9:05 – Blah blah blah. Lots of greeting. On HDTV you get to see exactly how old some of our elected leaders really are.
9:07 – Obama and Kennedy are sitting with each other. I guess they are best buddies now. Just don’t let Ted drive home.
9:11 – Off the bat with a message of unity. Democrats and Republicans working together. I prefer when they bicker personally.
9:12 – Now it’s the economy, stupid. Bush is touting the agreement reached on the stimulus plan which will accomplish exactly nothing in terms of helping the economy.
9:14 – Lower taxes, I like lower taxes.
9:16 – Bush talks a tough talk on spending and earmarks. If he had done that two years ago maybe Republicans would still have their majority.
9:19 – Bush wants to make private health coverage deductible. I think this is a good idea to put private coverage on par with employer group coverage. The Democrats don’t seem to stand up and applause for choice and freedom from government control of health care. Kind of tells you how they think doesn’t it?
9:20 – Blah blah blah…. Education. What ever happened to abolishing the Department of Education, back when Republicans were cool? Last I checked my copy of the constitution, it doesn’t grant power to Congress to regulate education.
9:23 – We do need to pass free trade agreements. That should get more applause than it did. I worry free trade is going out of style.
9:25 – Apparently Bush’s copy of the constitution has something about the federal government being responsible for people’s jobs in it. I must have a copy that’s missing some things.
9:26 – Energy policy is probably the biggest snake oil selling going on these days. Clean coal and nuclear are at least real energy sources. Notably absent is ethanol and hydrogen. Good.
9:28 – I should note that I was never a fan of the Republican stem cell research provision, but I think it’s odd that the Democrats didn’t stand and applause for advancement of research that makes adult stem cells possible to use. Seems to me that’s a good thing no matter what you think about the issue.
9:30 – Confirm judges. I agree.
9:32 – Now it’s time for entitlements and immigration. I agree with Bush on entitlements. Bush touts his guest worker program again, which I support, provided we don’t offer amnesty for people who are already here unlawfully. Bush implied he was still on board with amnesty. This is a political mistake.
9:35 – Now it’s time for talking about terrorist killing. It doesn’t seem to get the applause it used to, sadly.
9:39 – Onto Iraq. The Surge. Our soldiers are doing great work. Yay! The surge is working. Democrats silent. Republicans applause.
9:45 – When it comes to supporting soldiers, Democrats seem to applause vigorously. When it comes to specifics on supporting their mission, silence.
9:47 – Everyone likes troops coming home. Democrats don’t like having basing withdraw on the recommendations of commanders and progress on the mission.
9:51 – Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace. I’ll believe it when I see it.
9:53 – Bush send a warning to Iran. I’d prefer to send missiles, but this is why I’m not president.
9:55 – The Democrats don’t like warrantless surveillance. I don’t either.
9:57 – America apparently is number one in fighting famine, which is why we are busy driving food prices through the roof by turning food into motor fuel. The best anti-hunger initiative the US could undertake would be to end agricultural subsidies and stop using corn ethanol for fuel. But you won’t hear anyone suggest that.
10:01 – Lots of flowery language about “We the People”, and The Union being strong. Bush is actually pretty good on his delivery tonight.
All in all, a pretty boring and uneventful state of the union. Looks like I picked the wrong week to not drunk blog this, it would have made it a lot less dry.
UPDATE: E-gads! Sibelius is awful. If she’s a “rising star,” as the Fox pundits said, maybe I should be more optimistic about the future of the Republican Party. She sounds and looks like she’s been lobotomized.
