YES! Finally! This is something that I argued for three years ago on DKos in the only diary that I've ever written that was rerun on the front page. As many quibbles as I've had with Pelosi and Reid, I've got to applaud them and whatever Democratic leadership that finally decided to do this yesterday. OUR State of the union was presented to the National Press Club yesterday, in case you missed it. If we had started three years ago, perhaps we would have had much more coverage than this snippy little AP article, and it would be accepted and anticipated of us... Mr. 29% might have been Mr. 19% by now.
What I really like is that the entrenched MSM really seems to be pissy that we would upset the decorum of the presidency by preempting the SOTU... a little more unbiased and honest title to the AP article might have read simply "Democrats Present Their State of the Union". While reporting some of the highlights, the AP reporter seems more intent in trying to put Democrats back in their place and highlight the "politics" behind the Democratic State of the Union, as if there will be no politics involved in the upcoming Bu$hCo version:
For all of their tough talk, the speeches reflected the trouble Democrats have had since retaking control of Congress a year ago of getting their House and Senate caucuses to speak with one voice on Iraq, and their failure to make good on the promise to force Bush to begin withdrawing troops.
Frankly, I like what our leaders had to say, even though the mainstream media refuse to give much, if any coverage. I'd be willing to bet most Americans would, too, if they were allowed to hear it. If anyone is interested, here's a link to the whole un-editorialized transcript... there's some good stuff there.
Sadly, this is about three to four years too late. It was mostly ignored yesterday... if we had started with press conferences to pre-empt predictable Republican talking points and propaganda a long time ago, by now it may have been more accepted and covered honestly.