by Mary Lyon -- World News Trust
Jan. 25, 2007 -- See how they gush.
The spinners on both sides of George W. Bush's seventh State of the Union speech were at it ferociously within moments of his closing remarks. Many of them did what he tried to do -- accentuate the positive. How graciously he tried to reach out to the Democrats by meeting them up front on so many of their pet domestic issues. How much more humble he was. How the smirk was gone. How he didn’t seem so cocky anymore when he finally got around to discussing the matter that meant most to him (and the 1,000-pound gorilla in the room) -- the failed war in Iraq. How adorable and disarming it was to single out those exemplary guests seated up in the gallery toward the end of the evening. How generous and charming it was to acknowledge the historic first two words that would start his remarks: "Madame Speaker." Two words that set a whole new tone and showed us a whole new George.
Well, I’ve got another two words for all of that: “Yeah. SURE.” Because it was the two LETTERS that glared out from his podium within a few sentences of the magnanimous tribute to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that betrayed the true Dubya and signaled clearly to me how shriekingly insincere he was: the missing two words -- “I-C.” "The Democrat Majority." “I-C.” Yes. George. You got that one straight, straighter than you know. I see. Indeed.
Mr. Bush, if you REALLY want to prove to America and all those politicians that you're new and improved and ready to concede to the adverse new realities surrounding you since November's midterm elections, don't try pulling a fast one like that. Particularly one that snarky. If you genuinely wanted to reach out to the party and the voters who sent you and your cohorts a shellacking last fall, the way most of your seemingly soothing words and “kinder, gentler” demeanor would suggest, you wouldn't have tried so blatantly to slap us in the face with that allegedly unarmed hand. If I were Nancy Pelosi, once I'd gotten past the "aw, wasn't he nice?" schtick and the showy handshake, and the blush had cleared from my cheeks, I'd have been looking for the crossed fingers behind Junior's back. And the snake in the grass that revealed itself so early in the evening's game.
I'll say one thing for George, at least he didn't try that hard to bury this little subterfuge, the way he attempted to crowd out the glaring reality of his failing war in Iraq. He threw up almost 15 minutes of economic policy smokescreen before the word "terr’ists" ever broke the surface. As the clock ticked in the lower-right corner of the TV screen, it was 28 minutes past the hour when he finally slid that one in. The main event that hung over his speech with a greater pallor than the Democratic dominance all over the room -- Iraq -- was shoved to the back. The very word “Iraqi” didn’t appear until 42 minutes after the hour, and the root “Iraq” a minute later. The word “Iran” actually beat them both to the punch at 39 minutes past. We didn’t get to “victory” until 44 minutes after the hour, and the ever-popular standard references to September 11th stole their way in only ten minutes earlier (and at that, they were disguised, at first, under such cosmetic adjustment devices as “that September morning”).
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