State of the Union

As it turns out, I didn't get to go to the Beer 101 class, so I didn't get to play the SOTU drinking game. As an alternative, I did not watch Idiot Boy prat on with his platitudes and meaningless mumbo jumbo, painting a picture that only exists in his mind. The best I can offer you on the subject is some quotes and links form things I've read this morning.

Okay, here we go...

Bunch of congresscritters held up fingers dipped in blue ink, a reference to the Iraq election. The Democrats should have held up fingers dipped in red ink, to symbolize where this guy is taking our economy.
  William Rivers Pitt

God but these people are disgusting.

And renamed the Congressional cafeteria french fries. Stupid, juvenile, arrogant, ignorant dipwads. One day I'll tell you what I really think of them.

Pitt also parses the SOTU:

As a new Congress gathers, all of us in the elected branches of government share a great privilege: we have been placed in office by the votes of the people we serve.

...except for the votes from a few pesky 'irregularities' in Ohio, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico...

I have to say, methinks thou dost protest too much. Why does he keep referring to the fact that "the people" voted to have themselves raped and pillaged? Why is he always reminding everybody that the people voted for the way things are going? Because, I suggest, he's keenly aware that they didn't. Repetition of a phrase seems to work on Americans. After a while, they're sure it's true.

Plus, then he gets to pretend that this idea of a democracy, where people vote, is also real elsewhere that the U.S. pushes its agenda....

And tonight that is a privilege we share with newly elected leaders of Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories, Ukraine, and a free and sovereign Iraq.

[...]

Tonight, with a healthy, growing economy, with more Americans going back to work, with our Nation an active force for good in the world – the state of our union is confident and strong.

Well, good god. Just because you say it, it doesn't make it so. And 2.4 million more Americans are unemployed than when the president took office four years ago.

Our generation has been blessed - by the expansion of opportunity, by advances in medicine, and by the security purchased by our parents' sacrifice. Now, as we see a little gray in the mirror - or a lot of gray - and we watch our children moving into adulthood, we ask the question: What will be the state of their union?

And, who the hell is he talking to? Isn't he talking to a group of people (Congress) made up of three generations? They're not all gray. I wonder if any of the young ones felt invisible during the speech.

The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

I'm sorry, what were you saying?

That is one of the main differences between us and our enemies. They seek to impose and expand an empire of oppression, in which a tiny group of brutal, self-appointed rulers control every aspect of every life.

This must be Karl Rove's most used tactic - accuse the other of the things you are doing. Pre-emptive accusation.

Get a god-damned mirror, America.

Full text of the speech
Fact Check
Broken promises from Bush's earlier SOTU addresses

While I truly admire the courage of the people of Iraq for going to the polls on Sunday, watching members of the house hold up their ink stained fingers is ironic since Tom DeLay won’t let them vote on anything.

Posted by John Podesta February 2nd, 2005 9:55 pm
  Think Progress real-time blog of the SOTU - from The Progress Report