The State of the Union
8:00pm - It’s prime time on Monday night! Eric W. Freeman, Jr., live-blogging the State of the Union tonight in high definition, as President George W. Bush gives his seventh and last speech to the joint Congress. On a stomach full of beefy macaroni and what looks, smells and tastes like purple drink, LET’S GET READY TO CONDESCEND!!!!
8:03pm - On seeing Sen. Ted Kennedy in HD for the first time, I immediately regret the decision to watch in high definition.
Madame Speaker8:05pm - THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! George W. Bush enters the congressional chamber as I cue John Williams’ “The Imperial March” in my head.
8:07pm - Sen. Barack Obama is chillin’ with Ted in the back as Vice Pres. Dick Cheney stops clapping to take a sip of water, and resume clapping. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to clap, as this will be the only time Pelosi claps and Cheney doesn’t.
The economy giggles
8:13pm - We have our first standing ovation. President Bush talks about his stimulus package, asking Congress to pass it without delay or derail. His solution is to make this tax relief, believing in the power of ordinary citizens to spend it well. He cracks a joke about the IRS accepting checks and money orders, to which Republicans glee and chant “AY!!” as they cheer and applaud.
On to Health Care
8:19pm - President Bush urges Congress to help empower patients and doctors to make medical decisions in private, not in the halls of Congress. He continues to think that poor people have doctors. There’s a reason why over 50 million people have no health insurance.
8:22pm - Sen. Hillary Clinton looks reserved as she moderately claps when Bush says “we should make sure every American has health care.” Obama looks stoic with two fingers on his lips, remaining mum.
8:23pm - Whoever is sitting next to Sen. John Kerry looks bored as anything, fidgeting through her program as Cheney smirks boyishly (i.e. frighteningly) behind Bush.
Nucular
8:26pm - Bush wants to invest in new, “nucular” fuels to power the cars and trucks of the future, without realizing it’s the cars of the present that do the damage.
8:27pm - I just notice Clinton sitting next to Sen. Joe Biden. If she gets the nomination, and subsequently wins, Obama will have no part in Clinton’s cabinet.
8:28pm - “We must trust in the innovative science of medical researchers…We must expand without killing more human life.” Bush never listened to science, as his first ever veto in office was against stem cell research. Regardless of successful tests with these cells that don’t destroy human lives, Bush introduces legislation banning the buying, selling, packaging and cloning of stem cells.
8:31pm - “With increased funding from the government, faith-based groups help pave the way for a better America.” So much for separation of church and state.
8:32pm - He announces the summit, featuring Mexico, Canada and the U.S., will be hosted this year in New Orleans. That’s one more mention of my city than last year. Things must surely be different.
Immigration
8:34pm - “Illegal immigration is a complex issue, and it must be resolved by upholding both out laws and our highest ideals.” Both parties stand up and applaud.
8:35pm - “Those are the domestic issues.” Wait, you forgot the Gulf Coast again!!!
8:36pm - “Security at home begins by protecting our interests abroad.” Yep, he forgot about us again. Hold your breath.
The Middle East
8:37pm - “We’ve seen uplifting moments of freedom…and we’ve seen some sobering ones.” He has literally said this four years in a row.
8:38pm - Cheney looks bored and angry at once. Only he can pull it off. Pelosi has her head down and can’t look up as Bush goes into detail about how we made it from 9/11 to invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, while staying on the offense against al-Qaeda. “The American and Iraqi surges have produced results few could have imagined a year ago.” A year later, our troops are still there.
Strong oratory
8:44pm - Overall violence is down in Iraq, as Bush mentions Osama Bin Laden’s videotaped tongue-lashing of his tribal leaders, and he ends with thunderous words of the enemy being defeated that stand every seat in the chamber.
8:47pm - Someone from the top screams, “YOU ROCK!” as Bush and Cheney grin up, while Pelosi continues to look down, wishing it all wasn’t true.
A wider shot shows...
8:49pm - Sen. Mary Landrieu sitting directly, somewhat concealed, behind the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If this wasn’t HD, I wouldn’t be able to tell she was there, slumping behind four massive military men.
The Holy Land
8:50pm - Bush mentions problems with our struggle in the Holy Land. As odd as it sounds to have “a struggle in the Holy Land,” how pretentious does it sound that a Bible-thumping President thinks he can settle a democratic Jerusalem and a democratic Palestine side by side?
8:52pm - He has now said “Holy Land” tonight four more times than “New Orleans” in the last two States of the Union combined.
Sarcasm
8:56pm - “Make no mistake: America is opposed to genocide in Sudan.” That’s a tough decision to make.
8:57pm - First Lady Laura Bush tries to motivate people to clap from the rafters by clapping way too over-dramatically. It looks like she’s trying to conduct the people, but to no avail.
8:59pm - Shout out to Bob Dole!
It's official
9:01pm - “The State of our Union will remain strong.” Good thing he got that cleared up. No honorees, with the exception of Bob Dole for a brief moment. He didn’t do individual honorees at the top rafter. It didn’t seem very long, and he’s now shaking hands with people as Brian Williams gravely announces the death of five U.S. troops in Mosul. As Bush signs programs, I can’t help but admire President Bush’s bitterness during the speech. He knew he wasn’t going to get anything done, but for all the talk he does of empowering the people to make their own decisions, he assumes every American has the means to do so, as any Republican typically would. That’s what conservative means. Currently for New Orleans, as evidenced by the solo mention of “the great city of New Orleans” without the context of unfinished repair after Katrina, the worst thing on the planet is a conservative president. I didn’t expect anything else other than Bush’s unoriginal farewell stump speech.
9:07pm - We now go to Mitt Romney’s comments, which means it’s time to change the channel. I hate HD.
See the original blog entries at The Daily Reveille...
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