memeorandum: N Korea helping Iran with nuclear testing (Con Coughlin/Telegraph)

11:00 AM ET, January 24, 2007

Top Items:

Sen. Webb's Democratic Response to the SoTU: The war's costs to our nation have been staggering — Jim Webb of Virginia was selected to give the Democratic response to Bush's SoTU, and boy, did they make the right choice. Webb hit all the right notes, his points impressive and unassailable.

Discussion: MyDD, Hot Air, The Anonymous Liberal, The Sideshow, Shakespeare's Sister, Jesus' General, Eschaton, DownWithTyranny!, Gun Toting Liberal ™ and Tennessee Guerilla Women

Jonathan Alter / Newsweek:

A Powerful Response — Jim Webb tore up his party's playbook—and helped point the Democrats in a new direction. — Something unprecedented happened tonight, beyond the doorkeeper announcing, "Madame Speaker." For the first time ever, the response to the State of the Union Message overshadowed the president's big speech.

Discussion: The Mahablog

Think Progress:

Embargoed: State of the Union Text — We'll start respecting White House embargoes when they start telling the truth. — Embargoed Until Delivery of the State of the Union Address at 9:01 PM EST — January 23, 2007 — STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS — As Prepared For Delivery

Discussion: The Mahablog, The Moderate Voice, TAPPED, QandO, The New Republic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Gun Toting Liberal ™, CorrenteWire and Angry Bear

White House:
President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address

Discussion: Right Wing News, Pacific Views, Blogs for Bush, Eclectics Anonymous, Don Surber, Chicago Boyz, Bill Hobbs, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Daily Pundit, On Deadline and Stop The ACLU

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Webb Offers Blunt Challenge to Bush

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Democratic Daily and Unqualified Offerings

speaker.gov:
Pelosi and Reid: We Should Work Together to Take America in a New Direction

Discussion: The RBC

Hindrocket / Power Line:
A RETURN TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Discussion: VodkaPundit, Captain's Quarters, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, PoliPundit.com and Sadly, No!

Drudge Report:
Democratic Response of Senator Jim Webb To the President's State …

Discussion: Riehl World View, Redstate, Democratic National Committee, Obsidian Wings, Brilliant at Breakfast, Instapundit.com, Bark Bark Woof Woof, All Spin Zone, Don Surber, An Army Lawyer, The American Mind, The Political Pit Bull, The Caucus, BlondeSense, Gateway Pundit and Washington Post

Drudge Report:
EXCLUSIVE: FULL STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH

Discussion: Townhall.com Blog's …, Publius Pundit, VodkaPundit, Gateway Pundit, The Reaction, Michelle Malkin, The Political Pit Bull, Sister Toldjah, Elocutio, Althouse, A Blog For All and The Jawa Report

New York Times:

The State of the Union — The White House spin ahead of George W. Bush's seventh State of the Union address was that the president would make a bipartisan call to revive his domestic agenda with "bold and innovative concepts." The problem with that was obvious last night — in six years …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Brilliant at Breakfast, Prairie Weather, The Mahablog, PoliBlog (TM) and Washington Post

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

President's Portrayal of 'The Enemy' Often Flawed — In his State of the Union address last night, President Bush presented an arguably misleading and often flawed description of "the enemy" that the United States faces overseas, lumping together disparate groups with opposing ideologies …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

Washington Post:

Bush Urges Congress, Nation To Give His Iraq Plan a Chance — Domestically, He Makes Overtures To Democrats — President Bush implored lawmakers and the nation last night to give him one more chance to win the war in Iraq and avoid the "nightmare scenario" of defeat while presenting …

Discussion: USA Today, New York Times, Redstate, the talking dog and The Democratic Daily

New York Times:
Bush Insists U.S. Must Not Fail in Iraq

Discussion: Washington Post and CNN Political Ticker

New York Times:
President Bush's State of the Union Address

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Althouse, Matthew Yglesias, MaxSpeak and Obsidian Wings

Con Coughlin / Telegraph:

N Korea helping Iran with nuclear testing — North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year. — Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Hot Air and Blue Crab Boulevard

Amir Taheri / New York Post:
IRAN'S PLANS: STICKS & CARROTS

Discussion: The Corner

Ynetnews:
Iran: Israel, US will soon die

Discussion: Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Hot Air, Blogs of War and The Strata-Sphere

John Holusha / New York Times:

Petraeus Calls Iraq Situation 'Dire' — "The situation in Iraq is dire," Lt. Gen. David Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee today. But he said the planned increase in troop levels and new tactics should enable American and Iraqi forces to provide security in Baghdad.

Discussion: Washington Times, Don Surber, INTEL DUMP and Washington Post

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
General Says New Strategy in Iraq Can Work Over Time

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
New Face on a Tough War

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Opinion Journal:

Health and Taxes — The Bush proposal opens a debate for 2008. — Now we're getting somewhere. The U.S. has long needed a debate over health care and tax subsidies, and President Bush got ready to rumble last night with his proposal to make insurance more affordable for most Americans.

Discussion: Dean's World, Grasping Reality … and Greg Mankiw's Blog

Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Bipartisan Cooperation on Health Care Is Dead on Arrival

Discussion: Cato Unbound and EconLog

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
The Knee-Jerk Opposition — If George W. Bush proposes something, it must be bad.

Discussion: Political Animal

Joel Topcik / Broadcasting & Cable:

Watching the SOTU Speech on ABC — Did they really need to drag World News anchor Charles Gibson all the way down from New York just to do a stand-up intro with the Capitol dome over his shoulder? George Stephanopoulos and Martha Raddatz were in separate locations, so it wasn't as though he was joining them in the studio.

Discussion: A Blog For All, Reason Magazine and Classical Values

Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:

Libby Defense Portrays Client as a Scapegoat — I. Lewis Libby Jr., the vice president's former chief of staff, was made a scapegoat by White House officials to protect the president's longtime political adviser, Karl Rove, Mr. Libby's lawyer asserted in his opening statement on Tuesday.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Hullabaloo, Washington Post and TBogg

Michael Isikoff / Newsweek:
'Scapegoat:' Scooter's Stunning Defense

Discussion: The Nation, Firedoglake, Slate, JustOneMinute, Editor and Publisher, TalkLeft, Brilliant at Breakfast, Althouse and The RBC

Forbes:

The Web Celeb 25 — THE FACE OF FAME IS CHANGING. The ranks of the world's celebrities used to be dominated by millionaire actors, athletes and musicians, but the Internet has leveled the playing field. A kid with a video camera has access to as large an audience as the biggest Hollywood star.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Sister Toldjah and Power Line

Matthew Yglesias / American Prospect:

Smears for Fears — Wes Clark just got caught up in the rigged rules for discussing Israel-related issues in America. — Retired General Wesley Clark is, like me, concerned that the Bush administration is going to launch a war with Iran. Arianna Huffington spoke to him in early January …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Reason Magazine, Prairie Weather and Matthew Yglesias

Damien Cave / New York Times:

Iraq Parliament Finds a Quorum Hard to Come By — Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the speaker of Parliament, read a roll call of the 275 elected members with a goal of shaming the no-shows. — Ayad Allawi, the former prime minister? Absent, living in Amman and London. Adnan Pachachi, the octogenarian statesman?

Discussion: Booman Tribune and TPMmuckraker

Washington Wire:

From the President, a Two-Letter Jab at the Democrats — President Bush departed from the prepared text of his State of the Union address to graciously congratulate Nancy Pelosi on her history-making selection as the first female Speaker of the House. Then he departed from the prepared text …

Discussion: Washington Post, MSNBC, Liberal Values, Kansas City Star, Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Agonist, Blue Crab Boulevard, Angry Bear, Bark Bark Woof Woof and The Reaction

Kelly McCormack / The Hill:

Obama beats Clinton — in website traffic — If website hits were votes for the 2008 presidential election, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would be the clear winner. — Twelve percent of Internet surfers who visit www.senate.gov click to the freshman senator's homepage, according to rankings on Alexa.com, which tracks website traffic.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Eugene Volokh / Opinion Journal:

The Lonely Optician — Does your love life comply with state regulations? You may be surprised. — Say you live in Washington state, and you find yourself getting to know and becoming attracted to your dental hygienist—or for that matter your optician (that's the person who fits your eyeglasses …

Yale Daily News:

Letter to the editor — Univ. can and should honor those who serve in military — To the Editor: — What is Yale doing to recognize those from Yale — graduates, staff, faculty — who have served in combat in the Persian Gulf or in Afghanistan or the other troubled areas of the world …