I forced myself to watch the State of the Union address. It would've been a waste of time, but deciding to do a pseudo-play-by-play of the speech made it mildly watchable.
6:13PM: Bush mentions Coretta Scott King. Camera pans to all 3 black people in attendance. You're kidding me right?
6:14PM: The union is strong... minus New Orleans, poverty, the oil crisis, the war in Iraq, mediocre economy, big deficit....
6:16: Bush is vague on reasons for entering Iraq... probably because he realizes the reasons are now very much rejected.
6:17PM: He mentions Egypt's political freedom. I guess he forgets all the restrictions Mubarak had on the elections─ it's really no big deal.
6:18PM: Good tactic: when Bush says "fear" he looks directly into the camera. I got chills. Probably because I'm scared of Bush more than anything else.
6:21PM: My roommate points out that when he talks about an evil empire, he sounds like he's talking about Star Wars.
6:23PM: One whole side stands up and applauds. The other doesn't. I wonder where the Democrats are sitting?
6:24PM: Kerry seems bored. Something very interesting seems to be in his lap (please don't think about that sexually... that's just gross....)
6:27PM: Boredom has officially set in. I drift in and out of the speech, and yet somehow I'm never lost. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
6:28PM: "Hamas must disarm, recognize Israel, renounce terrorism..." Simple. That should be done by what? Thursday? Friday?
6:33PM: Bush's speech writers are pretty intelligent: "Let's just have him dish out vague ideals that no one can really oppose, like supporting freedom, or the troops or flowers. People like flowers right?"
6:34PM: The Dems look bored. I agree with them.
6:35PM: Bush starts talking about the spying initiative. It went something to the effect of "lies... blah blah... terrorism... lies... bull-ish... lies.... crap... lies. Lies!"
6:39PM: It's weird... but even the way Dick Cheney applauds creeps me out.
6:40PM: Wait! He just paused! No applause!!! ZING!
6:41PM: Where's the ticker at the bottom to explain that when he mentions tax cuts and average Americans, he's talking about the average millionaire? Oh damnit. Hold on a sec─ my butler needs me.
6:43PM: Hilary Clinton's face after Bush's Clinton joke─ she seems constipated. Priceless.
6:44PM: Holy crap! The Dems do have a backbone! They just applauded the demise of Bush's social security plan. Boy was Dubya pissed. Quite possibly the greatest moment of my day.
6:46PM: Notice the different ways people clap. Many Dems have the half-assed "I'm clapping only because I have to clap;" Chertkoff has the flailing clap. Muslim woman takes advantage of the popular golf clap. And Kerry... still looking at something in his lap... I'm starting to wonder.
6:48PM: Bush talks about new technology that will help relieve our dependency on oil: coal! Nuclear power! Wind and solar power! What's next? Water power?!
6:51PM: Bush's smirk is so creepy. Like stalkerish creepy. What is so "likable" about this guy?
6:52PM: A brooch seems to be slowly consuming a woman in the audience... more details as they come.
6:54PM: Have I been tuning Bush out for too long? Has he even mentioned Katrina yet? New Orleans must be back to normal again.
6:56PM: I hope he applauds Brokeback Mountain for getting eight Oscar nominations. It didn't seem very clear at his address at KSU... did he see the movie?
6:56PM: He just said "Cheech justice" ─ priceless.
6:59PM: Bush just mentioned woman Bush. She stood up and seemed to mouth "That's me!"
7:00PM: He finally mentions New Orleans, nearly 50 minutes into the speech. I can tell it's a very important issue to him.
7:02PM: He talks about using faith-based orgs to ending HIV?AIDS... what about all the other noble orgs that try to do the same thing? Oh, I forgot... it's because the pass out condoms. Those give people AIDS too right?
7:03PM: Awww how cute: Barack Obama looks like he's actually paying attention and taking notes... what a rookie mistake.
7:04PM: He ends his speech. Turns to cheney. "How'd I do?" "You did a heckuva job mr. president." He certainly did...
And a few thoughts on the Democratic response:
- What was with Kaine's freaky eye brow? It seemed a tad sinister─ not a good first impression.
- I'm watching it on Fox News (don't ask why). There seems to be a delay between the audio and video. Is this some Fox News conspiracy to ruin the Democrats' response? Hmmmmm.
- Overall, what he said was pretty good. To the point. But the speech was choppy, and his pauses seemed forced. It'll do for now... I guess.