Stream of Consciousness Reaction to the SOTU
Not exactly live blogging, but more overall impressions as they are being formed. Be aware that many of these thoughts will be incomplete or only partially articulated.
Leading up to this, I have to say that I am not looking forward to what I'm going to hear, based on what I have heard reported ahead of time.
7:12 About three minutes of applause, and then he puts an end to it by turning to Nancy Pelosi and saying "are you ready?" Either he's anxious to get started, or he's just eager to get the Pelosi tribute out of the way.
At first look, he appears fresh, his interactions are effusive and, I think, genuine. He doesn't have any of the grim, almost fatigued, seriousness of a couple weeks ago. But aybe that's just by comparison to Dick Cheney sitting behind him--does anybody on the face of the earth project grim seriousness the way the Vice President does?
Hillary makes me laugh. They just panned on to her during the talk of a balanced budget, and the expression on her face was like someone whose Prozac just kicked in. Somebody must have old her how bad she looked a couple years ago.
And McCain is jumping up a little too quick, with a little too broad a smile, and too--I don't know--obvious an attempt at winking to somebody. I think he's trying to project an impression of youth, even as he's pushing 70.
And Kennedy is in a drunken stupor--"Oh, my aching head!"
7:22--I wonder why he's spending the first part of the speech entirey on the domestic agenda. That big elephant in the room isn't going away, and pushing it off to the second part of the speech just makes it look like he's trying to change the subject, when what he should be doing is a full frontal assault on the Surrender Caucus.
Is it just me, or is nobody in the chamber actually listening to the speeh. Tey're all looking at their copies of it as if there are notes in the margin telling them when to clap, when to stand, when to sit, how long to clap, etc . . .
If he wanted to make the case about . . .hey, there's Tancredo! . . .anyway, if he wanted to make the case about how tough the borders are, why doesn't he share the stories about Mexican Army aiding illegals, and the recent attacks on border patrol agents.
Anybody else notice how stone-faced the Joint Chiefs were at the mention of reducing our use of gasoline?
Cheney's got a wierd smirk on his face--is somebody doing a good puppet show in the upper gallery? And didn't anybody tell him not to take a drink at the same time as the President? That just looks wierd--very Giapetto-esque.
Why are the Dems standing at "take the fight to the enemy?" They aren't in favor of that! They, in fact, don't think we should try to fight them at all.
It is about time we got a litany of successes in the war on terror. It would be even better if he would have said "our allies' ability to monitor the phone conversations of the enemy . . ."
He is smart to talk about the nature of the enemy, but it's entirely too antiseptic--he needs to remind us of the the beheaded Daniel Pearl, and of the blown up pregnant women who strap bombs around their wombs. But he is laying strong foundation for a policy of war on Islamic facism.
How much of the country do you suppose actually watchs this speech? It's really not a bad speech--he's better tonight than most nights. But that isn't going to do him any good if the only excerpts that show up on the Today Show are from Hillary's rebuttal, and the wishy-washy domestic stuff at the front of the speech.
Oops . . .McCain's asleep. Think that shot might show up a few times in the primaries?
He is working hard to point to Iran and Syria as the problem.
Why do the Dems not even bother to stand at the idea of victory? Do they wish for us to lose? Do they hope for American failure? THAT very mentality has become the enemy--that mentality gives aid and comfort to the real enemy, which makes it the enemy.
Tomorrow morning is going to be McCain's time: if he has any interest in being President, he will go on every morning show and forcefully make the case that victory is not just possible, but an absolute necessity. He MUST become the face of the aggressive military strategy is he has any hope of getting back the base of the Republican Party.
Well, now--there's a gauntlet. "Support the troops". That call had better be followed up upon in every media for every day of the next six weeks. The White House can not go back to its default position of reaction--they must get on every news outlet for the next six weeks and define the story and get inside and live inside the Democrats' OODA Loop.
Hey!! There's Dikembe Motumbo! What a stud! I can't wait to see the picture of him standing next to Laura Bush--heh heh heh. HAAA HAAA HHAA--there's that picture!!! I love it. the best photo of the night! I knew I liked him.
Wesley Autry should be on every coffee mug in the country. Not just an incredible story of heroism, but the humility he shows, the genuine emotion he displays, and the way his words honor the heroes of our military. We need more of him.
C'mon--use this setting to wrap up with a call upon our higher angels! You can't draw attention to Wesley Autry and to our troops without challenging our political class to act in at least as honorable a fashion.
Or maybe not.
Too bad. He really had the chance, I think, to push hard at the Surrender Caucus.
Overall, not too bad. It was a fairly good speech, but will be completely meaningless if the rest of the GOP and the White House doesn't get WAY out in front of the cameras in the next days and weeks.
Not what I would've written, but . . . There may just be a reason I don't write speeches for a living. | |
