What is the State of the Union?

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STILL TALKIN ABOUT IRAQ

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:27 (twenty years ago) link

It's all part of "the War on Terror" apparently. Bush reads my mind and says "I know some people question whether we're really in a war at all."

Then he slides into 9/11 as if it's all part of the same thing.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:30 (twenty years ago) link

"Terrorists declared war on the United States and war is what they got." He's starting to sound too big for his britches.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:30 (twenty years ago) link

It's way too "protest too much" no?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:31 (twenty years ago) link

I wonder if he'll ask Those Scary Bad Guys to 'bring it on' to the troops in Iraq again. For fun!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:32 (twenty years ago) link

Apparently he invaded Iraq in order to rid the world of the dreaded Libyan menace. Good one.

― sym (shmuel), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:35 (twenty years ago) link

i like to think that the high-horsing about Saddam Hussein and the implication that the "war on terror" could theoretically cover every corner of the globe could come back and bite America's predilection for doing business with and propping up murderous thug dictators.

in Saddam's case, "terrorism" is being applied to the actions of the government of a sovereign nation: could this be the thin end of the wedge for finally getting "state terrorism" to be a recognized term?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:35 (twenty years ago) link

STILL TALKIN ABOUT IRAQ

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:35 (twenty years ago) link

alright now he says the economy is doing great! "jobs are on the rise" = totally innaccurate from any standpoint surely?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:39 (twenty years ago) link

"WE MUST CONTINUE TO PURSUE AN AGGRESSIVE PRO-GROWTH ECONOMIC AGENDA"

― *doom* *doom* *doom* (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:43 (twenty years ago) link

just remember that whenever he says "jobs" he really means "profits" - this makes sense of his statement that tax cuts should be made permanant "for the sake of jobs"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:45 (twenty years ago) link

I think there's been more black people in reaction shots than, you know, voted for Bush

― sym (shmuel), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:45 (twenty years ago) link

Haha "we must protect business interests from frivolous lawsuits" = oh jesus, you work it out.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:48 (twenty years ago) link

We must protect frivolous interests from business lawsuits!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:49 (twenty years ago) link

"we are giving them the modern medicine they deserve" !!!

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:49 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, I want a full transcript. It was great.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:50 (twenty years ago) link

Cutting frivolous spending = cutting spending on Democratic districts

― sym (shmuel), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:51 (twenty years ago) link

"America's health care system the best in the world" !!!!

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:53 (twenty years ago) link

Haha "association health plans" - as if small businesses want to spend more time dealing with benefits paperwork!! Let's free our small businesses from onerous, time-wasting bureacractic details, eh?

He is striking out with his health stuff. Didn't address any of the actual problems.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:54 (twenty years ago) link

Whoa, compulsory drug testing in schools?!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:56 (twenty years ago) link

ILX Chat going on... room name = ilxmst3kprezspeechfun

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:56 (twenty years ago) link

Haha G.W. Bush for Commissioner of Baseball in 2004!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:56 (twenty years ago) link

"Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage" !!!!!

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 02:59 (twenty years ago) link

Well Sean, activist judges are redefining marriage by court order! They insist on enforcing their arbitrary will!

I am now, of course, imagining monkeys wearing judge's robes and gnawing on gavels.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:00 (twenty years ago) link

He says that churches can take part in a Federal program to transition ex-cons to a crime-free life.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:02 (twenty years ago) link

"By our actions we have shown what kind of a nation we are" - this is true, actually

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:02 (twenty years ago) link

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:03 (twenty years ago) link

Wow is it over? That wasn't too great was it?

It's weird though I bet there are people crying right now.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:07 (twenty years ago) link

I was surprised that people applauded when Bush said parts of the Patriot Act were going to expire - either they were being ballsy (I hope), or they were just in a pattern of applauding after every one of Bush's pauses.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:09 (twenty years ago) link

"Strong and steadfast" is the answer to the question btw. He put it at the end which is a bit of a change from tradition I think.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:11 (twenty years ago) link

Apparently it all comes down to whether or not you "act"

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:40 (twenty years ago) link

More bartending jobs for out of work thespians YAY

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:42 (twenty years ago) link

Quality of life is clearly overrated

― ModJ (ModJ), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:44 (twenty years ago) link

"Strong and steadfast" is the answer to the question btw. He put it at the end which is a bit of a change from tradition I think.

I dunno man, Master and Commander was big this year.

― ModJ (ModJ), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:45 (twenty years ago) link

the state of the union is drunk!!!!

― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:54 (twenty years ago) link

He must have visited that website before revising his speech, then. I stopped watching after they stopped showing Ted Kennedy. "I'll show you an aristocracy!" And they showed my congressman, JJJr., the most anti-Bush member of Congress, I'm proud to say. He had his daughter conveniently sitting on his lap so that he wouldn't have to stand and clap.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 03:57 (twenty years ago) link

the us congress now officially = the brezhnev-era soviet politburo.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 04:33 (twenty years ago) link

full of disappointment in our electoral system.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 04:33 (twenty years ago) link

at least brezhnev's excuse was that senility was setting in, and the politburo's was that if they didn't clap they'd be sent to siberia. what's shrubya's? or the congress's?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 04:36 (twenty years ago) link

um, Congress usually claps up a storm at these things, regardless of the president, what's said, the party controlling Congress, etc. Part of the reason why the SotU is so pointless.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 04:42 (twenty years ago) link

which is to say, you shouldn't take it so personally/seriously. A lot of the same Republicans who impeached Clinton would clap a lot during his SotUs, too.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 04:43 (twenty years ago) link

i know ... i heard snippets over the radio w/t visuals, this was my honest reaction to it.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 04:49 (twenty years ago) link

well they're not going to break with years and years of tradition just because Dubya's a lousy speaker!

― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 04:51 (twenty years ago) link

fer a cheap laugh:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/atrios/chimpgonewild.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 05:09 (twenty years ago) link

HAHAHAHAHA

― sym (shmuel), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 05:45 (twenty years ago) link

Ah, sweet beauty.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 05:46 (twenty years ago) link

full fucking circle

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 05:48 (twenty years ago) link

What I get for missing it, but now the chatter is bubbling up about Bush said baldly anti-gay material. True? or is it no further than the "defend the sanctity of marriage" stuff?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 06:11 (twenty years ago) link

I think they were definitely being ballsy, taking advantage of his pause before he said how important it was the Patriot Act NOT expire. It came from the Democratic side and Bush looked irked for a moment. Since a lot of the national security part of the speech was calculated to basically force Democrats to give a standing O or else appear whiny or unpatriotic, it was nice to see him caught off guard for once.

― tedk (Mat Bo), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 06:17 (twenty years ago) link

as a southerner I must object to the term "union".

― Viva La Sam (thatgirl), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 06:20 (twenty years ago) link

WORD

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 09:10 (twenty years ago) link

I'm trying to find an article that's like a '2003 State Of The Union Revisited' which breaks down last year's speech and sees how the follow-through was. Elvis T pointed me to this radio piece:
http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1607015.html

And this is a good bit on the AIDS funding promise:
http://www.misleader.org/in_the_spotlight/

Does anyone know of any others?

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 11:08 (twenty years ago) link

A thread plucked from the rib of this thread. What if the state of the union were not 'confident and strong'?

PW (Parallel World) 4: Red America v. Blue America

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 12:47 (twenty years ago) link

Poor Teddy K. looked like he could have used a couple of cold ones.

― Chris V (Chris V), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 13:33 (twenty years ago) link

I think they were definitely being ballsy, taking advantage of his pause before he said how important it was the Patriot Act NOT expire.

The best part of this little exchange was that after they took advantage of his pause to applaud the Patriot Act expiring, his next line was something like, "but the threat of terrorism will not expire" and the Republicans tried to make up for the Democrats' applause by applauding his next line, so it was like "Yes! More terrorism! Go Bush!"

― BrianB (BrianB), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 14:34 (twenty years ago) link

Laura Bush has devil eyes.

IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S TRUE.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 14:46 (twenty years ago) link

Pledging a gabillion dollars to promote abstinence to teenagers? Why not save time and trouble and just flush the money directly down the toilet?

― Intravenus De Milo, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:20 (twenty years ago) link

"We must find the penises and vagina's of mass destruction."

― Chris V (Chris V), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

Given: Most (if not all) teens want to have sex.
Given: Abstinence is the most effective method of contraception/STD protection.

Question: Why is it unreasonable to promote abstinence? (I do not support throwing a gabillion dollars into it, but then again I don't support throwing a gabillion dollars into any one thing that isn't my bank account.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:37 (twenty years ago) link

Question: Why is it unreasonable to promote abstinence?

Because clearly the better answer is to promote the cloned development of antiseptic fuck machines for our nation's youth. A nation of Pris or Gigolo Joe robots for all!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:58 (twenty years ago) link

I like the cut of your jib, good sir. Would you like to be on my cabinet when I announce my 2008 candidacy?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:19 (twenty years ago) link

I am most glad to serve as the Power Behind the Throne. Er, as your devoted assistant.

(Promoting abstinence while at the same time going into an in-depth p.r. campaign about why masturbation isn't Wrong and Evil might be a start, but as Jocelyn Elders found out, apparently some people object.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:23 (twenty years ago) link

(I thought the thing people hated about Jocelyn Elders was when she'd ask for volunteers from the audience in the middle of her presentations.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:25 (twenty years ago) link

(I think they were objecting to being forced to decide whether they were the masturbator or the masturbatee.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:37 (twenty years ago) link

the solution to that is obvious, then: make either Brittany Spears or JLo the Surgeon General!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:40 (twenty years ago) link

I beg to differ (for one thing, what are gay males and straight females supposed to do?).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:46 (twenty years ago) link

The same thing the straight males and gay females are doing?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:47 (twenty years ago) link

then appoint someone who gay males and straight females find sexy to be the co-Surgeon General.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:50 (twenty years ago) link

The same thing the straight males and gay females are doing?

Ignoring those two as fantasy figures? I'm all for that!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:53 (twenty years ago) link

I'm still pissed off that I can't find a photo of bush spilling cheney's water. im sure cheney will make him rue the day..

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:48 (twenty years ago) link

Did you guys catch ""weapons of mass destruction-related program activities" - haha Clinton would have been crucified on talk radio for that

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 22 January 2004 03:02 (twenty years ago) link

ans to thread question: Barry. Fucking. Weird.

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 22 January 2004 03:15 (twenty years ago) link

nation split on whether they liked it, compared with 70-something percent last year and 90-something percent in 2002

gary kamiya has an ecellent article about it at Salon.com despite the fact that no one reads Salon.com anymore, and have neither do i ok, in fact i have no idea how i know about kamiya's article, i just SUSPECT it may be on Salon.com

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 22 January 2004 03:31 (twenty years ago) link

I suspect that this part of the speech was a stealth way of placating the anti-abortion lobby without actually saying the "a" word.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 22 January 2004 03:35 (twenty years ago) link

You can balk, or you can fling
You don't have to know a thing
I drank all my roommate's booze
Cuz, this damn nation's born to lose
My brother said that we were dead
I saw his face and shook my head
Can't you see where we could be
We're losing our men overseas..

'Cause it's the state of the union
(state of the union)
That's numbing our innovation
Yes, it's the state of the union
(state of the union)
That's boring ourselves, again
Oh, the state of the union
(state of the union)
Is causing deprivation
Oh, the state of the union
(state of the union)
Is causing mass destruction

From my home I've looked for jobs
I've got no response, or calls from knobs
When I broke down, I shit my pants
'Cause I can't shit, when i'd rather dance
I don't find that I have been
deprived of drinking all my gin
If that's the case, then who could tell
Where my story had begun?

Yes even now, I'm still alone
Behind a wall that's made of stone
I think about where we have been
And all the sights that could be seen
I know it all could be worthwhile
If only I could force a smile
Now we turn ourselves back to TV
The truth of a nation we'll never see

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 22 January 2004 03:49 (twenty years ago) link

Wow. I think you win.

― sym (shmuel), Thursday, 22 January 2004 04:00 (twenty years ago) link

then again I don't support throwing a gabillion dollars into any one thing that isn't my bank account.

Dear Mr Perry,

It is with genuine interest and trust that I have contacted you, Please don't be surprised to receive this mail. I am Senator (Dr) Danladi Suleiman Head of contract validation and re-conciliation committee under the Federal House of Senate in Nigeria. It is after a serious thought that I am sending you this Offer that is to be of Mutual Benefit to Both of us. This offer is an unaccounted sum of $7,500,000 (Seven Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars). This sum is the left over sum after paying contractors here in the Federal Republic of Nigeria in full.

Since I am a civil Servant here in Nigeria, it is not allowed I operate a foreign account but since you are a foreigner it will be easy for me to make you the beneficiary of the funds so that the funds can be transferred to your foreign account. Be informed that this transaction will take us just 14 working days to accomplish. Please treat this mail with great confidentiality for our success.

Yours Faithfully,
Dr. Danladi Suleiman.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 22 January 2004 09:08 (twenty years ago) link

neat little bit of criticism & actual CONTEXT from USA Today

shocking that it's from them, i'm sure.

― Huggy Dork (Kingfish), Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:15 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/sotu-address.htm

― georgo washington, Monday, 26 January 2004 17:21 (twenty years ago) link

What Bush said: "Americans took those dollars (from tax cuts) and put them to work, driving this economy forward. ... Jobs are on the rise."

Context: Economists say a real job recovery is just around the corner. Numerous indicators show the economy roaring back from a mild recession. But analysts are frustrated by the job market's stubborn weakness.

Course, you can't rally the jobless majority with the truth....plus it ain't as catchy.

Factors holding down job growth: New technology has allowed many companies to do more with fewer workers; relentless pressure to cut costs has encouraged firms to move jobs abroad; surging health care costs make U.S. workers expensive to employ; and terrorism and corporate scandals have left CEOs wary of costly, long-term risks. Washington can't do much about this in the short run.

Since when did jobless = ignorant? Grandstanding aside, having more time means that we can actually read and process statistics. We'll belive the bull when our relatives actually get work.

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:36 (twenty years ago) link

"jobs are on the rise" = totally innaccurate from any standpoint surely?

a) Not necessarily, if you're willing to work at Wal-Mart.

b) From a macroeconomic perspective, jobs are undoubtedly up from some selected point. But I wish some pundits' jobs could be outsourced overseas.

― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 26 January 2004 18:10 (twenty years ago) link

Im bored. My union sucks.

― El Spinktor (El Spinktor), Monday, 26 January 2004 18:10 (twenty years ago) link

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