January 24, 2007

1/24: The SOTU Edition

The Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations In Action

Despite widespread pessimism heading into the SOTU, most conservative bloggers ended up praising Pres. Bush's efforts. The Corner's John Podhoretz writes: "Admit it, It was a much better speech than anyone expected." Bush's most popular line by far for the right: "Whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure." More righty reax:

• The Corner's Peter Robinson: "The best statement of his case since his speech to the nation on September 20, 2001. ... He explained how we reached this point, what we face now-and what he intends to do about it.
• Townhall's Dean Barnett: "A very pleasant surprise. A strong effort, especially the foreign policy stuff which actually did put the Iraq war in context."
• Power Line's John Hinderaker: "I thought President Bush was back on his game tonight. The speech was a reminder that it's a good thing to be President. When he offered a sentence about Iraq that ended with the word "victory," the Democrats had no alternative but to stand up and cheer."
• RedState's Erick Erickson: "I liked the speech. I say this as someone who has Bush fatigue. ... I think the strongest signals were that domestically the President recognizes he must work with the Democrats and in foreign policy he will lead the country and dare the Democrats to retreat."
• Mark at RedState: "I have to say, overall, I was pleasantly surprised. ... My immediate reaction after the speech was that the section on Iraq and the war on terror was the clearest and most compelling case the president has yet made.
• Vodkapundit: "I've been (more or less) drunkblogging these things for five years now, and they've almost always left a bad taste in my mouth. ... Overall tonight's SOTU was Bush's best."

Where Bush was criticized from the right, it was on domestic policy. RedState's Haystack says he never considered Bush a conservative and hits Bush on farm subsidies, No Child Left Behind and immigration. The Corner's Jonathan Adler warns Bush mandatory fuel standards will mean higher gas prices for consumer, and also at the Corner, John Derbyshire calls NCLB "stupid" and says Bush is "still weaseling" on immigration.

Those live-blogging the event include:

• Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham: "Without animosity and without amnesty." Sounds like a tag for a really tony cereal brand. "Mmmm, Immigratios! Without animosity and without amnesty."
• Instapundit: "He does a good job of spelling out the consequences of losing in Iraq. Cut to shot of Joe Biden looking bored. (Who's picking these crowd shots -- I'm watching ABC -- Karl Rove?) Unfortunate Bush smirk during applause."
• Captain's Quarters: "The 20% reduction in gasoline consumption in 10 years should have gotten more of an emphasis on the national-security aspect of oil imports. He didn't even mention it ... Good luck on this without a Republican majority."
• Right Wing News: "Reduce gas by 20% in the next 10 years. ... They always say this stuff, hippy fuels (which don't work) and clean coal and nuclear which Democrats oppose."

'Tic'ing Off The Opposition

Talking Points MemoJosh Marshall and The Huffington Post's Bob Cesca both took umbrage with Bush chosen modifier. Marshall writes: "After disarmingly gracious opening remarks about Nancy Pelosi's speakership, the president congratulates the 'Democrat majority -- words most every Democrat takes as a calculated insult. The prepared remarks say "Democratic majority". But apparently he couldn't help himself." Cesca also identifies some mossing subjects from the address: "The words "middle class" and "New Orleans." But we did hear the words "Baby Einsteins", "Disney" and "NBA," which was awesome and made up for the oversight."

Others on the left downplayed the evening. TAPPED's Ezra Klein admits: "I found myself curiously detached from the whole affair. The Democratic Majority robbed the threat of action from Bush's rhetoric. His cruel health plan and Social Security fear mongering are evanescent annoyances, not upcoming agenda items. He's weak, and you sense he knows it." AMERICAblog's John Aravosis writes: "[Man] did that speech suck. Boring. I was bored. The audience was bored. Hell, even Bush looked bored."

Skipping the MSM, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) took his response to Daily Kos writing: "The American people want change but the President still offers many of the same ideas he's been pushing for the last six years." Daily Kos diarist NYPopulist thanked him for his efforts: "Perhaps the Presidential hopefuls who have posted here (and those that don't even do that and instead try to wow us with sidebar ads) should take a lesson or two from you. Be honest, don't take us for granted, and for the love of God, don't use us for your political gain."

With help from Click.TV, Think Progress synchronized their SOTU "rapid response with the complete video of President Bush's speech." Talking Points Memo set up a YouTube user group to house reader responses to Bush.

Firedoglake's TRex tried to live blog the evening: "Crap. Who am I kidding? I can't stand to do this. Someone else will do a better job live-blogging this speech, surely. I'm going out on the porch for a cigarette." More to the right, Andrew Sullivan had many thoughts including: "I like the energy stuff. I have no idea if it's serious, but I like it - and the connection the president made to national security. ... The NBA dude is next to the Asian heroine or whoever. There's around six feet between his head and hers. Best shot of the night."

Posted by Conn Carroll at January 24, 2007 12:43 PM