Modest proposal to improve SOTU speeches
OK, I didn't watch Bush last night. Almost anything from anyone that could be considered a "public policy proposal" will make me unhappy, and I'm way too busy these days to make myself deliberately unhappy. Reading the transcript, I'd have to say that it's less objectionable than most (including his first), and he did a deft job in kissing the Pelosi's posterior. But it's still just an announcement for an upcoming auction of stolen goods.
All patriotic Americans need to band together to control the rhetorical and policy excesses of the State of the Union speeches. What I propose is that friends gather together to watch, and whenever a new initiative is proposed, they should down a shot of their favorite distilled beverage. This can unite our fractured political landscape and foster bipartisanship. Republicans will drink to Bush's proposals; Democrats will drink to forget them. And vice-versa, of course, when the other wing of the Boot On Your Neck Party holds the office.
This will require great self-sacrifice. If practiced conscientiously, the outcome of any SOTU would be acute alcohol poisoning. If we can get enough Americans involved enough to die for the Presidents' promises, maybe he'll quit making them.
Comments
Posted by: jeffrey smith
Posted on: January 25, 2007 12:34 AM
I found several points of absurdity. Most important, after the first section touting deficit reduction, he then spent half an hour touting proposals that would almost certainly increase said deficit. And I'm not sure I understand the details of his health care proposal, except that it would probably mean my health care would get either more expensive or revert to a poorer quality of insurance. And of course, it depends on tax credits to manipulate things to the desired outcome.
But the two best moments were purely visual, and I'm sure you wouldn't have guessed them from the transcript.
1)When the support the troops standing ovation came, Pelosi literally jumped out of her seat as if she wanted to be sure she beat Cheney to the punch. Cheney led off most of the other ovations, like a good cheerleader, and he seemed rather angry that Pelosi got the better of him on this one.
2)There was a rather surreal moment that conjured up images of Cheney the puppetmaster. Bush paused to drink a few sips of water--nothing special so far as that goes. But behind him, Cheney chose that moment to also drink some water--and his motions in picking up the glass, drinking from it, and putting it back down were in almost perfect unison with Bush's. If they had purposely choreographed it, it could not have come off in a more perfect unison.