State of the Union

All in all, it was a good address. Dubya was on form, and did an excellent job of abjuring the American people (and Congress, not that they're likely to listen) to stay focused when it comes to the War on Terror. The domestic part of the speech was less strong (wind power and more ethanol subsidies?!?), but I'm all for increased investment in nuclear power and in research into the remaining hydrogen-fueled-car problems.

A and I had a grand ol' time time watching it, but easily the best points were when the Fox News camera crew did artful cut-aways to Hillary, McCain or other ...um, let's call them "personalities of note"... in time to show their ate-a-lemon faces at appropriate moments. We also found it quite amusing to see how half the room failed to stand up at some of the most optimistic and patriotism-inspiring moments. (Some acoustical anomaly of the room, perhaps.)

Great to see Justice Alito there. The man does cut a figure in black. Just sayin'.

Also, Bush made a point of mentioning earmarks, which is as close as he can really get to dissing Blunt in the race for DeLay's old spot. Can only be good for Shadegg, IMO.

Then there was the "rebuttal," during which milquetoast governor Tim Kaine of Virginia blithered for 10 minutes or so about how he didn't materially disagree with anything Republicans were doing, but that he (and the sunshiney and daisy-fresh bipartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans that make up the Virginia legislature--how things must have changed since I left!) wanted to let us know that there was A Better Way. Verdict: creepy, and strange. The man's left eyebrow looked like it escaped from a campy '50s sci-fi sitcom.

A and I were quite disappointed in the after-show: we were expecting all sorts of hecklable material, and instead we got the Democrats' C game. I'm guessing there's good reason for that--Biden out getting styled, perhaps, or Kennedy inspecting the strategic ethanol reserves.

I've been reading and not watching my news for a long while, now: A's influence, and watching Brit Hume's masterful performance last night is changing that. :-D

-Rich