State Of The Union Liveblogging

— Alito in his fancy new robe. You gotta love it…

— Actual comment to my buddy Nanogirl earlier tonight: “oh great — cindy sheehan will be there tonight. Gawd, I bet she makes a scene.”

And so she did. The early word from K-Lo is:

“She apparently was in the gallery and unfolder a banner. Which isn’t looked kindly upon. If true, she was asking for it. Which is oh-so-shocking.”

Sheehan can’t go 5 minutes without making a spectacle of herself (9:12)

— Nice Coretta Scott King comment. The idea of her reuniting with MLK in heaven was a wonderful sentiment. (9:13)

— Oh, I liked the little broadside there to Burma and Iran and the others. Wish he had mentioned China too. (9:17)

— Few too many platitudes for my taste so far. (9:18)

— There is no peace in retreat and there is no honor in retreat. Excellent (9:19)

— A lot of Democrats stayed sitting for “We are winning (in Iraq)”. No big surprise there (9:23)

— Slap at defeatism. 2nd guessing is not a strategy. Like that! Cut and run sends Iraqis to prison, gives Bin Laden Iraq, and proves we don’t keep our word. Like it! (9:25)

Dan Clay’s last letter home (9:27)

“What we have done in Iraq is worth any sacrifice. Why? Because it was our duty. That sounds simple. But all of us have a duty. Duty is defined as a God given task. Without duty life is worthless. It holds no type of fulfillment. The simple fact that our bodies are built for work has to lead us to the conclusion that God (who made us) put us together to do His work. His work is different for each of us.

Mom, yours was to be the glue of our family, to be a pillar for those women (all women around you), Dad, yours was to train and build us (like a Platoon Sgt) to better serve Him. Kristie, Kim, Katy you are the five team leaders who support your Squad ldrs, Jodie, Robert and Richard. Lisa you too. You are my XO and you did a hell of a job. You all have your duties. Be thankful that God in His wisdom gives us work. Mine was to ensure that you did not have to experience what it takes to protect what we have as a family. This I am so thankful for. I know what honor is. It is not a word to be thrown around. It has been an Honor to protect and serve all of you. I faced death with the secure knowledge that you would not have to. This is as close to Christ-like I can be. That emulation is where all honor lies. I thank you for making it worthwhile.”

— Hamas: disarm, accept Israel, support peace you terrorist slime! Good message. (9:29)

— Liberty is the future of EVERY nation in the Middle-East. Love it. (9:30)

— Speaking directly to the citizens of Iran. Liked that, but he didn’t talk enough about nukes. He should hinted that military action was on the horizon (9:31)

— Reauthorize Patriot Act. Good. Defending his NSA wiretaps. Better. He’s not apologizing like the Democrats want, he’s saying at the biggest high profile speech of the year that we won’t sit back and wait to get hit again. This is probably the high point of the speech so far. It’s political akido at its finest. (9:36)

— The isolationism theme running through the speech is interesting, but he’s not doing enough to tie it into the Democrats (9:37)

— More than Japan and European Union combined? Wow, that is a lot of jobs. I hadn’t heard that figure before, but it is impressive. (9:38)

— 4 years of uninterrupted economic growth. Not bad. (9:40)

— Make the tax cuts permanent. Glad he said it, but here we are in 2006 and they’re still not permanent yet. Anytime now ya know… (9:41)

— I want more on deficit reform…oh yeah, earmark reform! Line item veto! There ya go W. (9:42)

— The President Clinton joke was funny. (9:42)

— Right back at ya you irresponsible Dems who want to fiddle while Social Security burns. But, on the other hand, is a committee really the solution? Since when do blue ribbon panels solve anything? (9:44)

— Stronger immigration enforcement and border protection, love it. Guest worker program, don’t love it. Because the pols will implement the guest worker program and then forget about the rest. Pretty unimpressive on that issue. (9:46)

— Health Care savings accounts. Portable health coverage. Better costs for small businesses. Medical liability reform to cut into legal costs (few Dems even clapped for that one). Good suggestions, but more specifics would be good (9:48)

— Nuclear energy and clean coal are great. Solar and wind, not so great. That’s probably wasted money just to impress the greenies. Six years on ethanol…OK. To replace oil imports by 2025? Hmmm… if you say so. If it happens, I doubt if the government will be the driving force behind it. Somehow, this part of Bush’s talk reminds me of Carter’s Malaise speech a little too much. (9:51)

— A bunch of expensive, mushy programs for education. How about vouchers? Vouchers anyone? (9:53)

— Lots of good news on fronts (crime, welfare, etc) that no one is talking about. (9:54)

— We must never believe we’re in decline? Who says this except depressed liberals. Malaise again? (9:56)

— Go Alito! Go Roberts! Go textualists! (9:56)

— Cloning this is worth mentioning, but again, not exactly a hot issue. (9:58)

— Helping America’s Youth Initiative? Does anyone know or care about this? (9:59)

— 85 billion for Katrina, huh? Oh and now we’re not just going to fix everything that occurred during and after the hurricane, we’re going to fix all the problems that were there before. Sure, that’ll happen (10:00)

— Strong, inspiring ending. We will finish well… (10:02)

Overall Grade: C-. There were a few high points, but he didn’t deliver up enough specifics or enough popular programs. He’s also still taking that mired-in — that whole Big Government Conservative/Compassionate Conservative mindset that’s so frustrating for Reagan conservatives who expect more out of a Republican controlled government.

*** Update #1 ***: More detail on Sheehan:

“Sheehan, who had been invited to attend the speech by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., was charged with demonstrating in the Capitol building, a misdemeanor, said Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. Sheehan was taken in handcuffs to police headquarters a few blocks away and her case was processed as Bush spoke.

Schneider said Sheehan had worn a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan to the speech and covered it up until she took her seat. Police warned her that such displays were not allowed, but she did not respond, the spokeswoman said.

Police handcuffed Sheehan and removed her from the gallery before Bush arrived. Sheehan was to be released on her own recognizance, Schneider said.

“I’m proud that Cindy’s my guest tonight,” Woolsey said in an interview before the speech. “She has made a difference in the debate to bring our troops home from Iraq.”

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