which network did you watch the SOTU on, if you did?

[ginnyinWI]

I watched PBS--decided to as soon as I saw that Oliphant (and Brooks) would be commenting. Then I recorded a repeat of Cspan's coverage and FF'd through it this morning. And you know what? PBS had a lot more shots of Dem reactions than Cspan did. (just when I'd decided that PBS is beginning to lean way to the right). Maybe it was just this individual camera operator's preferences.

Not seen on Cspan: a nice shot of JK at the beginning, who was seated with DiFi. As * was soaking in the applause, he said something funny to DiFi, and she laughed and said what looked like, "I know!".
There were several other shots of him, and of other Dems reacting (or not) to the Chimporama. Mostly JK was sitting looking down, probably at his printed copy. But later he had a booklet of some kind in his hand with a red border--was he doing some outside reading instead? :) He shook hands with *, but didn't initiate it and certainly didn't fawn over the chimp.

Oliphant had some good comments--more on-target than Brooks' of course. Something I didn't know: that this big theatrical version of the state of the union by the president to Congress was started by Nixon. He made it a big political event, and so it has been ever since.

[MH1]

1. Didn't.

My stomach can only handle so much.

I've been highly allergic to chimpster since mid-2000.

[whometense]

2. I didn't see it either.

Can't handle watching *, even if it means missing out on some JK sightings.

Ginny, was the Oliphant-Brooks discussion worth checking out? They have the audio up on pbs.org, but I have a similar reaction to Brooks as I do to *. How was Tom?

Speaking of whom, a commenter at my blog asked for an update on him. Isn't that sweet? I wrote one last night: http://toughenough.org/2006/01/tom-oliphant-is-alive-and-well.html

[ginnyinWI]

6. the most in-depth comments they had were on Newshour

actually--they were talking about the speech-as-prepared, and Tom made some good points (I just love him). He said that when your political capital is gone (chimp) you can't borrow more. And how * is trying to put Iraq into a larger frame of worldwide peace, so that this defeat won't look so bad. And more--watch that at least.
The SOTU comments were fewer--just some comments on tone and emphasis. He knew volumes more than Brooks, who just sort of floundered around as he usually does (resembling a landed fish flipping about on the shore).

Oh yeah on Kaine--he saw a trend of Dems trying to look less partisan.

[Blaukraut]

3. only saw a couple of parts

Hubby was watching it online on his computer, and I glanced over periodically. Unfortunately I caught just the part where he was smirking triumphantly about his victory with Alito. How I hate that creature!

[ginnyinWI]

7. with me it was the reverse

I had the TV (with a Cosmopolitan in hand, I must add), and my husband had the computer and was playing his computer "shooting" game--completely oblivious.

The smirk factor, over all, was way down from last year. Way down. He looked like a scared kid who is afraid that people will find out what he really is. I don't care if he does smirk about Alito--along with all the Congressional Republicans. I'll wait for the first civil rights-violating ruling. Hope it comes right before the Mid-terms!!

[babylonsister]

4. I watched CSPAN, and you are spot on; they rarely showed any

Dem reaction, or non-reaction as the case might be. I wish I had thought to check out PBS, but knew I wasn't going to any other cable channels.
I LOVED the Dem's reaction when the blivet mentioned social security! That was the highlight for me.

[ProSense]

5. The callers on C-SPAN were great

There were a lot of Republican calls criticizing Bush. Most times the wingnuts take over, but this time it seems that some rational ones got through.

[ginnyinWI]

8. a welcome change

The nuts on both sides usually have all the calls, and we get both extremes. These are the people concerned enough to go through all that hassle to call in I guess.

[Vektor]

9. I avoided it like the plague.

I can't stand looking at the lying sack of shit.

[Dr Ron]

10. ABC and NBC in High Definition

Considering that none of the commentators do a particularly good job, in cases like this I go with the high definition feed.

Watching in HD on a big screen it is possible to see that:

Bush's nose grew when he stated his surveillance activites were not illegal, and when he claimed health savings accounts would help make health care more affordable.

Those flag pins which Bush and Cheney were wearing had little swasticas instead of stars. :)