Before I launch into my personal reactions to the State of the Union address, I just want to say that I had a very nice, full-motion, crystal clear feed from C-SPAN throughout the whole thing. Impressive and much appreciated considering how far away we are and how crappy the pipe between here and the US can be. Now, on to the bile!

First, the smack down:
Bush started in on the 'terrorism at home' portion of his speech and when he said that "key provisions of the patriot act are set to expire next year"... the audience started CLAPPING before he could go on (he, of course, went on to say that he didn't want that to happen and it should be renewed. hah!)!

Rah!!!!

(hehe... he said nukuler...

Now the smack*:
Oh dear god... and that response to the 'Saddam yadda yadda' "until Iraq is free!" thing was SO staged. Did you see him smirk afterwards? A big "yeah, that's right, do what daddy tells you" smirk.

Oh look. There's John Ashcroft. A true Patriot™, at least in Newspeak. You wanna see a terrorist? Look at this man. A man who won't let a silly thing like the Constitution stand in the way of his intent to spy on, catalogue and label anyone he chooses to in any way he wishes.

"Some [here] did not support the liberation of Iraq..." (no, George, they didn't support your war/invasion on Iraq)
Discussed what he called "candid consequences about leaving Saddam in power".
Says plans for starting programs for WMD found. Yeah, Dubya. Some words on paper. Woohoo... Almost as good as that pencil drawing of a bomb they found.
[if Saddam were still in power] "Iraqs torture chambers would still be filled with victims, terrified and innocent". Yeah, instead some of them can live "free" in beautiful Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay.
"Without Saddam the world is a safer place." (Republicans clap. I assume the Democrats realise this is a ploy to get them to clap thereby seeming to show support for his war.)

Thumbs his nose at UN again (now that he's got them on the ropes of economy):
"America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."
(again Republicans stand up)
This is why the rest of the world has enmity towards the US. This cocky lip service and false regard for the UN. He's had to beg for them to step in with the mess in Iraq and now that they have and there's been a little tiny bit of reconciliation (not to mention $ from contracts!!!!) he's flipping them the bird right in their faces.

So far he hasn't said anything new, actually. A lot of freedom and democracy rhetoric. Much the same as any other appearance or address.
Ah! Wait! Here comes the economy!
"This economy is strong and growing stronger"
Then starts listing all the tax cuts.
Then starts saying some very specious things about how much the economy is progressing.
Jobs on the rise? Wow. 1,000 new jobs. Only 299,999,000 to go to make up the ones lost!
Then only 6,000,000 will be out of work instead of 9,000,000.
Well, George, it doesn't really have anywhere to go but up...

Oh, now let's talk about the No Child Left Behind act.
hah! Says there's been a 30% funding increase since 2001. I'm not surprised. He's allowed (or caused) the program to be gutted from the start. It's $8 billion short of its intended funding level.
Then says he won't stand by and let someone to undermine the NCLB act by weakening yadda yadda..
He just asked Congress to cut $300 million from the 2004 budget. Am I missing something here? Is he gonna do battle with himself in the rotunda? Will there be tickets to watch?

Speaking of cuts. "... the tax cuts you passed should be permanent" ha! Only one section stands up and claps. hmmm interesting. guesss which side it was on? The people of America are shouldering the $120 billion in costs for these tax changes. Where is the money gonna come from Dubya? Oh, yeah, Social Security... Next...

40,000,000 without health care... OK, George. Yeah. Wow. You've been hard at work.

Reform immigration program. New visa class for employers to hire temporary foreign worker if no US worker can be found for that job. (met with very mild applause) I'm not sure how this ties in with existing B visas and what the relation is to not opening more amnesty for illegals. Anyone know more about this?

Double the money for preaching teaching abstinence programs in schools. Whee. Stick head back in sand with more money. Whee...

Oh... now it's time to talk about defending marriage... goddammit...
"The people's voice must be heard" check the polls Dubya
"Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage..." (mild applause. like 20 people stand.)
Blah blah... morals... god... dignity... compassion of religious institutions... what bullshit.
Ohhhh now we need to give churches a place in law so they can be part of government DESPITE the separation of church and state. We need laws to allow the government give money to churches instead of funding government programs. Sorry, George. I'm not a Christian. I don't buy it. Give that money to the thousands of organisations out there who are struggling to do the work with no religious agenda built in, just the doing of good.
So, let's sum up: Fuck the homos and bring in the church to help us fight em. Yep. Sounds like George.

Look... I don't truly hate anyone. I talk a mean game sometimes and like to play the growling riot grrl persona, but hate is something I've fought in myself. It blackens your soul. But I'm starting to truly hate this man. He's a monster in an expensive suit. He's insidious and, despite his religious talk, I believe he represents an evil that is not easily recognised. He is the wolf in sheep's clothing. And at risk is our freedom. We've seen the sort of freedom he's taken to the world, what will it be like when he tries to bring that sort of "freedom" home? Patriot Act? Patriot II? Please, for the love of all that's right, get this man out of office. He'll destroy America.

He's wrapping up. Time for cute homily about letter from child... Yep! Letter from little girl. Cute but has no relevance except to give him an upbeat note to end on which brings in A)cute child and B)mention troops (guaranteed applause).
Yes, one last mention of the troops because you have to applaud when the troops are mentioned. Yes, he uses them for applause. No I don't feel bad saying that. If he cared as deeply as he would have you believe, he wouldn't be cutting those soldiers' pay and benefits. That's not how you reward people you purport to be so proud and supportive of. Is this the "sompassion and reform" he was talkign about?

Let's get this bozo out, y'all.