Top Items:

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 …
RELATED:

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.

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, Washington Wire, Rush Limbaugh, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Shot in the Dark, Washington Post and Mediaite


Poll: Huckabee Is Now The GOP's Top Choice For 2016 After Libido Remark — Uncle Sugar has apparently provided Mike Huckabee with a polling bounce. — The latest survey from Democratic PPP released Wednesday showed the former Arkansas governor surging among Republican voters nationwide …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, Liberaland and Little Green Footballs
RELATED:


Ted Cruz is sick and tired of being asked about the government shutdown — Ted Cruz would appreciate it very much if you would kindly stop discussing his role in the government shutdown. — The Texas senator who burst onto the public scene when he convinced congressional Republicans …
Discussion:
The Raw Story and Mediaite

Huckabee up, Christie down — Following the controversy over his ‘Uncle Sugar’ speech Mike Huckabee has...taken the lead in the Republican primary race for 2016. He's at 16% to 14% for Jeb Bush, 13% for Chris Christie, 11% for Rand Paul, 8% each for Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Paul Ryan, 6% for Scott Walker, and 5% for Bobby Jindal.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Politico, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Week and National Review


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.
Discussion:
New York Times, Talking Points Memo, NY1 Political ItCH, BuzzFeed, Gawker, CNN, ComPost, Taking Note, CREW, Guardian, The Fix, ThinkProgress, No More Mister Nice Blog, ABC News, Mashable, The Week, BizPac Review, Taylor Marsh, NPR, Scared Monkeys, Post Politics, Business Insider, The Raw Story, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, CBS DC, Towleroad News #gay and Runnin' Scared, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:

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 …
RELATED:

History Shows Dems Face Long Odds in Keeping Senate
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, VodkaPundit, Questions and Observations and Hot Air


Rubio: Senate should challenge Obama's SOTU veto threat on Iran
Discussion:
CNN, Politico and ThinkProgress

Reid says vulnerable Democrats should not run away from Obama
Discussion:
Politico


The Story Of A War Hero Wounded On His 10th Deployment Is Really The Story Of Obama — There are a few things that strike the reader upon reading the following tweet, which references Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg, the Army Ranger President Barack Obama praised at the end of his otherwise unmemorable State of the Union address.
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll
RELATED:


The State of the Union: Make it stop
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Taegan Goddard's … and Washington Wire

Army Ranger steals Obama's thunder
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, ABC News and Politico

House GOP immigration proposal is 'fool's gold,' AFL-CIO chief says — AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka, a major backer of President Obama's immigration push, said in an interview Wednesday that a border plan being developed by House Republicans was a “nonstarter” because it would stop short …
Discussion:
Immigration Reform
RELATED:

How to understand the GOP predicament on immigration
Discussion:
Hot Air, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Holder on Obama's pot comments: Any drug is ‘potentially harmful’ — (CNN) - The nation's chief law enforcement officer said Wednesday that any drug, including alcohol, “is potentially harmful.” Attorney General Eric Holder comments follow an interview where the commander in chief appeared …
Discussion:
Politico
RELATED:


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:
Politico, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, The Hill, Daily Kos, Hot Air and Taylor Marsh

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:
Algemeiner.com, Mondoweiss, Guardian and Israel Matzav


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:
Talking Points Memo, Guardian, susiemadrak.com and The Dish

Pete Wilson syndrome: Boehner and the GOP's last chance on immigration reform — Tick, tock, the clock has run out on John Boehner and his GOP cohort to present a credible immigration reform plan to the nation. And that doesn't mean just any set of “principles,” but a coherent …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly


Google Is Selling Its Mobility Unit to Lenovo for About $3 Billion — Google is selling its Motorola Mobility smartphone unit to Lenovo for about $2.91 billion, the companies announced on Wednesday. — Google's Mobility unit includes handset technology that the search giant acquired …
Discussion:
The Official Google Blog, VentureBeat, The Verge and Gigaom


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:
Talking Points Memo, Esquire, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Taegan Goddard's …, Liberaland, The Raw Story and The Reaction


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


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

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 …

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


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


Report: Hundreds of Patch employees laid off — I'm told that hundreds — two tipsters claim two-thirds of the editorial staff — have been laid off by Patch's new owner, Hale Global. I have asked the company for confirmation. (It bought Patch from AOL on January 15.)
Discussion:
Business Insider, Mediaite, Mashable, Gawker, TechCrunch and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

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