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Edited on Thu Feb-02-06 12:12 AM by Old Crusoe
talking heads responded to Bush's SOTU. None of the guests believed Bush gave an address to the ENTIRE nation; a former Reagan guy believed that Bush is aiming for 50.01 percent, and that Bush feels that is his working majority.
Another guest, David Gergen, countered by suggesting that the State of the Union should be to ALL the people, not only the president's constituency.
From what I'm reading, 50% is way too high for Bush's constituency these days. Earlier, sure. But not now.
Consequently, the "success" of the address has to do with whether Bush's fiercely loyal right-wing corporate-influenced nutcase fundie base will continue to buy a disastrous war and an escalating national debt. Dying and spending tend to alienate even loyal conservatives. In an election year, I personally feel that Bush has no cards to play. Certainly he has no money to play with. And Iraq does not seem to be getting much better any time soon.
So the bluster of his physical stance and posture during the speech -- the arrogant smirking is what I mean here -- is just bluster and swagger. Unless there is a momentum to drive it, it soars for a short moment and then crashes on the floor of the Senate.
Events down the road could prove me wrong, but I'm just saying that Bush's SOTU this year was the equivalent of the baseball socks he stuffed into his underpants when he was prancing around on the aircraft carrier. There's no 'there' there.
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