memeorandum: A Pen, a Phone, and a Flailing President (Ron Fournier/NationalJournal.com)

10:10 PM ET, January 27, 2014

Top Items:

A Pen, a Phone, and a Flailing President — The White House's problem might not be strategies and tactics. It might be Obama himself. — For months, the White House and its allies mocked critics of Barack Obama's leadership, arguing that no president has “Green Lantern” superhero powers.

Discussion: Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Fix, Hot Air, neo-neocon, The Plum Line, Power Line, Booman Tribune, VodkaPundit, Politico and National Review

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Are House Republicans planning to pull a fast one on immigration? — In the House of Representatives, immigration reform is not only not dead, it's actually the subject of a lot of working and talking as Republicans prepare for their annual retreat this weekend.

Discussion: The Plum Line, Business Insider, The Hugh Hewitt Show and Washington Wire

National Review:
Don't Do It — The House Republican leadership has been confronted …

Discussion: Hot Air

Wall Street Journal:
Obama to Assert Unilateral Agenda

Discussion: Washington Wire, Business Insider, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, Guardian, Towleroad News #gay and New York Times

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Morning Plum: Inside Obama's game plan for 2014

Discussion: Hot Air, Hullabaloo and NationalJournal.com

Juan Williams / The Hill:
Time for Obama to punch hard

Discussion: CNN and Althouse

James Ball / Guardian:

NSA and GCHQ target ‘leaky’ phone apps like Angry Birds to scoop user data — GCHQ documents use Angry Birds - reportedly downloaded more than 1.7bn times - as a case study for app data collection. — The National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have been developing capabilities …

Discussion: The Daily Banter, Gawker, Truthdig, emptywheel, Mashable, Talking Points Memo, Hinterland Gazette, Booman Tribune, Shakesville, The PJ Tatler and The Verge

New York Times:

Spy Agencies Tap Data Streaming From Phone Apps — When a smartphone user opens Angry Birds, the popular game application, and starts slinging birds at chortling green pigs, spies could be lurking in the background to snatch data revealing the player's location, age, sex and other personal information …

Discussion: News Desk, The Daily Caller, Hit & Run, Politico and NPR

Investigations / NBCNews:
Snowden docs reveal British spies snooped on YouTube and Facebook

Discussion: The Verge and Techdirt

ProPublica:
Spy Agencies Probe Angry Birds and Other Apps for Personal Data

Discussion: TechCrunch, CBS Philly and emptywheel

ThinkProgress:

The Five Worst Things About The New Republican Proposal To Replace Obamacare — On Monday, a trio Republican senators unveiled an alternative to Obamacare eerily similar to the one that former presidential candidate Mitt Romney proposed in 2012. The plan boils down to a rehash …

Discussion: Liberaland

Fox News:

A Republican plan to replace ObamaCare, cover pre-existing conditions and lower costs — During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama will probably declare that his signature health care law is finally starting to work as designed. — We expect him to claim the mantle of …

Discussion: Wonkblog, Business Insider, National Review and AEIdeas

Avik Roy / Forbes:

Senate Republicans Develop The Most Credible Plan Yet To ‘Repeal And Replace’ Obamacare — “Repealing and replacing” Obamacare with market-oriented reforms has been the Republican mantra for years now. If you're a long-time follower of this space, you know that we're skeptical that Obamacare …

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Mahablog, National Review and AEIdeas

David Nather / Politico:
State of the Union 2014: The search for a non-awkward Obamacare shout-out

Discussion: Washington Post and VodkaPundit

RealClearPolitics Video Log:

Hillary Clinton: “My Biggest Regret Is What Happened In Benghazi” — QUESTION: Any do-overs that you would — relative to Secretary of State? HILLARY CLINTON: Oh, sure. I mean, you know, you make these choices based on imperfect information. And you make them to — as we say, the best of your ability.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Taylor Marsh, Liberaland, National Review and The Gateway Pundit

Katherine Miller / BuzzFeed:
Clinton Spokesman Says She Used Facebook, Bought Something Online Last Wednesday

Discussion: Mediaite

Amy Chozick / New York Times:
Clinton Calls Benghazi Her ‘Biggest Regret’ as Secretary

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Hillary Clinton Says She Hasn't Driven A Car Since 1996 (VIDEO)

Discussion: American Power

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
Hillary Clinton: Benghazi ‘biggest’ regret

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air and Fox News Insider

Greta Van Susteren / Gretawire:

What is wrong with this guy? He is such a jerk! He is a repeat offender! — This posting is not about Wendy Davis. It is not about her views. This is about a man who has pattern of being disrespectful to women: — We are a big nation with different viewpoints.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Other McCain

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

I Watched The New Mitt Romney Documentary With My Wife And It Was A Huge Mistake — The compelling new Netflix film reveals, among other things, the ideal Mormon husband. Thanks a lot, Mitt. — At the Republican National Convention in 2012, the Romney campaign released a piece …

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Hawaiians, D.C. Residents Most Approving of Obama in 2013 — Wyoming and West Virginia residents least approving — PRINCETON, NJ — Residents of 11 states and the District of Columbia gave President Barack Obama job approval ratings above 50% in 2013. Hawaii had the highest approval rating among …

Discussion: GovBeat, Hinterland Gazette, National Review and Washington Post

James Hohmann / Politico:
Barack Obama's lows could hurt Democrats in 5 states

Discussion: Power Line

Alyssa Rosenberg / ThinkProgress:

At The Grammys, Beyoncé And Jay-Z Made The Case For Marriage That Conservatives Can't — On Saturday, the New York Times' Ross Douthat wrote a column in which he suggested concessions both liberals and conservatives ought to make if we're to get together on the joint project of making marriage more appetizing and acceptable.

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Raw Story, Althouse, The Daily Caller and New York Times

Brian Beutler / Salon:

How the right destroyed itself: History, ideology and strategic blunders — Even if they could, Democrats already beat them there — Last week I wrote an article arguing that the impediments to conservative reform are structural — that the idiosyncrasies of the Republican base make appealing …

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:
Deficit Reduction Declines as Policy Priority

Discussion: Post Politics, The Plum Line, Liberal Values, Daily Kos, Wonkblog, PoliticusUSA, Politico, Washington Monthly and Taegan Goddard's …

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Quentin Tarantino Suing Gawker Over Leaked ‘Hateful Eight’ Script (Exclusive) — The director takes legal action over the distribution of his script. — Quentin Tarantino — Quentin Tarantino has filed a copyright lawsuit against Gawker Media for allegedly facilitating the dissemination …

Discussion: Gawker, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, NBCNews, Mashable, Daily Dot and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Jake Sherman / Politico:

Trey Radel to resign House seat — Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) will resign from Congress on Monday, according to multiple sources. — Radel, 37, was caught buying cocaine in November from an undercover federal agent in Washington and spent nearly a month in a rehabilitation facility.

Herb Jackson / NorthJersey.com:

Fort Lee Mayor Sokolich to attend State of the Union speech as Pascrell guest — Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who helped spark the controversy now threatening Governor Christie's political future by speculating that lanes to the George Washington Bridge were closed to send him a message …

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Talking Points Memo and NBCNews

Dana Davidsen / CNN:

Walker's numbers up in Wisconsin poll — (CNN) - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has a slight edge over his Democratic opponent in the state's 2014 gubernatorial contest, according to a new Badger State survey. — The Marquette Law School poll released Monday indicates 47% of Wisconsin voters …

Discussion: Politico

Jose DelReal / Politico:

Group unveils State of the Union drinking game — If you're not yet excited for Tuesday's State of the Union address, Generation Opportunity has a something that might catch your college-age attention: a drinking game. — The conservative anti-Obamacare organization is having some fun …

Discussion: Independent Journal Review

BBC:

Sochi 2014: No gay people in city, says mayor — The mayor of Sochi, host of the Winter Olympics, has said there are no gay people in the city. — Anatoly Pakhomov said homosexuals were welcome at the Games - as long as they “respect Russian law” and “don't impose their habits on others”.