I am a total sucker for the annual State of the Union speech.

[WilliamPitt]

Total sucker.

I know I know I know I know, it's a show, it's TV, it is pretty words once again, and words are wind...I know, OK, so shaddap and let me enjoy the spectacle.

Especially when the guy on the stump knows how to get it done. Watching the W. Bush SOTU speeches was like getting beaten with sticks. Watching Clinton was like watching art in creation, most of the time anyway. Watching Bush Sr. was like watching pudding watch pudding. Watching Reagan was agony, but always a good show, even towards the end, because that's what he did.

President Obama knows how to get it done...and since it sounds like he's going to be flipping a few rhetorical daggers at the *ahem* legacy of Ronald Reagan tonight, the looks on the faces of the meth-addled House GOP howler monkeys will be worth the price of admission right there.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/democrats-reagan-era-obama-state-of-the-union

...and maybe, just maybe, if he parks it deep enough tonight, and I mean over the wall and the water tank and far into the wheat field...maybe he can penetrate the "both sides are to blame" gibberish peddled by the "news media" and shake this shit up.

Yeah, I know, that's asking a lot. But I can dream.

It's a show. Enjoy it. The GOP will be collectively looking like they're sucking on lemons if St. Ronald takes a beating tonight.

Good.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Look. You can't NOT watch it, you know this. You can tape it, you can dismiss it.

BUT YOU CAN NOT NOT WATCH IT.

You knew that..

It's a big quintuple popcorn night!

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Great idea for a drinking game, thanks!

Every time Obama tells us that Liberals must share in the blame, we drink.

The one time I'd like to stay sober...

[daleanime]

10. +1

but Dr.s don't allow me any 'alkeyhaul'.

[Little_Wing]

3. I can't imagine not watching

Even though I might disagree with what he is saying, the delicious knowledge that his mere presence is infuriating to many in that chamber makes this must-see TV. Martini time

[H2O Man]

4. I'll be watching ......

and then I'll be back on DU to compare notes.

I'm hoping that President Obama delivers a message of Truth.

Recommended.

[Control-Z]

5. I feel the same exact way.

Wouldn't miss it!

[fadedrose]

6. I totally agree with everything you said....

Sometimes the State of the Union is a bore if all you care about is the speech. Seeing the politicians and the "spectacle" of it all is fascinating and enjoyable to me.

And President Obama is the best speaker we have ever had, barring none, and I've been watching these for a long time.

Gonna go get cozy, but not too far from the keyboard unless I almost burst from wanting to share something....usually tears


Off-topic: I love the picture in your avatar. Grandson?

He's a vast improvement over the guy who didn't get Doris Day at the end of the movie. What movie? All of them....

[WilliamPitt]

8. Daughter.

Original avatar pic:



Squee.

[New Orleans Strong]

13. Beautiful... Gorgeous, and you - and she are lucky.

I think the water tower is the size of of a dime from where the President of the United States of America perched us -

[SoapBox]

14. Awesome pics!

Thanks for sharing.

[fadedrose]

15. A daughter!! Lucky you...

She's just what you never knew you needed till now.

I said "Grandson" because I figured you to be in at least your late 30's, or maybe 41 or 42. You know too much to be real young and are too sharp to be too old.

And gifts for unborn babies are usually yellow, in case it's a boy

It's good she's posted on the night of the State of the Union. Another out-of-the park presentation.

Thank you.

[hunter]

20. Oh my, that you, William? You're gonna end up with a pony-tail like I did.

And you're not going to be able to lose it until the "embarrassed to have parents in public" stage.

You might even end up like my brothers, showing off pink painted toenails in the gym, or surfing.

(I'm a danger to myself and others in the gym or surfing, so I never had that problem.)

I have a serious kid like that, grown up now, graduated from college, and teaching.

Being a dad is awesome.

Squee!

[msanthrope]

7. Official thread!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024403902

[hfojvt]

9. in his first SOTU

Obama paid homage to St. Ronald.

I haven't watched one since.

I never watched them when W was pretending to be President. Couldn't stand it.

[Nye Bevan]

11. Obama on Reagan:

“I don’t want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what’s different are the times. I do think that, for example, the 1980 election was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not.

"He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like, you know, with all the excesses of the 60s and the 70s, and government had grown and grown, but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people just tapped into -- he tapped into what people were already feeling, which was, we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/us/politics/21seelye-text.html

[mountain grammy]

18. By 1980, people were feeling what the corporations and the corporate media told them to feel.

"The excesses of the 60's and 70's?" What, like Medicare, Medicaid and Civil Rights?

Reagan tapped into people's fears and racism, that's what. Obama knows this as well as any of us. This nonsense is about not speaking ill of dead presidents, I guess.

[ashling]

12. My daughter posted this on her FB page

I just told my husband that I recommend watching MSNBC for the State of the Union because of the coloring and clarity on screen, just having compared ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, and MSNBC. His one word response? "Nerd." Thanks, honey! That's so sweet!

[ramapo]

16. Me too

Never miss it. Great theater, always a good time.

[SoapBox]

17. I watched for all of about

11 seconds.

Saw the Boner.



Just...plain...creepy...looking. It's that chain-smoking / heavy drinking(alcoholic) color/skin tone.

[ancianita]

19. I saw a brilliant speech tonight. How the civilian dream can master the dogs of war. nt

[Ptah]

21. It's a show. Enjoy it.