http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/washington/29scene.html?ex=1359262800&en=e6c29c33f0661d81&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rssDemocrats never seemed so elated about the prospect of a major speech by President Bush. Or of having it finished.
“I think everybody is ready to turn the page,” said Representative Mark Udall, Democratic of Colorado, as he and his colleagues poured out of Mr. Bush’s last State of the Union address.
“Next year we’ll have a different president, which I look forward to,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, Democrat, majority leader and frequent nemesis of the president.
They were not the only ones quick to note the finality of the moment: Mr. Bush’s last State of the Union speech after a presidency that saw Democrats battered at the polls in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, only to regain power last year. Now they face the coming election with optimism.
Democrats sat quietly while Republicans cheered many of the president’s applause lines, no longer afraid of seeming to slight Mr. Bush. They snickered at some points and some called aloud for a return of troops from Iraq. “Bring them home, bring them home,” they chanted.