memeorandum: Prisoner X - The Australian Connection (ABC News)

1:30 PM ET, February 13, 2013

Top Items:

Katie Glueck / Politico:

Marco Rubio's drinking problem — Twitter exploded during Sen. Marco Rubio's Republican response to the State of the Union, as the Florida senator appeared a little sweaty and dry-mouthed at mid-speech, taking an awkward swig from a bottle of water that had been placed off-camera.

Discussion: his vorpal sword, No More Mister Nice Blog, NBC Latino, The Raw Story, Connecting.the.Dots, NewsHounds blog and Hot Air

Paul Krugman:

Marco Rubio Has Learned Nothing — Because his party has learned nothing. — OK, back up: this morning the papers and the web are full of nuance-sniffing, as people try to find omens in the SOTU and the GOP response. I don't think I can add anything useful to all that.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Wonkblog, Angry Bear, The Confluence, Daily Kos, Taking Note, The Plum Line, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Naked Politics

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Everyone On Twitter Made The Exact Same Joke About Marco Rubio's Water Break — The fall of western civilization is complete.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Marco Rubio: ‘I needed water’

Discussion: Althouse

Jonathan Martin / Politico:
Marco Rubio as the anti-Mitt Romney

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Week, Hot Air and Reuters

Catalina Camia / Associated Press:
Rubio's sip of water lights up Twitter

Discussion: The Daily Caller, CBS News, msnbc.com, First Read, Twitchy and Politico

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Rubio jokes: ‘I needed water’ while delivering Republican response

Discussion: Politico and The Maddow Blog

New York Times:

Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address — The following is the text as prepared for delivery of President Obama's State of the Union Address, as provided by the White House: — PRESIDENT OBAMA: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, fellow citizens:

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

CNN Poll: 53% who watched speech give president thumbs up — Washington (CNN) - A majority of Americans who watched President Barack Obama's State of the Union address said they had a very positive reaction to his speech, according to a survey of people across the country who viewed Tuesday night's address.

Discussion: The Hill, USA Today, Taylor Marsh, The Week, ABCNEWS and Taegan Goddard's …

National Review:
The Broke, Retreating State of Our Union

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Washington Wire, CNN and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Ted Widmer / New York Times:
From Obama, a Proudly Liberal Message

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Post, NationalJournal.com, Taegan Goddard's …, Wall Street Journal and The PJ Tatler

Politico:
Tea party State of the Union 2013 rebuttal: Rand Paul response (full text, video)

Discussion: CNN, The Lonely Conservative, DCist, Slate and Balloon Juice

CNN:
First on CNN: NRA charges Obama's efforts will lead to gun confiscation

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, The PJ Tatler and Reuters

Politico:

John Boehner's Senate-first strategy — The same House Republican majority that spent the entire past two years haranguing Senate Democrats for ignoring piles of legislation has a new strategy. — Let the Senate act first — on nearly everything. — Boehner is trying to shift …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:

The President's Dream State — President Obama at last night's State of the Union address — By any measure, President Obama's first term was consequential. In four years, he signed an $800 billion stimulus program into law, laid the foundation for universal health insurance …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, Wonkblog, The Dish, The Plum Line, The Fix, Booman Tribune, naked capitalism, Democratic Strategist and Politico

Dan Pfeiffer / Talking Points Memo:

Boehner Shoots Down Obama's Minimum Wage Hike — House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Wednesday shot down President Obama's proposal unveiled at the State of the Union to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9. — “I've been deadling with the minimum wage issue for the last 28 years …

Discussion: The Plum Line

Steve Kornacki / Salon: The gun control president

Glenn Thrush / Politico:
President Obama goes old-time Democrat in State of the Union

Discussion: Slate, News Desk and NewsBusters blogs

Ginger Gibson / Politico:

John McCain might delay Chuck Hagel vote — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is backing away from his no-filibuster stance on the nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary. — After saying just days ago that Senate Republicans shouldn't filibuster Hagel's nod, McCain now says he hasn't made up his mind …

Discussion: Right Turn and National Review

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

Roy Blunt says Republicans have votes to delay Chuck Hagel nomination — Sen. Roy Blunt signaled Wednesday that there may be enough votes in the Senate to delay debate on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon. — Blunt (R-Mo.) said he believed there were 40 votes in the Senate that indicated …

Discussion: Hot Air, Israel Matzav, Right Turn and Weekly Standard

New York Times:

Challenged for His Seat at 89, a Senator Does Not Go Gentle — WASHINGTON — As he approached his 89th birthday this year, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey was finally considering retirement, an option he had tried a decade earlier and hated so much that he jumped at the chance to return to political life.

Discussion: Althouse, Ballot Box, First Read and Roll Call

Lauren / CBS Los Angeles:

Officials: Christopher Dorner May Be Dead Following Deadly Standoff — SEVEN OAKS (CBSLA.com) — LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith says that despite earlier reports, Christopher Dorner's body has not been recovered from a burned out cabin where he was reportedly holed up during a deadly shootout with authorities earlier today.

Discussion: LAist, Infowars, KTLA 5, Gawker, Twitchy, Associated Press, Scared Monkeys, CNN, This Just In, L.A. NOW, The Moderate Voice, CBS News, Taylor Marsh and Michelle Malkin

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

The Rap on Rubio — Not long ago, scrolling for a movie, I saw that “Notorious” was on. — How can you resist Cary Grant as an American spy in Rio recruiting Ingrid Bergman to seduce and betray a Nazi played by Claude Rains? — But it turned out to be a very different “Notorious,” …

Discussion: msnbc.com

Emily Schultheis / Politico:

Planned Parenthood targets Ken Cuccinelli — Planned Parenthood's political arm is going on the offensive against Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli. — The Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Virginia PAC are teaming up today to launch a campaign against Cuccinelli …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and LifeNews.com

Investor's Business Daily:

Obama Peddles a Dangerous Fantasy About the Debt Crisis — Fiscal Policy: President Obama now says the deficit problem is all but fixed, so we can stop all this unpleasant talk about spending cuts and get on with government spending. Maybe this is good politics, but it's reckless policy.

Discussion: Hit & Run

Sally Goldenberg / New York Post:

Gropez even ‘ogled’ a child: Accusation he made creepy comments on 14-year-old intern — There's a creepy new accusation in the sexual-harassment probe of Assemblyman Vito Lopez — that he even leered at a 14-year-old intern and made comments about her sexy attire, sources told the The Post.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Politicker and Jammie Wearing Fools

Politico:

State of the Union 2013: Bill Shuster apologizes for saying Obama lied — House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster apologized Wednesday for calling President Barack Obama a liar after the State of the Union speech. — Shuster (R-Pa.), speaking to POLITICO from Statuary Hall minutes after the speech …

Discussion: Post Politics