memeorandum: Record-High 42% of Americans Identify as Independents (Jeffrey M. Jones/Gallup)

2:35 PM ET, January 8, 2014

Top Items:

Emails link top Christie aide to GWB lane-closing controversy — Private messages between Governor's Christie's deputy chief of staff and two of his top executives at the Port Authority reveal a vindictive effort to create “traffic problems in Fort Lee” by shutting lanes to the George Washington Bridge …

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Big Trouble — As I've written several times, this Christie Bridge Scandal is far more potentially damaging for Christie that it might seem on its face because its fits so perfectly with the negative view (as opposed to the positive view) of Chris Christie. That is, that he and his crew are thugs and bullies.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Kate Zernike / New York Times:

Top Christie Staff Sought Lane Closings as Revenge — A series of newly obtained emails and text messages shows that Gov. Chris Christie's office was closely involved with lane closings on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge in September, and that officials closed the lanes …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Reality-Based Community and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Wall Street Journal:

CONNECT — A top aide to Gov. Chris Christie told an executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey it was “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” before the authority closed lanes onto the George Washington Bridge in September, triggering a week of massive traffic jams, documents show.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and CNN

Politico:

Emails tie Chris Christie staff to bridge flap — Emails emerged Wednesday tying New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's staff to the closing of lanes on a key bridge in September — shutdowns that caused massive traffic problems and sparked allegations that the closures were the result of political retribution.

Discussion: Power Line, New Jersey Online, Talking Points Memo, National Review, Business Insider and Mediaite

Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:
Christie Aide: ‘Time For Some Traffic Problems In Fort Lee’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, AMERICAblog News and Balloon Juice

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Record-High 42% of Americans Identify as Independents — Republican identification lowest in at least 25 years — PRINCETON, NJ — Forty-two percent of Americans, on average, identified as political independents in 2013, the highest Gallup has measured since it began conducting interviews by telephone 25 years ago.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Wire, Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, The Fix, Political Capital, Taylor Marsh, PoliticusUSA, Hit & Run, CNN, Democracy in America, Business Insider, Real Clear Politics, Outside the Beltway, Politico, Hot Air and CBS DC

Ruth Rosen / In These Times: Republicans (Still) Have a ‘Female Problem’

ThinkProgress:

West Virginia Lawmaker Wants To Make It A Felony To Enforce Obamacare — Nullificationist Senator John C. Calhoun — CREDIT: (AP Photo/National Portrait Gallery) — At least 82,000 West Virginia residents are signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion alone.

Discussion: Liberaland and Martinsburg Journa

Lisa Demer / Anchorage Daily News:
GOP targets Begich over Affordable Care Act - with ad that airs just once

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:
RNC spends little on ObamaCare attacks

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Politico:

Carolyn McCarthy, Mike McIntyre to retire — North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre and New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy will not seek reelection this year, according to multiple Democratic sources familiar with their plans - marking a blow to Democratic efforts to win control of the House.

Discussion: Business Insider and Daily Kos

Tom Brune / Newsday:
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy: I won't run again

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politicker

Gabrielle Giffords / New York Times:

The Lessons of Physical Therapy — TODAY, the anniversary of the shooting in Tucson that put a bullet through my head and killed six of my constituents, is when I make my annual resolutions. — Many may look at me and see mostly what I have lost. I struggle to speak, my eyesight's not great …

Discussion: Political Capital, Business Insider, Guardian, Talking Points Memo, Politico and CNN

Meena Duerson / Today:
TODAY exclusive: Gabby Giffords will sky-dive to mark shooting anniversary

Discussion: Mashable and Liberaland

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Utah Governor Says State Will Not Recognize 1300+ Same-Sex Marriages — Utah's governor says the Constitution does not apply to these two men — Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's (R) office announced Wednesday that his state will not recognize the over 1,300 same sex marriages performed between …

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Utah Marriages Of Same-Sex Couples “On Hold” Pending Appeal, Governor's Office Says

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Keith Edwards / Portland Press-Herald:

LePage says children should have work option — Not allowing children to work is ‘causing damage to our economy,’ the governor says. — AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage told attendees of the 73rd annual Maine Agricultural Trades Show on Tuesday that 12-year-olds should be allowed to work in Maine.

Discussion: Shakesville, Talking Points Memo and The Reaction

New York Times:

Biography Casts Critical Light on Fox News Chief — Roger Ailes was so eager to influence national politics that in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, he told fellow Fox News executives point-blank: “I want to elect the next president.” — In the corporate thicket of News Corporation …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, Random House, Mediaite, Yahoo! News, Althouse, Capital New York, Riehl World News, Business Insider and The Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Jenn Taylor / Twitchy:

‘Oh COME ON’: The Guardian's description of pro-abort Wendy Davis is beyond absurd; Update: Guardian issues correction — Here's how the sane see abortion booster Wendy Davis: … And here's The Guardian's description of the Texas Dem, courtesy of National Review fellow Betsy Woodruff:

Discussion: TheBlaze.com and Weasel Zippers

Jamie Stiehm / US News:

The Catholic Supreme Court's War on Women — Et tu, Justice Sonia Sotomayor? Really, we can't trust you on women's health and human rights? The lady from the Bronx just dropped the ball on American women and girls as surely as she did the sparkling ball at midnight on New Year's Eve in Times Square.

Discussion: Hot Air, National Review and Mirror of Justice

Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:

Drama roils race to replace Rep. Bill Young — The GOP race to replace the late Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.) has become a political soap opera that could jeopardize Republicans' hold on the seat. — It has all the makings of a daytime drama: a widow disavowing her son due to opposing primary allegiances …

Matt Higgins / CBS DC:

Obama To Announce 5 ‘Promise Zones’ In Effort To Focus On Income Inequality — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will announce five “Promise Zones” this week as part of his effort to focus on income inequality in the lead-up to his State of the Union address.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers and National Review

Kristina Wong / The Hill:

White House rejects criticisms in Gates' memoir — The White House immediately rebuffed a searing critique of its Afghanistan war policies Tuesday from former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. — In his forthcoming memoir Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, Gates writes that President Obama doubted …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, CNN, Washington Post, Power Line and Politico

Robert M. Gates / Wall Street Journal:
The Quiet Fury of Robert Gates

Paul Krugman:

On Fighting the Last War (On Poverty) — Sorry about radio silence — I've been on the road, and busy. And I still am. — I wanted, however, to say something about the 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. — By 1980 or so, as the linked CBPP piece says, there was widespread consensus that the WoP had failed.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Mey / Autostraddle:

Trans Women Carmen Carrera and Laverne Cox Respond Flawlessly To Katie Couric's Invasive Questions — On Monday, transgender model Carmen Carrera and Orange is the New Black actress Laverne Cox made a daytime TV talk show appearance on the ABC show Katie hosted by Katie Couric.

Discussion: NewsBusters and Towleroad News #gay