The timing couldn't be better for a SOTU speech:

[Thtwudbeme]

Right after:

Christmas bills rolling in.

Gas/heating bills sitting there waiting for the Jan.30th paycheck.

Kids/elderly parents sitting in the cold to save money, and nursing cold symptoms at the same time.

Gas prices going back up.

Also, let's not forget that many people are staring at their W-2's right now thinking "oh shit."

Good stuff---and the WORST time for Bush to tell us how great things are going since he got in office.

[BOSSHOG]

1. My wife says she won't let me watch

the SOTU because everytime I see bush on TV I start cussing like a Sailor and threaten to hurt the TV or break something.

Caveat: Its okay that I cuss like a Sailor cause I was one; and we can toss the profanity pretty good and loud too.

[peekaloo]

7. you need one of these

[tularetom]

2. After the speech is over, tweety will pronounce it "Churchillian"

and will tell us that * has recovered his "sunny nobility" and is once again a "manly figure". Many of us will then puke.

[Thtwudbeme]

3. That's what my husband said: here's my counter--

The talking heads can say whatever they want. The reality for most people will be that doubled gas bill waiting to be paid---it's just sitting there as a reminder to the people that they are going to be in bad financial trouble SOON, if not NOW.

[ikojo]

8. I don't know about where you live but thus far the average

high this month in St Louis has been 42. It has gotten into the 20s for lows but not the teens as it did at the beginning of December. People at work are not happy about high gas bills but some of them say, "it's this way now, the pendulum will swing back." I am not so optimistic.

[salin]

6. heh - at WHICH point in his political career?

If I recall, Churchill wasn't a terribly popular leader in the era after WWII.

[jimshoes]

12. Ahhhh the sunny nobility

[salin]

4. after working through, or working with a parent through

the crazy Medicare Plan D maze... esp good timing for those who HAD plans whose plans dropped supplemental prescription plans - forcing enrollment in Medicare Plan D (or go from coverage to no coverage.)

Great reminder when Bush starts trying to push for privatized health insurance and the glories of the marketplace for individuals to "make the best choices" for their health care (oh ya - and you folks USE too much health care - high costs are Your Fault!)

[NanceGreggs]

5. Right you are ...

BushCo has managed to get away with lying about pre-war intelligence, what goes on in closed-door meetings behind the scenes, etc.

But you CANNOT LIE to the American people about what's going on in THEIR OWN LIVES.

It is the financial pressure on the middle class (Dems & Repubs) that will be this Administration's undoing. When you have no job security, no health insurance, your paycheque is shrinking and you're sliding into debt, NO ONE is going to convince you that everything is going along swimmingly.

And once the former BushCO supporters start realizing he's lying to them NOW, they're going to start questioning EVERYTHING HE'S EVER SAID in the past ...

[thinkingwoman]

14. can't lie to people about their own lives...

yep, you've got it pegged there!

We all know what's in our checking account, how high our bills are, etc.

I'm actually looking forward to hearing him tell us that our health care costs will go down if we have to purchase insurance as individuals rather than employees. I hope he says that. I REALLY do.

[salin]

16. he will be more crafty than that

the costs of PREMIUMS will go down... of course they are NEW costs to us, and they are for catastrophic policies rather than comprehensive policies...

also rather than claiming directly (though he will imply it) that our costs will go down - he will talk about expanding the number of insured folks.... but that, too, is an outrageous claim - because many folks living on the economic edge who do have benefits now - will not be able to afford to sock money into savings accounts and pay the premiums ... thus the net number of uninsured would likely swell - but he won't get into explaining his up is down rhetoric.

[thinkingwoman]

21. the cost of premiums will not go down

insurance bought through employers is heavily subsidized. Our family of four has full medical, dental, and vision (with low co-pays and deductables) for $80 per month. No way can an individual purchase match that, and the average retail worker damn well knows that.

The average worker no longer trusts market forces anymore either. Where are market forces for gas prices? Utility costs? Food?

Nope, he can't be crafty enough to snow the majority...no matter how the Repukes and journowhores spin it Tuesday through the end of days.

[salin]

22. they claim cost go down - b/c of an apples vs oranges comparison

comprehensive insurance vs. catastrophic insurance. Very different products - but the latter is about to be sold as being "good for the American people."

I do hope you are right - that the public finally is seeing through the twenty five years of hard sell for all things privatized and all things served best "through free market forces." But do expect some thrilling spin - and some very depressing letters to the editor edifying the great plans the GOP is bringing to us.

[thinkingwoman]

23. I don't let spin or letters get to me anymore

probably comes from being a former journalist. I'm fairly immune to that now.

[InsultComicDog]

19. He cant?

He's gotten away with it so far

[thinkingwoman]

20. I think you've missed the point

Now, I'm operating on the assumption that you equate "getting away with it" to not being punished/removed from office/voted out.

Please do correct me if I'm wrong.

But all I said, in response to a previous poster, is that I agree that these lies will be easier for the average American to see, relate to, understand, etc., because they will be directly contradicted by tangible facts of their own lives.

Sadly, more than 1/2 of all Americans already understand that and yet he's "getting away with it." That would be, of course, because American individuals have no real power to instantly change our government. We don't have recall elections.

[mac56]

9. Add the fact that both Exxon-Mobil and Shell just announced record profits

nm

[salin]

11. AND that Exxon just petitioned to get out of obligations from the Valdez

spill - they don't want to pay the court ordered punitive damages (you know the part that costs companies enough that they change policies in order to prevent repeat offenses in the future).

[salin]

10. A week earlier (than speech) - MASSIVE layoffs at Ford

announced; Near flat job growth = spiking economic anxieties.

Bushco doesn't get that folks can only hold on to "visions of economic prosperity" for so long when their personal economies (the month to month checkbook analysis of inflow and outflow of $$) suggest something so very different. There comes a point where telling oneself that "I" am the anomoly - it must be good for everyone else... just doesn't work.

[SpiralHawk]

13. Climate in the crapper

BushCo and Corporo-Christo Fascists in Denial.

"There is nothing in the Bible about global climate change, therefore it must be a conspiracy of college-educated scientists and other fringe elements." - BushCo

[fed-up]

15. Bob Woodruff planned to broadcast from Iraq for SOTU

on page two of the story

"He has been on assignment in Iraq and planned to broadcast from the war-torn country this week for the State of the Union address."


http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1553996&page=1


ABC News' Bob Woodruff and Cameraman Injured in Iraq
'World News Tonight' Co-Anchor and Cameraman Slammed by IED While with Iraqi Army

"World News Tonight" anchor, Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt were seriously hurt in Iraq.


Jan. 29, 2006 — "World News Tonight" co-anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were seriously injured after their convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device in Taji, Iraq, today.

Woodruff and Vogt are undergoing surgery at the U.S. military hospital in Balad. Both men suffered head injuries. Woodruff sustained shrapnel wounds and Vogt was hit by shrapnel in the head and suffered a broken shoulder.




Looks like he can talk (if able) about how "wonderful" things are going in Iraq...

[gulliver]

17. Palestinians just elected Hamas...

... Iran is using the opportunity Bush has given them to pursue nukes.

Bush is hiding pictures and details of meetings with Abramoff.

He blew Katrina.

He broke the law in spygate, and half of the laws he signs, he declares in writing that he won't obey.

His biggest political donor, Ken Lay, is going on trial shortly.

His Vice President's Chief Staff was indicted.

...

Bush is a wholesale f*ck-up. He has created a den of thieves.

[tjwash]

18. Good evening. Everything that guy just said was bullshit. Thank you.

That's pretty much how all of his SOTU addresses can be summed up.

Honestly though, it's not the speech that usually pisses me off, because W's stupidity is pretty much obvious to everyone while he is yakking away.

What gets me muttering profanities at the TV screen is directly after the SOTU address, when the "liberal" talking heads tell us how great he was, and how we should all bow down to his greatness, and well, they just collectively insult everyones IQ and plant their big biased lips all over his incompetent posterior.

It just leaves you with a feeling of :wtf: