"SPINNING THE SOTU" - Am Prospect's Kuttner's list of predictions:

[Nothing Without Hope]

(This column originally appeared in the Boston Globe, but I don't have a link for that. Maybe someone can post one.)

We especially must full-out resist the lies about how Iran is getting ready to nuclear bomb us or Israel. And yes, it is a lie:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1983449&mesg_id=1984089
Doubtless, Bush won't mention that Iran plans to open its Euro-based oil bourse in early spring, but that is one of the prime reasons for the fearmongering:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8354.htm
It's Iraq "mushroom cloud" terrorizing of the US public all over again, and it will be prominent among the many lies that Bush will spout tonight.

But Kuttner forsees many more:

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10972

Spinning the State of the Union

Based on his record of the past five years, Bush has a pretty weak hand to play.
By Robert Kuttner
Web Exclusive: 01.30.06

How do you give an upbeat State of the Union address when your major foreign policy, Iraq, is a quagmire; your signature domestic program, Medicare drugs, is a bomb; and nearly two thirds of Americans, according to the latest Gallup Poll, think the country is worse off than five years ago?

Here are a few things to watch for in President Bush's first big election-year speech Tuesday:

Mission Accomplished? On Iraq, look for rhetoric of steady resolve, coupled with promises to limit American exposure. Bush could offer a partial reduction of US combat troops during 2006 (in time for the mid-term election) -- but without any realistic prospect of a stable Iraqi government to fill the vacuum. One idea: a ''garrison strategy" of keeping most US forces safely inside bases. This might cut American combat losses, but cede the countryside to guerrilla fighters and anarchy.

The Boy Who Cried Nukes. On Iran, watch for stern saber-rattling without a realistic plan to contain Iran's alarming nuclear ambitions. As former senior national security official Flynt Leverett wrote in a brilliant New York Times piece last week, it's clear that Bush targeted the wrong member of the ''axis of evil" (Iraq) and the wrong strategy to contain it. In 2002-03, the Iranians, then under more moderate leadership, wanted to constructively engage with the United States to resolve differences. Bush blew them off and focused obsessively on Iraq, which turned out not to have nuclear capabilities. The Iranians, who really do have the ability to build nukes, then elected a truly dangerous radical who is expanding his nation's nuclear program. Having bogged down in Iraq, Bush has neither the forces nor the strategy to deal with a real menace partly of his own making in Iran.

(snip)

Read the whole article - it's good preparation for the lie-filled Bush SOTU. Here are Kuttner's additional topic headings after the two cited in the excerpt above:

Last Refuge of a Scoundrel. (Patriot Act extension}

Kinder, Gentler, More Deceptive. "purely symbolic election-year feints"

Hazardous to Your Health. "More bad policy ideas that are mainly subsidies to special interests" - for example Medical Savings Accounts.

Bragging Rights on Jobs? Bush will lie and distort. Here is the TRUTH about jobs:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x105343
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2394285

Aliens at our Gates. Kuttner describes the opposing forces within the GOP on the issue of illegal immigration - Bush is "whipsawed."

Lots More Red Ink Bush wants to extend tax cuts for the wealthy and make them permanent.

[SpiralHawk]

1. k & r fer sure

eom

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. kick - got to leave for some hours, hope this is seen n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

3. I would add: he will crow and gloat over what he has done to the SCOTUS

He sees this as a biggie for his RW fundie base as well as the rich corporations and neocon conspirators.

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. kick - so now this forum is back to "GD-Politics." n/t