodkapundit

Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Union Members Summary

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

Wall Street Journal:

TARP Czar to Take Shot in Politics — Neel Kashkari, who oversaw the U.S. Treasury's much-maligned Troubled Asset Relief Program during the financial crisis, said he is leaving Pacific Investment Management Co. to consider running for public office in Democrat-heavy California as a Republican.

Discussion: DealBook and Business Insider

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

How Obama Can Have a Great Second Term — The Presidential Inauguration is a strange, monarchial event that makes everybody temporarily mistake the president for the government. Now that our president has laid out his vision, and been regaled by dancing and feasts and song, the question remains, will he accomplish anything?

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The PJ Tatler and Prairie Weather

Danielle Douglas / Washington Post:

Lanny Breuer, Justice Department criminal division chief, is stepping down — Sean Gardner/GETTY IMAGES - The Justice Department's Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer addresses the media while announcing new criminal charges against oil company BP on Nov. 15.

Discussion: Firedoglake, naked capitalism and emptywheel

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