memeorandum: House GOP Leaders Face Challenge on Immigration (Donna Cassata/Associated Press)

5:40 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: The White House, CNN, The Huffington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Mediaite, First Read, Washington Monthly 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, Patterico's Pontifications, National Review, The Mahablog, Guardian, BuzzFeed 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, American Prospect, Washington Free Beacon, Liberal Values, National Review, Women's Take, The Fix, The PJ Tatler, The Diplomat, AEIdeas, ThinkProgress, Gawker, The Gateway Pundit 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, Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Shot in the Dark, Washington Post and Mediaite

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

Discussion: Firedoglake, OnPolitics, News Desk, The Daily Caller and National Review

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

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, Liberaland, Outside the Beltway and Little Green Footballs

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

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, Hot Air, Politico, Mediaite, The Week and National Review

Yahoo! News:
Ted Cruz is sick and tired of being asked about the government shutdown

Discussion: The Raw Story and Mediaite

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.

Discussion: Questions and Observations

Dan Merica / CNN:
Reid says vulnerable Democrats should not run away from Obama

Discussion: Politico

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

Discussion: VodkaPundit and Hot Air

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, Taegan Goddard's … and Washington Wire

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

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, ABC News and Politico

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
The Story Of A War Hero Wounded On His 10th Deployment Is Really The Story Of Obama

Discussion: Ed Driscoll

Donna Cassata / Associated Press:

House GOP Leaders Face Challenge on Immigration — House Republican leaders poised to revive efforts to overhaul the immigration system with new broad policy principles are facing a direct challenge from a GOP senator who is warning against a headlong rush toward reform.

Discussion: CNN

David Nakamura / Washington Post:
House GOP immigration proposal is 'fool's gold,' AFL-CIO chief says

Discussion: Immigration Reform

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
How to understand the GOP predicament on immigration

Discussion: Hot Air, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Dana Davidsen / CNN:

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

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico: Eric Holder: Pot ‘can be harmful’

Fernando Espuelas / The Hill:

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

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

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: Algemeiner.com, Mondoweiss, Guardian and Israel Matzav

The White House:

FACT SHEET: Opportunity for All: Securing a Dignified Retirement for All Americans — Creating the “myRA” - a Simple, Safe, and Affordable Starter Savings Account to Help Millions of Americans Start Saving for Retirement — To build lasting economic security, the President will act on a set of specific …

Discussion: Firedoglake, NPR and PoliticusUSA

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, The Hill, Daily Kos and Hot Air

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

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 …

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

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

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

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

Jim Romenesko:

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 »

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Not as Many U.S. States Lean Democratic in 2013 — Parties now about equal in state party leanings, 17 to 14 — PRINCETON, NJ — Blue states outnumbered red states in the U.S. last year, 17 to 14, according to Gallup Daily tracking of party preferences. That three-state advantage …

Discussion: Hot Air and Politico