JW77

It's starts a 9 p.m. EST, so I figured I'd start a thread so people can talk about it.

mh67511

My impression of the State of the Union:

America Rocks! But let's make the country better We can do it! ..........

In Fair Verona

Ha, looks like I didn't miss much. I was flanked by homework (and still am) but I'm going to try to find a transcript tommorow (or if anybody has a link they want to give me now, that'd be great). Right now I'm watching the Democratic response on ABC.

migamoo

Wow, see I thought there be more responses to this by now.
From what I saw, I wasn't really impressed, it just seemed more of the same to me but Bush added Social Security in to his agenda.

JW77

Yeah, if you follow politics at all then there really wasn't anything new, but I still enjoyed it.

Anyway, maybe after it's broken down a little there will be more discussion on it. If not, I guess that's ok. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

Milt Palacio

I caught about 5 minutes of it on the radio, and the last 5 minutes on TV.

The speech was what I expected and was pretty good. I heard he focused on Iraq and Social Security, which is what I expected. I liked the fact that he talked about the Palestine-Israel conflict and that they would do what they could to achieve peace and maintain two stable states. I think peace between Israel and Palestine would be a huge achievement. The Israel-Palestine conflict is at the heart of terrorism and achieving peace would do a lot in curbing the root cause of terrorism.

I thought Senator Harry Reid during the Democratic response gave a great speech. He talked about how qualifty education, affordable healthcare, and economic opportunity for all are at the heart of Democratic values. I really liked that he mentioned values, since the Democrats need to show the country what great values we have. Good job Harry!

ceilirose

Isn't Bush back to recommending the FMA act? I thought a few weeks ago he said if probably wasn't feasible.

Anyway there was really nothing new. Reid's response was pretty good and Pelosi's was sort of so-so.

Milt Palacio

Pelosi is not a good public speaker.

Jadiee

One thing i noticed was when Bush said something like America should have no right to impose its beliefs on other countries, which was an eye popper for me since we're supposedly trying to impose "freedom" on iraq. But then he went onto a long paragraph on americas views, and how we're going to free iraq, etc etc.
Hypocritical much?

WalkingOnSunshine

I thought Bush's speech was very good and he seemed more at east than he has in the past. I was glad to see Bush focus on his exact plans for the domestic agenda. His comment about welcoming bipartisan involvement for the budget should serve as an encouraging step in the right direction. When Bush outlined his plans to help the youth of the country by offering them proper job skills and helping out the community colleges. I found that encouraging because to me it reached out to those that may not be going into a business field, but instead perhaps a trade. As well, focusing attention on the community college systems could help those that want a college education, but maybe cannot afford it. In regards to colleges in general, Bush's comment about increasing the Pell Grants should be good news to those that need them for school.

Personally, I was glad to see Bush address the problem of frivolous lawsuits and make the promise to try and curb them. Bush's healthcare reform sounded pretty good last night. His proposal to try and bring more health centers to poor areas is something that needs to be done. I am still a little on the fence about his immigration plans.

The plan to try & help young boys and keep them out of trouble is a great plan. I hope it is successful and helps in curbing the vast number of them that slip through the cracks and into gangs and/or prison.

Another point of Bush's proposal I thought would help appease some critics of the judicial system (exactrly in regards to the death penalty) was to increase/expand the use of DNA to help prevent wrongful convictions. As well, Bush mentioned certain training for defense counsel in capital convictions, because those on trial deserve to have people fighting for them. I thought this was a terrific mention because of that awful story that was posted here about those people on death row that were not able to receive legal counsel. That is just awful and absurd for that to happen in this country and I hope that training happens sooner than later for those that need it.

In regards to Social Security - I thought Bush outlined his plan very well. I had already supported the ideas that were being tossed around on the Republican side. And, after hearing the President's proposal I support it even more. I think he outlined the reaons why changes are needed in that system and proved that it is not such a scary subject. I thought it was good that he addressed those that are retiring (or close to it) and said directly to them something like that no matter what others say the system for you will not change.

The only drawback during his SS outline was the out loud comments made by Democrats during his speech. I thought that was a bit dramatic and honestly tacky on their part.

Finally, the part that has really stuck out for me was when the Iraqi women stood up and hugged the mother of a fallen solider in Iraq. I could not help, but get choked up because it was so moving to see those two women that share so much because of a love and protection for freedom.

TheAngel

See, here's the thing. I understand Bush's Social Security plan, but I'm hearing all these things as to what it's really about. Talk to a liberal, someone against Bush basically, and they talk about how all this money is going to the government and how you don't get much and all this other stuff. Talk to a conservative and they say how great it is and how much it will help everyone out. I say, it's my money and I should be able to do whatever I want to do with it, especially if it's coming back to me at the end. But then, I have had about 18.00 taken out for social security so far and at 17 it's not a really big issue for me since I plan on investing for retirement anyway. But I just don't really get what the big deal is.

TokyoNiGHTS

So once again he throws his hat in the "lets put a constitutional amendment against gay marriage" ring. How many times has he done this already and then backed out of it? It seems like everytime the guy gets a chance to actually unite the country, as he claims he wants to, he throws a dagger right in the middle of it and continues to seperate the country. Great job Bush.

ceilirose

Bush is also changing his rationale for the Social Security overhaul. Now it's that privitazation, private accounts, personal accounts or whatever he's calling it will just give you back a better return on your investment.

There's a LA Times article (subscription only) where a WH spokesman speaking anonymously says that the private accounts won't help the long term problems of SS. No surprise there.

If Bush is really concerned about the financial burden he'll put on future generations he needs to make hard decisions on the current budget deficit. He's not other than saying he'll cut programs that don't work anymore.

Also Senator Harken from Iowa has said that SS could be saved by just rolling back the tax cuts that the wealthiest in America receive. Not a chance that's going to happen though.

Interesting that he chose asbestos to make his point about frivolous lawsuits. Asbestos poisoning gives you mesothelioma which is a fatal cancer of the lungs. Really frivolous isn't it?

The reaction of the Democrats to Bush/SS reminded me of how the English Prime Minister and his sessions with their Parliament. Besides Republicans booed Clinton more than a few times at his SOTU speeches so it's not without precedence.

Lexis

LOL, our lot are like children most of the time - except when they're dozing off on the benches or aren't there at all.

Despite that, I love the fact that Blair has to defend his positions every week while the opposition (and sometimes his own party) question him. I wonder how Bush would do with that?

86amanda86

I didn't get to watch the address. We had to do some things as a family and I couldn't get away...Does anybody know where I can get a transcript?