memeorandum: Good Speech, Modest Agenda, Diminished Leader (Ron Fournier/NationalJournal.com)

3:30 PM ET, January 29, 2014

Top Items:

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Bush speechwriter: Obama plagiarized Bush — President George W. Bush's former speech writer said that President Barack Obama plagiarized his former boss in Tuesday's State of the Union address. — Speaking to Fox News's Megyn Kelly, Marc Thiessen, the lead writer on Bush's 2007 State …

Discussion: CNN, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Mediaite and BizPac Review

Ted Cruz / Wall Street Journal:

Ted Cruz: The Imperial Presidency of Barack Obama — In the nation's history, there is simply no precedent for an American president so wantonly ignoring federal law. — Of all the troubling aspects of the Obama presidency, none is more dangerous than the president's persistent pattern of lawlessness …

Discussion: American Prospect, Hit & Run, Hot Air, National Review, Patterico's Pontifications, The Mahablog, BuzzFeed, Guardian and The Lead with Jake Tapper

Washington Post:

FULL TRANSCRIPT: Obama's 2014 State of the Union address — President Obama delivered his 2014 State of the Union address on Jan. 28, 2014, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Here is the complete transcript of his remarks — PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much.

Discussion: Hit & Run, National Review, Liberal Values, American Prospect, The Diplomat, Women's Take, The PJ Tatler, The Fix, ThinkProgress, AEIdeas, The Gateway Pundit, Gawker and Wonkblog

Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:

Good Speech, Modest Agenda, Diminished Leader — Americans may have already tuned out Barack Obama. — Is that all there is? — In what may be his last, best chance to revive a presidency that has fallen far short of its promise, Barack Obama unveiled his 2014 agenda Tuesday night …

Discussion: New York Times, Rush Limbaugh, Outside the Beltway, Shot in the Dark, Washington Wire, The Daily Caller, Washington Post and Mediaite

Todd S. Purdum / Politico:
The State of the Union: Make it stop

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Taegan Goddard's …

New York Times:
Text and Video of Obama's State of the Union Address

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Army Ranger steals Obama's thunder

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, ABC News and Politico

First Read / firstread.nbcnews.com:
First Thoughts: On the road again

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, TheBlaze.com, Mediaite, Twitchy, National Review, CBS News, The Gateway Pundit, NBCNews and nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com

The Huffington Post:
State Of The Union Poll Gives Obama Positive Marks

Discussion: CBS News, Gallup and Taylor Marsh

Politico:
State of the Union 2014 fact check

Discussion: USA Today, Hot Air, First Read, The Star-Ledger Editorial Page and Washington Wire

Brett M. Decker / USA Today:
Less speech, more competence: Column

Discussion: americanthinker.com

David Nather / Politico: State of the Union 2014: Obama embraces Obamacare

NY1:

Rep. Grimm Threatens NY1 Reporter Following State of the Union … Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm physically threatened NY1 political reporter Michael Scotto at the conclusion of an interview in the Capitol Rotunda following Tuesday night's State of the Union address.

NY1:

Rep. Grimm Apologizes to NY1 Reporter For On-Camera Threat … Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm has apologized to NY1 political reporter Michael Scotto a day after physically threatening him at the conclusion of an interview in the Capitol Rotunda following the president's State of the Union address.

Discussion: Firedoglake, OnPolitics and National Review

Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:
Grimm Issues Statement To Apologize To Reporter For Threats

Discussion: Liberaland and The Raw Story

Ashley Killough / CNN:
N.Y. congressman apologizes after threatening to throw reporter off balcony

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Mashable, Hinterland Gazette, Scared Monkeys, The Hill and Post Politics, more at Mediagazer »

Kate Nocera / BuzzFeed:
New York GOP Congressman Apologizes To Reporter He Threatened To “Break In Half”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

ANALYSIS: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers comes through for GOP in SOTU response — Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) had one of the more difficult tasks in politics on Tuesday, delivering the official Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Hot Air and NewsBusters

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Mike Lee tea party response: Barack Obama at fault for inequality

Discussion: Voxxi, CNN, Scared Monkeys, American Power and The Reaction

Politico:
State of the Union GOP response: Cathy McMorris Rodgers (text, video)

Discussion: Taking Note, The Hill, LifeNews.com, Taylor Marsh, Religion Dispatches, Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, CNN and American Power

Niels Lesniewski / The World's Greatest …:

Graham Says World ‘Literally About to Blow Up’ — After praising President Barack Obama on immigration, South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham blasted the foreign policy portion of the State of the Union speech. — “The world is literally about to blow up,” Graham said, saying he completely disagrees with Obama on Iran policy.

Discussion: Esquire, Mediaite, Liberaland, Taegan Goddard's … and The Raw Story

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo: Lindsey Graham Says ‘The World Is Literally About To Blow Up’

Katherine Connell / National Review:

History Shows Dems Face Long Odds in Keeping Senate — Political observers were stunned on Tuesday by the “happy talk” on President Obama that came from Senator Harry Reid. The majority leader actually said Senate Democrats should invite Obama into their states to campaign for them even if he is unpopular in them.

Scott Bland / NationalJournal.com:
Obama's State Approval Ratings Spell Trouble for Senate Democrats

Discussion: Hot Air and Roll Call

New York Times:

For Christie, Politics Team Kept a Focus on Two Races — His campaign called them “the Top 100,” the swing towns that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey wanted to win as he prepared for a re-election campaign. Capturing these towns, sometimes referred to as mini-Ohios or mini-Floridas …

Discussion: Guardian, susiemadrak.com, The Dish and NBCNews

David Gutman / Associated Press:

Marshall scientist found formaldehyde in Charleston water — CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Marshall University environmental scientist and member of the state Environmental Quality Board said today that he has found formaldehyde in local water samples and that the continued lack of data on the chemical …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Daily Kos and The Raw Story

Richard Alleyne / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Obama's high school pot dealer who he thanked for the ‘good times’ was beaten to death with a hammer by his gay lover after fights over flatulence and drugs — Raymond Boyer was known as ‘Gay Ray’ to Obama and his marijuana smoking ‘Choom Gang’ of privately-educated kids at Hawaiian high school

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The PJ Tatler and VodkaPundit

Politico:

GOP ready to surrender on debt ceiling — House Republicans are getting ready to surrender: There will be no serious fight over the debt limit. — The most senior figures in the House Republican Conference are privately acknowledging that they will almost certainly have to pass what's called …

Discussion: Business Insider, Firedoglake, americanthinker.com and First Read

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Why Kerry Is Scary — TEL AVIV — It is pretty clear now that Secretary of State John Kerry will either be Israel's diplomatic salvation or the most dangerous diplomatic fanatic Israel has ever encountered. But there isn't much room anymore for anything in between.

Discussion: Guardian, Mondoweiss and Israel Matzav

Ezekiel J. Emanuel / New York Times:

Comparing Obamacare to Its Alternative — FROM the moment the ink dried on March 23, 2010, Republicans said they intended to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. They have voted more than 40 times to wipe the law from the books. But Republicans have never gotten around to describing …

Glenn Blain / NY Daily News:

Donald Trump: I'm Ready To Run For NY Gov, But I Want Clear Path To GOP Nomination — The drama surrounding Donald Trump's potential campaign for governor appears headed for an extended run - at least until Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino makes a fiormal announcement about running.

Discussion: Post Politics and Taegan Goddard's …

Politico:

The Case Against Early Voting — To the delight of anyone who's ever waited in line to cast a vote, a bipartisan election commission convened by President Barack Obama concluded last week that states across the country should increase their use of early voting.

Discussion: Washington Post and Democratic Strategist