Andrea Batista Schlesinger: The More Americans Demand Change, The More The State Of The Union Address Stays The Same
Read The Speeches: Read the text of President Bush's State of the Union here. The Democratic response by Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is here, and Dem congressional responses are here.
Obama, Clinton Respond: Read (and watch) Sen. Barack Obama's SOTU response: "Imagine if next year, the entire nation had a president they could believe in. A president who rallied all Americans around a common purpose. That's the kind of president we need in this country."
Clinton's response: "Tonight President Bush claimed that the state of our union is strong. And we can all debate that. But what is not up for debate is that for too many American families, the true "state of their lives" is one of economic anxiety and uncertainty."
Bush Gets A Kiss? Did President Bush get a farewell kiss from GOP Rep. Chris Shays? See for yourself:
Fact-Checking Bush: ThinkProgress has published a running fact-check of Bush's entire speech.
Obama, Clinton At SOTU: The Washington Post notes that the Senate floor took on "the atmosphere of a high school divided by competing cliques, as Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) joined their colleagues in advance of President Bush's State of the Union address." As the speech approached, Obama "cut across the chamber to queue up next to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) so they could walk over together. Obama's move ensured that Kennedy, whose endorsement of Obama today dominated cable television coverage of the race this afternoon, should sit near Obama."
Bush's SOTU Visualized: Check out Bush's State of the Union as a word cloud -- the larger the word, the more often it was used (also check out Bush's speech in 100 words or less):
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SOTU Live-Blog: Bob Cesca live-blogs the SOTU for HuffPost.
The State Of Your Liver: Wonkette offers up its eighth annual State of the Union drinking game:
Since January 2001, when our then-new President Bush gave his first fake State of the Union address -- it was actually a "budget message," as he had only been in the White House a few hours and hadn't yet screwed up the country forever -- America has gathered together for one glorious evening each January for our most precious freedom. Yes, we are talking about binge drinking while George W. Bush mispronounces common words on the teevee.
Is Anybody Listening? Washington Post's Dan Froomkin writes that President Bush's biggest problem tonight may be "getting anyone to pay attention in the first place."
"This speech will have all the suspense of the 500th rerun of I Love Lucy,' said Jack Pitney, professor of political science at Claremont McKenna College in California.
With Bush's approval rating hovering at 34 percent and most Americans focused on the intensely competitive race to succeed him, analysts are uncertain whether people will give anything more than cursory attention to the speech. They say there is little that Bush can say tonight to change the minds of those who either oppose him or support him.
But some analysts suggest that the television audience might be larger than expected because Americans are gripped by anxiety because of the sluggish economy, the war in Iraq entering its sixth year and Osama bin Laden remaining at large. [...]
David J. Leland, former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, conceded that Americans might watch but not for the reason Bush wants.
"'There's always a crowd around an accident,' Leland quipped.
We've Got 99 Problems, But A Human-Animal Hybrid Ain't One: The Center for American Progress has a list of the 99 biggest winners and losers under the Bush administration. CAP notes:
President Bush was able to keep one promise from his previous State of the Union addresses. In 2006, he pledged to fight the creation of "human-animal hybrids," sparking visions of fearsome ManBeasts terrorizing the nation. As of today, we've spotted no half-man/half-animal creatures. Breaking News: We may have given the president credit too soon--just this week, we've discovered, British scientists created a ManCow clone.
Preempting Bush: Watch a video pre-buttal to President Bush by Reps. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) and Tim Ryan (D-OH).