State of the Union Open Thread

January 28, 2008

I’m afraid I’ll be away from my desk during tonight’s address, but we’ll offer full team coverage* on the president’s State of the Union address in the morning. Instead, I thought we’d mark the big occasion with a SOTU open thread. Well, maybe “big occasion” is a little strong under the circumstances.

My friends at ThinkProgress have obtained an advance copy of the entire text, which, if recent history is any indication, the president will adhere to closely.

For those of you who watch tonight, what’d you think? Any memorable moments? Anything interesting? A general sense of relief that this is the last SOTU Bush will deliver?

The floor is yours.

* By “team coverage,” I mean that I’ll write some posts on the subject.

This will be the first SOTU of his presidency that I will not watch. I will be watching a re-run of The Office. I could give a rat’s ass about what he has to say. Why would I spend one more second of my life to hear lie after lie after lie? I refuse to watch him shift blame to the Democratically led congress for out of control spending. Where was he for the six years when the GOP was wildly spending money while denying democrats their earmarks? To hear him blame Democrats for a possible terror attack because he can’t get his way on telecom immunity. No, I will not waste another second of my life listening to this piece of human waste try and tell me that all of his failings are my fault. Will you join me in a re-run of The Office?

  • I won’t watch the man, but I do have a live feed via NPR. It’s okay—the kids are in bed, so I don’t have to worry about them hearing “the voice of the evil one….”

  • While Bush and his republican cohorts in crime are lying about physical responsibility, recent CBO estimates has Bush and the GOP led congress increasing spending at an annual rate of 7.6% per year where as Bill Clinton increased spending at an annual rate of 3.6% per year. Earmarks are down by 28% with the Democrats in charge.

  • There’s no way this man is not medicated.

    Dick Cheney looks like he crawled out of the crypt in full makeup.

    I am so not gonna miss these people.

  • What sound does a lame duck make?

    QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!

    G.O.P. apparently, stands for Glaringly OLD Politics!

    Nothing new! His legacy will go down in history as the worst period in our history!

  • I counted 19 uses of the stem “trust” in the advanced copy.
    Y’all get the feeling he might be trying to blowback against something?

  • More of the same. BLAH BLAH BLAH CLAP BLAH BLAH BLAH CLAP.

    BLAH BLAH BLAH = BULLSHIT. Al Qaeda, Iraq, Enemy, again, more of the same.

    This guy makes me sick. I can barely stomach hearing his lies coming out of that dumb shit voice. And that people applaud him makes me that much sicker.

    Fuck him and the horse he rode in on. Thankfully he will be riding out soon. Hopefully en route to The Hague!

  • I have the picture on/sound off, and I turn on the sound, periodically. Why is he continuing to poke and prod at Iran?

    Also, everytime I look up, the audience is applauding him. Why?

  • I just gave it 10 seconds to discover he was still speaking – don’t know what he said, just heard that asswipe faux-goatroper accent and turned it off. I will listen to Sibelius take him apart though.

  • The only line that forced me out of my chair yelling was when he demanded an “up-or-down-vote” on his judicial nominees. That’s nerve, calling for that when you’re the minority.

  • Using Word’s AutoSummary feature, the speech reduces to this:

    “Our military families also sacrifice for America.”

  • The SOTU empowered me to go take a crap. That is a much more worthwhile endeavor than listening to Bush spew lies and bullshit.

  • The applause after the speech was the shortest I’ve ever heard. It’s as though “He’s done his, and we’ve done ours, now back lucrative take homes for all of us.” The guy didn’t even have a grace or style to leave; he hung around with people just behind him turning their back on him.

    What pigs they all are. It was pathetic, at the very end of C-SPAN’s coverage to see Speaker Pelosi standing up there, all alone. Not a person within twenty feet of her. She declared the joint session over and literally ran from the what-ever-her-desk is called.

    The state of the union is not very good.

  • Her substance is fine, but her delivery doesn’t exactly get one moving. Stiff and snoozy. Not sure this will propel her into the ranks of “national caliber”

  • By way of comparison, here are the AutoSummary reduction of previous SOTU addresses:

    2006: “America rejects the false comfort of isolationism. Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy.”

    2005: “Former Senator John Breaux suggested discouraging early collection of Social Security benefits.”

    2004: “Unless you act, small businesses will pay higher taxes.”

    2003: “Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.”

    2002: “First, we will shut down terrorist camps, disrupt terrorist plans, and bring terrorists to justice.”

    2001: “Right now, complicated tax rules punish hard work. Tax relief is right and tax relief is urgent.”

  • It’s always been my opinion that the person elected the POTUS arrives in the Oval office with a checkbook on his desk. That checkbook contains a balance of CREDIBILITY. George Bush is long overdrawn. He has cashed so many checks that have “bounced” that the American Public can’t wait to “close his account’. I’m thinking of how to start a fund that would raise enough money to buy enough Lysol to fumigate the White House when his Admin leaves. I hope the American Public has learned their lesson about “happy faces” that “they’d like to have a beer with”!

  • I hope the American Public has learned their lesson about “happy faces” that “they’d like to have a beer with”!

    fillphil, NO KIDDING! I’d prefer my president to be smarter than me and I don’t give a shit whether I LIKE him (or her) in the least. Someone who actually gives a crap about the people in this country and has the ability to understand something more complex than My Pet Goat would be greatly appreciated.

  • zeitgeist – on Sebelius: maybe it was the delivery, maybe it was the speech itself, but it was way too “kumbayah” for me, and made me think it was an audition tape for Obama’s VP search team. I was not impressed.

    But you probably already knew that.

    The SOTU was strange. Bush was laughing and grinning when the cameras cut away to record the applause – and he struggled to get his serious face back. He had a bad case of cotton-mouth, which I don’t think was nerves.

    Loved the part where Bush demanded a 50% reduction in pork and the GOP – the biggest proponents of same – leaped out of their seats to applaud. They are completely irony-proof.

  • MSNBC coverage post speech very long interview with Obama, followed by reverent discussion with Timmeh how awesome the Kennedy show was this afternoon. Obvious who GE is in the tank for, Obama has moved over to speaking on CNN

  • When The Bush Administration officially occupied the White House, the Republican rumor was that when the Clinton Administration left, they deliberately trashed the white house and destroyed certain records… Of course none of that was true….

    I wonder what Bush is planning on doing to the White House when it’s time for him to leave, knowing all the stuff they already have destroyed illegally. Scary to think about it, because I wouldn’t put it past them to actually trash the white house. Could have one more of those ‘small fires’ that accidentally destroyed some documents; just like last year.

    Maybe the VP residence will mysteriously burn down to the ground, and for some reason the sprinkler system wasn’t working properly and, the ADP security system was out of order. Of course that would be the ONLY day that Cheney ‘forgot’ to close all his man-sized safes. EVERYTHING is lost.

  • Can someone please tell me why Jim Webb said that Bhutto was assassinated by Al Qaeda? Last I checked, that wasn’t confirmed – not by a long shot. Why is he selling GOP framing??

  • Bush always ends with an exhortation that America work together toward some ideal, usually wrapped in the word “freedom,” then asks God to bless America. Reading these now chronologically one wonders what America he spent the rest of the year running and what his concept of freedom his. Note also how God-centric 2003 and 2004 are.

    2001: “We can make Americans proud of their government. Together we can share in the credit of making our country more prosperous and generous and just, and earn from our conscience and from our fellow citizens the highest possible praise: Well done, good and faithful servants.

    “Thank you all. Good night and God bless. ”

    2002: “Steadfast in our purpose, we now press on. We have known freedom’s price. We have shown freedom’s power. And in this great conflict, my fellow Americans, we will see freedom’s victory.

    “Thank you all. May God bless.”

    2003: “Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world, it is God’s gift to humanity.

    “We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We do not know — we do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history.

    “May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.”

    2004: “My fellow citizens, we now move forward, with confidence and faith. Our nation is strong and steadfast. The cause we serve is right, because it is the cause of all mankind. The momentum of freedom in our world is unmistakable — and it is not carried forward by our power alone. We can trust in that greater power who guides the unfolding of the years. And in all that is to come, we can know that His purposes are just and true.

    “May God continue to bless America.”

    2005: “As Franklin Roosevelt once reminded Americans, “Each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is coming to birth.” And we live in the country where the biggest dreams are born. The abolition of slavery was only a dream — until it was fulfilled. The liberation of Europe from fascism was only a dream — until it was achieved. The fall of imperial communism was only a dream — until, one day, it was accomplished. Our generation has dreams of its own, and we also go forward with confidence. The road of Providence is uneven and unpredictable — yet we know where it leads: It leads to freedom.

    “Thank you, and may God bless America.”

    2006: “Before history is written down in books, it is written in courage. Like Americans before us, we will show that courage and we will finish well. We will lead freedom’s advance. We will compete and excel in the global economy. We will renew the defining moral commitments of this land. And so we move forward — optimistic about our country, faithful to its cause, and confident of the victories to come.

    “May God bless America. ”

    2007: “In such courage and compassion, ladies and gentlemen, we see the spirit and character of America — and these qualities are not in short supply. This is a decent and honorable country — and resilient, too. We’ve been through a lot together. We’ve met challenges and faced dangers, and we know that more lie ahead. Yet we can go forward with confidence — because the State of our Union is strong, our cause in the world is right, and tonight that cause goes on. God bless. (Applause.)

    “See you next year. Thank you for your prayers.”

    2008: “By trusting the people, our Founders wagered that a great and noble Nation could be built on the liberty that resides in the hearts of all men and women. By trusting the people, succeeding generations transformed our fragile young democracy into the most powerful Nation on earth and a beacon of hope for millions.

    “And so long as we continue to trust the people, our Nation will prosper, our liberty will be secure, and the State of our Union will remain strong. So tonight, with confidence in freedom’s power, and trust in the people, let us set forth to do their business. God bless America.”

    If he can trust the people, why all the secret wiretaps?

  • My live-blogging of this year’s SOTE (State of the Empire) Address had to be one of the most harrowing experiences I’ve ever had a blogger.

    To see those bloated fucks standing up time and time and time again (even on immigration!) in what ought to be the weakest year in his lame duck illegitimate “presidency”… I’d run out of patience the minute the speech ended. I honestly couldn’t have gone on, literally, for another minute.

    Don’t these assholes know catastrophic failure when they see it? Do they have to see the whites of the eyes of the penguins on the iceberg before they’ll finally wake up and jerk the wheel hard to port?

  • I was underwhelmed by Gov. Sebelius’ response, and it wasn’t just the delivery. However, I did like that she was talking more about what to the Republicans in Congress can should do and less about the President.

  • An interesting point on the State of the Union: I remember when the networks used to carry it (and well remember how they just had to cut away from Clinton’s speech to cover the OJ verdict). This time they didn’t even pretend – they just ignored it and left the coverage to Public Television and cable news. I mean, how could we not watch such stirring fare as “American Gladiators” and “Gossip Girl” and “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”???

    BTW Anne and Zeitgeist: you two have gone from Top Five Commenters I Read Here First on any thread, to being off with JKap and JRS Jr., both of whom are more your speed.

  • I have not vomited since 1993 yet I would puke in a bucket for a week and drink/eat it all rather than hear that voice again.

  • I keep seeing things like SOTU in 100 words. AutoSummaries, etc. Here’s my summation of the SOTU in one word: YAWN!

  • I still can’t get over the principals’ exits. Cheney disappeared immediately, as though he had a baby cooking somewhere that he just couldn’t wait to chew on. Pelosi was abandoned by everyone, literally no one within twenty feet of her while she just stood there on the platform, then raced away like she’d been holding back her need to pee or something. The applause long since died down (rather quickly) Bush hung around forever, looking for wall the world the like the ugly girl at the debutante ball. People within a few feet of him had turned their backs to him. Very eerie.

  • irrelevant noise from a doomed and disgraced illiterate. the only real reason to pay attention is to keep a vigilant watch on the anti-Iran rhetoric.

    is there anyone out there who doesn’t doubt that Adolph Jr. will attack Iran in the miserable months he has left ? there is one thing only reverberating in his pea-brain: and that is a will to do anything to fix a legacy that right now trails only Pol Pot and Stalin.

    and every public utterance he makes on the subject has to be parsed closely.

    he has clearly demonstrated that he’s unfit for office. he’s a pathological liar, a stupid criminal, a treasonous douche bag
    and more of a threat to the safety of the country and the world than any of the enemies he dreams up, routinely overlooks and mis-identifies.

    there needs to be a plan, and a will to keep this idiot in a box until he slinks away one year from now; he’s inflicted incalculable damage to world peace, stability and the us treasury — it will take decades to recover from his crimes and stupidity. but he has to be stopped here and NOW:

    he’s stood up and lied through both sides of his mouth, and denied and debased logic, science, morals, politics, economics and civilization for seven years ….

    his continual lies and delusions —- made clear yet again tonight —- show that he has to be restrained for the rest of his time in office.

    any military orders, any signing orders, any fiats, mandates, decisions or impulses have to be ignored and stamped out.

    when nixon was teetering around in his final days — his cabinet and the joint chiefs had quietly decided that any lunatic orders from nixon’s personal sinking ship would be ignored:

    if there is anyone in the Adolph Bush orbit who has the balls to do the same ?

    anyone amongst the Dems who can stand up when it’s time to be counted ? .. doubt it …

  • I think the issue that future historians will debate most about the Bush Jr. presidency is whether he actually believed all the crap that he says. So much of it is clearly speechwritten with not even a passing interest in accuracy or honesty, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is aware of the charade.

    Does he realize the extent of the distortions and lies, or does he have deep conviction that he is speaking the truth? Or is it some kind of “saying it makes it true” belief in an almost magical presidential power?

    I’m really looking forward to some kind of definitive answer once historians have more perspective and can go through archival documents. Assuming there *are* any archival documents.

  • Anne / Zeitgeist: Let me offer my heart-felt condolences; I am still mulling over whether I should continue to read your posts or not.

    Ed: I had the same thought that the fools cheering and applauding were pigs and that Bush himself was the biggest swine of all. But, that is so unfair to pigs.

    This speech was mind-numbingly dull. Not to be flip but it was oratorical water torture – drip – drip – drip (delivered by a drip). Make me listen to it more than once and I’ll confess to anything you want.

    The mantra of “trust and empower” uttered over and over again at the outset really irritated me.

    “Pell Grants For Kids” = vouchers by another name. Hopefully this will slide into the garbage shoot of “the exquisitely forgettable” along with everything else.

    The follow up commentary was almost giddy in its dismissal of the President. Lots of cracking wise among the MSNBC crew and guests. They stopped short of saying they were only covering the speech because it is “tradition.” I could almost hear the beginning of the long sigh of relief that the nation will exhale when Dubya at long freaking last heads back to Crawford. This was the last SOTU that this man will ever deliver. Even though I doubt it is the last SOTU over which his incompetence will leave a lingering stench, this is a reason to smile .

  • Since I regularly write “LIAR” over any photo of bush that is in my newspaper (and would rather not write across his face on my television set), and since his smirk and the sound of his voice makes me physically ill, it was easy to not watch or listen to this idiot’s last SOTU. Between the liar, the criminal sitting behind him (dickie), and all of their henchman over the past 7 years, they have ruined this country for quite some time. Less than one year, let’s hope we can get back on track with a Democratic president.

  • In my post tonight, I offer a “grade” of the president’s speech from the perspective of a college writing professor. To that end, I look at the document in terms of its ability to address the concerns of its audience, in this case, the American public. One of the truly shocking things about this president is how, after seven years, he still doesn’t seem to get what really matters to most Americans.

    You can read about my grade here:
    http://weeklyrader.blogspot.com/2008/01/grading-state-of-union.html

  • Global response seems to be stupified antipathy, even increduality that he’s still there and that Cheney is STILL not wearing an orange jumpsuit.
    I think most observers put it down to something in American’s water supply that aids Inconstitutionitis ( advanced memory-loss as to why the Bill of Rights and The Constitution were written..) and their seeming inability to comprehend that the reason the World is currently facing an unprecedented crisis is NOT just pure hazard.

    It’s not possible that so many people could remain so ignorant of the damage done by the Busheviks and their neoconservative guides, or remain so inneffectual and apathetic in the face of such blatent gerrymandering, incompetence and corruption.

    Watching the speech and being exposed to such raw Fearrorism and cringing banality reminded me of something about a monkey, a typewriter and Shakespeare.
    Not sure where the happy-clappers come in, though ?

    Good thing the Democrats stand up to be counted………….er….

  • #40 Brooks I think the issue that future historians will debate most about the Bush Jr. presidency is whether he actually believed all the crap that he says.

    I suspect Bush doesn’t care enough to assess the veracity of what he says. His speeches are charades performed before a mostly blind audience.

  • The most interesting part of the evening was the Clinton snub by Obama. So good… the acted like two Jr, High Kids who were running for class president.

  • I fell asleep in the middle of it. All I remember was, if you ____ _____ _____, then I will veto it (over and over again).

    Actually, it had to do with earmarks. George W. Bush was right to complain about excess spending, deficits and earmarks. But he demonstrated that he has two standards…one for a Republican Congress (can do whatever they want) and another for a Democratic Congress. If he had made similar demands of the Republicans, we might not be in the fiscal mess that we’re in today. Now, once again, its up to Democrats to pick up the pieces.

    This speech showed us again that Bush doesn’t behave like the President of the United States. He continues to behave like the President of the Republican Party. He trashed the place, but somehow, those on the right still love him. Strange crowd.

  • Anne & openroadster – Completely agree, Sebelius literally put me to sleep.

    “Democratic Response to the SOTU” should have meant “Democratic Response to the SOTU”, not “Generic meandering about things unrelated to the lies put forth in the SOTU”. I would put this in the category of Gov. Keane’s gayish performance 2 or 3 years ago.

  • I agree Sebelius was tepid mush. No energy, not a speck of outrage, which is what we need. Bush lied about a host of things and a lot more of those lies should have been debunked. Good on her to point out the earmark hypocrisy. But Bush has done everything he could to ruin this country, and all we’ve had from the Democratic “leadership” is this weak bullshit.

    And Tom Cleaver, comparing Anne and zeitgeist to the trollish JRS Jr just got you back onto the list of people I don’t waste time parsing. You’re the kind of guy who earns the progressives the “shrill” label. If we’re not literally burning down the whitehouse, you’re unhappy. In case you hadn’t noticed, lunatics get attention, but not the kind you might want.

  • I suggest to the Democratic controlled congress that they reduce the number and amount of earmarks by 50%. they should do this by eliminating *all* of the earmarks by GOP members. Then pass the budget with only Dem votes. AND put on a really big press conference (with free food and drinks afterwards to ensure press attendance) with the repeated message “Mr. President we gave you exactly what you asked for. We look forward to your signing the bill.” Rinse repeat.

  • So, was this really the last SOTU for Bush? Come on, we all know that sometime between now and when he is supposed to leave office that there will be some sort of terrorist attack which will lead Bush to declare martial law and stop the election…and then Bush will become dictator for life. 😉

  • It was a most disappointing political performance. Watching the pre-programmed robo-representatives play jack-in-the-box, popping up to applaud, or sinking back into their seats, provided a vivid snapshot of the state of our government. We need a President and a national agenda we can all be proud of.

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