memeorandum: Who You Calling a Lame Duck? (Jonathan Cohn/The New Republic)

2:20 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, 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, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, National Review, The Mahablog, BuzzFeed and The Lead with Jake Tapper

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

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, American Prospect, The Diplomat, Women's Take, The PJ Tatler, AEIdeas, The Fix, The Gateway Pundit, ThinkProgress and Wonkblog

New York Times:

Text and Video of Obama's State of the Union Address — Following is the transcript of President Obama's State of the Union address, as transcribed by the Federal News Service. — MR. OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much.

Todd S. Purdum / Politico:

The State of the Union: Make it stop — Blame Woodrow Wilson, who broke a century-old presidential tradition of delivering the State of the Union message only in writing. Blame Harry Truman, the first chief executive to make the address on television, or Lyndon Johnson, the first to do so in prime time.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Taegan Goddard's …

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

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, ABC News and Politico

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

Discussion: CBS News, Gallup and Taylor Marsh

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

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

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

Discussion: americanthinker.com

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Hardened, Obama Strikes Tough Tone for Modest Agenda

Discussion: News Desk, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Fix, Washington Post, Hot Air, Gawker, The Moderate Voice, Mashable, The Democratic Daily and nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Three quick State of the Union observations

Discussion: National Review

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: OnPolitics and National Review

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

Discussion: Liberaland and The Raw Story

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

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

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

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 and Hot Air

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: The Hill, LifeNews.com, Guardian, Taylor Marsh, Religion Dispatches, 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’

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

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:

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

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: susiemadrak.com and The Dish

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

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: Democratic Strategist