SOTU Highlights

I watched the SOTU last night. As SOTU's go I'd give it a 7. Still spending too much money, but I get the sense he may know that. My favorite moment had to be when Bush set up the Democrats with the Patriot Act.

Inside the United States, where the war began, we must continue to give homeland security and law enforcement personnel every tool they need to defend us.

And one of those essential tools is the Patriot Act, which allows federal law enforcement to better share information, to track terrorists, to disrupt their cells and to seize their assets. For years, we have used similar provisions to catch embezzlers and drug traffickers. If these methods are good for hunting criminals, they are even more important for hunting terrorists.

(APPLAUSE)

Key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire next year.

(DERISIVE APPLAUSE FROM THE DEMS)

(Bush leaning toward the Dems) The terrorist threat will not expire on that schedule.

The look on his face and the way he delivered that line, I believe the first paragraphs were a setup. The "Key provisions" sentence was the bait, and the Dems bit hard. That had to have felt good for Bush and his team.

Another bright spot was rhetorically flipping Hillary the bird

A government-run health care system is the wrong prescription.

It was also heartening to hear Bush at least use the word "Veto."

I don't have the stomach to review the Pelosi/Dashle response. Suffice to say that in the span of 24 hours we saw both ends of the spectrum in the Democrat party. The Howard Dean end - desperately in need of a sedative and perhaps lithium, and the Congressional minority leadership desperately in need of a pulse.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 03:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment