Watching the State of the Union .....

[olamaebarto]

Does John Boner look drunk or what?

[marxthespot_]

So far Obama is hitting it out of the ball park....So interestingly, when he mentioned that he will put a five-year freeze on all government spending, you could have heard a pin drop on the floor in the building...He called the Republicans' and Tea
Partyers' bluff and they didn't like it.....Finally, I see Obama showing the balls that I wished he had started to show two years ago....

[olamaebarto]

He did a wonderful job. He's in a tight place right now. But while I'd love to see a more progressive agenda, he has to deal with a bunch of right wing nut jobs like Clinton did after the 1994 election. Obama is a very smart man.

I do think the Gee Oh Poop will best not show their ass with all the tea party bullshit.

Bottom line.

Obama re-elected in '12 and Nancy will get her seat back.

I'll go to Temple and pray for that for extra juice!

[olamaebarto]

Just wait until Bat-Shit Michelle B throws her stank ass on the wed spewing her horse shit trying to be a bigger dumb twunt that Palin.

[ms_m]

"Boner" always looks drunk but I kept waiting for him to cry. LOL

I think the President did an excellent job but instead of focusing on what he said, the media is yelling about what he didn't say. shrugs

I'll wait to read about the two rebuttals. Ryan is actually very intelligent so his should be interesting and Bachmann is always good for a laugh and a face palm.

Marx you know I love you madly but I am so tired of hearing about the President and the missing balls meme I could scream, the man has two children for crying out loud, he's got balls so can we give that crappy talking point a rest PLEASE!

He hasn't changed since the day I made the commitment to vote for him. People yelled he wasn't a fighter then and look where he is today! He simply does it his way and no matter how frustrating that may be it's working. He's not perfect but he "ain't" McCain, works for me.

[olamaebarto]

Oh my dear! Bachman is out of her fucking MIND!! She looked over with her glassy eye'd madness and had her stupid ass graphics behind her. What a stupid ass!

[MissLish]

ms_m? Forty-Nine percent approval rating? Nuff said! We are in good hands America! When does Michelle speak?

[ms_m]

The rebuttal to the rebuttal is over. I didn't watch but I did check out the clip for Ryan. He tried but not too impressive. Just the same standard talking points. I'm sure the fact checkers are working overtime so a full analysis should be up on all three speeches tomorrow. Although the President was more in campaign mode than specific mode. LOL...but I liked that.

His numbers on the speech are pretty high so he connected with the home audience. He's letting the opposition know, ya better find somebody that can handle this....hahahahahahaha

[stephanie]

Ok Boehner looks like he has it in for Obama. My president stood up to the challenge and although its going to hurt in the long run he has to cut in some places so I guess People Get Ready as the Impressions would say. Great delivery and excellent idea of having the GOP and Dems sit together since the Arizona slaying. Ms Bachmann is weird, strange and truly an offshoot of the weird religious right wing who lives in upper middle class fantasyland [[everything is ok as long as it doesnt affect me).

I have found that people who have never been poor, or are at least two or three paychecks away from trouble act like the poor are a burden and should not be helped. Heck she and Newt Gingrich act like their side is so pious. I dont have a problem with people having skeletons in the closet just dont act like you are criticizing others who do and act like you dont. The best thing that ever happened IMO is when Larry Flynt had the little black book of names of Congressmen and Senators when they were coming down on Bill Clinton. Gary Conduit was one of the main people ragging on Bill and then we find out about Chandra Levy!

Poor republicans will go to their grave putting down Bill Clinton and Barack Obama just to say they did. I didnt see Bobby Jindal turning away any stimulus money like he said he would. Watch if they just let our President do what he says we can make it but why do I feel like its back to the old tricks after this with them?

[soulster]

The repubs have one big problem: the tea-baggers. They are splitting the party, and the more they try to placate the baggers, they disenfranchise the mainstream party.

The baggers have shown themselves to be irrational, impatient, and somewhat ignorant. Some of them are birthers, and their original motivation was racism.

Another problem for the repubs are the social conservatives. They never left. They were only biding their time. Now, with a house majority, they think they can ram through all their little special-interest things like killing abortion.

The main thing the repubs have going for them is the slick ability to spin the truth through a massive media network that includes newspapers, radio talk show hosts, and, of course, Faux news.

The repubs will throw more roadblocks in his way, but, all Obama has to do is get this country moving again. That alone will seal his re-election in two years.

And, let's hope one or two conservative judges somehow leave the Supreme Court under Obama's watch.

[marxthespot_]

Michelle Bachman is nothing but a Tea Party "Stepford Wife" - hence that "glassy-eyed" expression on her face....

What is very interesting is that the official Republican rebuttal was presented by Paul Ryan - Congressman from Wisconsin...Most likely he was chosen because he makes a polished professional appearance in an almost "Kennedy-esque" way. The Republican party is probably grooming him for a future presidential run.

Lately, the Republican party has resorted to appearance over substance in representing themselves. We do know the only real reason that former Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele got that position was because Obama won the election and Steele is also African American.

Meanwhile, the Tea Party and the likes of Bachman and Sarah Palin, while of some fear-mongering use to the Republicans, ultimately do shoot themselves in the foot...Like bratty children, Palin & Bachman should only be seen and not heard, if at all.

[ms_m]

Marx it's interesting though, I expected lies...ooops ...talking points from Ryan but he came off nervous and stiff, and the rousing patriotic speech came off too calculating. I've seen him do much better.Ya think someone rattled him....LOL

[marxthespot_]

Ms, M.,

Being that the response does take place almost immediately after the President finished his speech, he may have been fumbling because what he had prepared before-hand may have need to be revised at the last minute based on the actual Obama speech. He deliberately was almost "praising" the intent of Obama and the Democratic Party and then at about 2 or 3 minutes into his rebuttal he started whacking away at them....Yes, very calculating..

For me , the most revealing moment of Obama's address was when he announced that he wants to implement a 5-year freeze on government spending... You could have heard a pin drop in the room after he said that...It seems that the Republicans in the audience thought "Oh Shit - what have we done?" Obama called their bluff and now Boehner & Company need to put their integrity where their vote is...Fat chance!!

[stephanie]

Marx I agree with your assessment of Ryan and when I saw him he was eye but not as eloquent as others I have seen. Presidential runs I predict the Repubs will put Romney out front he is older and has the look I think the Mormon thing wont hurt him at this point if he runs. Jindal is a smart cookie he is hiding beneath the wings. I can promise you that a lot of the repubs we have not heard from lately [[Giliuani, Gingrich, and others will be out of the cocoon in 2012) rearing their ugly heads. Heck you will see more of Meagan McCain and Bristol Palin as well rallying the young repubs together I bet this will happen.

[ms_m]

"Oh Shit - what have we done?"

ROTFLMAO

It was a strategic message plain and simple. The President doesn't care much for politicking and his critics are quick to lament the fact he's not good at it but he pulled this particular political maneuver off brilliantly. I loved it.

Oh and I don't know about Megan and Bristol together, Sarah Palin isn't on Megan McCain's list of people she likes.

"Boner" and Cantor have to come up with a strategy to silence the Tea Party while holding on to it's supporters. Bachmann's speech highlighted the division. Grab the popcorn, it''s going to be an interesting show. LOL

[soulster]

What is very interesting is that the official Republican rebuttal was presented by Paul Ryan - Congressman from Wisconsin...Most likely he was chosen because he makes a polished professional appearance in an almost "Kennedy-esque" way. The Republican party is probably grooming him for a future presidential run.

Are u kidding me? He, and Bachman both had the same, airhead delivery as Bobby Jindal did two years ago. Goofy smile, light, airy voice... They talked slow, using simple words so their lowest-common denominator could understand, and their words had no real substance.

[soulster]

For me , the most revealing moment of Obama's address was when he announced that he wants to implement a 5-year freeze on government spending... You could have heard a pin drop in the room after he said that...It seems that the Republicans in the audience thought "Oh Shit - what have we done?" Obama called their bluff and now Boehner & Company need to put their integrity where their vote is...Fat chance!!

I was watching Boehner's face and bodily reactions the whole time, and it was priceless! He really looked pale when Obama said that he would veto any bill with earmarks in them. Of course, all presidents say that, but I get the feeling Obama was calling their bluff.

And, Bachman's response seemed all that more ridiculous with her continued tea-bagger "repeal health care" mantra after Obama talked about not litigating it, and after it's being shown that the majority of Americans either like it, or are coming around to it's benefits. We'll see how long these tea-baggers last in congress.

[Doug-Morgan]

I thought the speach was excellent and appreciated the fact that it didn't have too much "substance".....that is specific proposals.....in it. As a general rule, many if not most proposals in SOTU speaches go nowhere, and I thought The President did an excellent job in setting a "tone" or "mood" for what he would like to accomplish.

As to Ms. Bachman and Mr. Boehner, their respective responses show that the Republican party is facing the same problem that split the Democrats the first two years of the Obama term. They are a divided party and in the same way mainstream Democrats had trouble controling the progressive wing, Republicans are going to have trouble controling their right flank and run the risk of being about as effective as the Democrats were two years ago.

Now to the original question. I really didn't watch Mr. Boehner much. He looked bored, which I think is the job of the leader of the party that doesn't hold the White House. On the other hand, the thing that really impressed me is that Joe Biden looks like a young Bob Uecker.

[[Happy 76th birthday, Bob. 076....that's near your lifetime batting average, isn't it?)

[soulster]

As to Ms. Bachman and Mr. Boehner, their respective responses show that the Republican party is facing the same problem that split the Democrats the first two years of the Obama term. They are a divided party and in the same way mainstream Democrats had trouble controling the progressive wing, Republicans are going to have trouble controling their right flank and run the risk of being about as effective as the Democrats were two years ago.

There's only one problem with what you said: the progressive wing and the rank and file Democrats weren't as divided as one may have thought. It was the "blue-dog" Democrats, the ones that aligned themselves with the republicans, that were the problem.

Now to the original question. I really didn't watch Mr. Boehner much. He looked bored, which I think is the job of the leader of the party that doesn't hold the White House.

He looked bored at times, smug at others, and rolled his eyes a lot. I would not want to be in his shoes! he has a very tough job of trying to balance the desires of the tea-baggers and the rest of the republican party. So far, thy have been pandering to the tea-baggers, but after they get done with their symbolic dismantling of the health care bill, they have to get to work. Now that they control the house, it will be much more obvious to the public which side is being obstructionist. If they go too far, they could be booted right back out in two years.

[ms_m]

Great post Doug

I will say this though, the Repubs have backed themselves in a corner but keep an eye on Progressives as well. They are still causing problems although not so much the ones in the mainstream. Getting them to come back around in 2012 will not be easy. It's one of the reasons Cenk Uygur showing up on MSNBC is bothering me. He's very popular with the extreme left. These folk sat out the midterms deliberately and defiantly and as of now would rather take their chances with a Republican for 4 years and wait for public tide to turn in 2016 than to show any support for the President for 2012. Although what they want more than anything, is to primary a sitting President. [[they are rabid on this issue)

They are more annoying than influential at this point but depending on the final candidate for the Repubs, could prove to be a real pain in the Dems side.

As long as Cenk was confined to the net and blog world it was relatively easy to ignore him and discount his influence but with a national platform albeit cable, now not so much. You never know with this guy, he's very calculating and all about Cenk but he generally says what the extreme left want to hear. If he can generate the type of controversy the extreme right does, [[which has been his approach in the blogosphere) the Dems could have problems in spite of looking good right now for 2012. Then again he could flip the script and become more mainstream....this dude is a loose cannon.

It's going to be another interesting election cycle on all fronts.

[marxthespot_]

.......Heck you will see more of Meagan McCain and Bristol Palin as well rallying the young repubs together I bet this will happen.

I am okay with Megan McCain....She is a reasonable thinker and she is not afraid to call out the Republican party on their bullshit...She has openly disagreed with her father on many issues...I would invite her over for tea.....

As far as the Palins are concerned, neither Bristol nor her mother are even fit to prepare or serve the tea.

[soulster]

Marxthespot, I concur!