Once upon a time I zealously watched each January as the president du jour spoke to the nation about our past, present and future. It weirdly seemed to energize. Sadly, last night I watched a recorded version of 
Heroes instead of the State of the Union address. I guess it speaks more to the state of Kansas Bob than it does to the state of our nation. How about you? If you watched the tube, what did you watch? If you viewed the address, what did you think of it?
...and from our good friend MTR at From the Morning:
Without discussing politics, and I certainly have my opinions, I could only think of one thing when watching all of the politicians stand and sit and clap and stand and sit and smile and frown during last night's State of the Union Address:
What the hell do any of these rich people know about the struggles faced by your average middle class family? Read more here.
I'll blog about it.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I did the same as you. Except it was a recorded version of NCIS then Heroes. Is that sad or what?
ReplyDeleteB~
Come to think of it Bruce I watched a recorded CSI before I watched Heroes ... but I think Heroes was on while the prez was speaking :)
ReplyDeleteI actually watched the prez. You gotta hand it to him, he's one stubborn fella (or stupid). I'm trying to figure out how he is going to add 92,000 personnel to our total military, and send 20,000 over to Iraq without a draft.
ReplyDeleteI did like his idea about non-uniformed civilian military. I've been thinking about that for a long time...a way for civilians to get involved, be employed, but not uniformed, and help protect our country.
I love Heroes. :-)
I feel like I am missing out cause I don't watch Heroes!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am not a tv person but that show intrigued me when I heard about it but I forgot about it...when is it on?
Is it too late to start watching it? Is the type of show that you have to see all the episodes of to "get"?
I got hooked via a Heroes marathon on the SciFi channel a month or so ago ... it is on on Mondays but my DVR enables me to record and watch later ... but don't start watching TV Barbara ... read a book ... he says while the TV is on :)
ReplyDeleteKB,
ReplyDeleteI love Heroes too.
As far as mtr's comment about the wealthy congressmen, I used to live about a block from a U.S. congressman. Trust me, rich is not what would describe his lifestyle. In fact, I wouldn't even describe it as upper middle class.
The guy drove a ten year old station wagon and his wife had one of those older dodge caravan-klunker. Hardly the model of wealth.
While I know this isn't true with all, I still contend that a peanut farmer made it to the presidency: not exactly the model of opulence.
What got me about this whole thing is all of the posturing that goes on and how some moderates are now scurrying to cater to their new masters. Stick to your guns people or have the character to say I was wrong and here is why. It is sickening to me.
As far as Karen's comment about President Bush being stupid. He got into Yale on merit alone: WITHOUT the aid of his daddy. He made better grades than Al Gore (who needed his dad to call in a special favor for his entrance), or John Kerry in school. This point was missed during the Gore and Kerry media blitzes. I don't believe I could have made it into Yale, in spite of my great SAT scores.
President Bush Stubborn? Maybe, but, I'd prefer thinking of it as decisive. At least he doesn't waffle like most poll-searching politicians.
Winston Churchil was booted out of office shortly after the conclusion of WWII. Like Churchill, perhaps President Bush's time has passed, but I see no need to be a part of the ney-sayers and bashers that change their views like the changing of seasons.
God Bless
Doug
Thanks for the balance Doug. I took Karen's comment as a light-hearted one and don't think that she was attacking the president's intelligence.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in knowing if you watched the State of the Union address and what you thought of it. Also like to know if you have any answers to Karen's questions about adding troops without a draft.
Now for a Millyism,
ReplyDeleteYou can have great scores in school and still be as dumb as a rock. I dated a fairly well known scientist in his field of study and the man had no common sense at times.
The plan to cut gas usage is to raise prices! What! I have to drive to work! I work to help support my family! Don’t talk to me about cutting back I don’t know where to cut from anymore.
Bush has made a huge mistake and it’s getting people killed all the while this country is suffering.
I watched some of the speech. I could see a face as he spoke. She tried to remain stoic. She did better then I did I almost choked a few times.
I have no idea about who I’ll vote for but I can guarantee that I won’t be looking at test scores. Some do better then others in book work. Some have to have jobs because parents aren’t paying for everything. There are lot’s of factors involved. I have no doubt the “W” is a smart guy I just think that he has made some very stupid mistakes.
I have very little respect for “W” he has without a doubt spent the time out of touch with us middle classers. Who ever takes over will spend most of the time untangling the mess that was left behind.
Bob, I just blogged my response to the SOTU this morning. A couple days later and it seems to be evaporating fairly quickly as events unfold...
ReplyDeleteKB,
ReplyDeleteI watched about half of it, then had to put my oldest girl to bed. It made me sad.
It sickens me that conservative republicans had an opportunity to make a big difference and their party abandoned them. The republicans really blew their chance set the tone for politics in the next decade. Instead they pulled the same shenanigans that the Dem's had been pulling for years.
President Bush is clearly not the best of speekers, and apart from the occasional quip, I thought it was pretty uninspiring.
After Ron Reagan's speeches who can really compare? I miss President Reagan.
I'm with Karen, it sounds interesting, but I'd really have to see better details to understand it all.
Milly is right about how you can make grades and not be smart. She is probably even right about President Bush being a little out of touch with the middle class. I still bet he would be more fun to hang out with than President George P Bush.
Unfortunately I just flat out disagree with the statement that Bush made a huge mistake. As if this were some unilateral thing that he did against the entire county. That's bunk. We made the mistakes, and we all share in that decision.
Bush is not the only one to blame here recall that everyone from Pelosi, to Kenedy, to Kerry, to Hatch supported that decision to enter Iraq. And no, the liberated Iraqi's aren't killing our troops: extremist terrorists are.
This is not "George Bush's War": a phrase that the press so gleefully proclaims. And President Bush certainly didn't start it. It is far more accurate to say that this is a war on terror. Consider these things:
1) Fundamentalist, muslim, extremists are blowing up our troops and many more inocent Iraqis.
2) These same groups hide amongs women and children using them as shields to protect them from their deserved retaliation.
3) Polls show that most Iraqis are thankful for our presence in the area
4) That Iran is waiting for our withdrawl and licking their chops.
Okay I've vented. Sorry for my rambling.
God Bless
Doug
Thanks for venting Doug. I agree with much of what you said. I share your sadness about Republicans.
ReplyDeleteI do think that when it comes to war blame cannot be shared equally ... it is why the president is given the title commander-in-chief ... our president has the waged the war and (right or wrong) is currently waging it the way he wants to wage it - it is his responsibility ... that is why congress will not be able to thwart the troop surge. I hope he knows what he is doing.
KB
ReplyDeleteI hope he knows what he is doing.
Amen. I know you probably can tell I wrestle with this a lot. Whether he knows what he is doing is not my main concern. I pray more for the safety of those who are there or who will be deployed there as a result of those decisions. I know this is your heart too.
It should be of no surprise that I don't think that President Bush has made all the right choices (no duh here), but the commander and cheif made many of these decision with the backing of congress as well as the inteligence provided him from his support staff. What to do after you are in the mess is what I am more concerned with. And pointing fingers, yet providing no better solution is what I see with congress right now.
I don't know if you noticed this, but troops were just given permission to fire upon known Iranian insurgence in Iraq. I find this as an interesting twist in this whole mess. You mean, that Iran is supporting conflict in a country that it has been at war with for hundreds of years? I don't believe people understand the significance of this and how it is a real tell of things to come if we unconditionally pull out of the region. It worries me greatly.
It also worries me about Lebanon. Our inability to close Iraq has prevented us from doing what is right there. We don't have the global clout to aid in that debacle either.
President Bush has never denied that this was his decision, and right or wrong he does bear the ultimate responsibility. But these finger waivers in congress rightfully bear blame too and it seems to me that most of them are a bunch of hypocrites. This is something else he shares in common with Winston Churchill. Hopefully we will see some closure to this in the near future.
God Bless
Doug
Doug,
ReplyDeleteDitto the prayers for our troops.
The picture that your paint is a very bleak one and I decided to post about it and the future of our military.
Blessings, Bob
Doug,
ReplyDeleteI was never for us going to war and when we did we needed to finish one before starting another. I didn’t do a Dixie Chick I’m not that unpatriotic. The bottom line is that Bush doesn’t know what he’s doing, how on earth could he? It’s war. The thing in that it’s been mishandled and as CEO he needs to step up and do something better then is being done. It’s also no surprise that they are using women and children. From each war we learn. Lives mean nothing to these folks because they die for their religion. A bomb in the pants who cares to them they just bought themselves a ticket to where ever.
The thing is that change must happen or change must happen. Bush has no idea of what the normal person lives like. He doesn’t work where I work. I see homeless families. His wife didn’t go back to work because of pay cuts or a husband laid off. A friend of mine was just laid off from her long time job. Now what? At our age it’s going to be hard to start over. You see the war isn’t the only issue. So many things have been neglected and no amount of smoke and mirrors heros and gold stars you wave in front of us is going to change how we feel. Both sides have let us down and it’s going to be a long hard fight to get this country back on it’s great feet so that we don’t fall like Babel.
The troops and their families are in my prayers.
Milly,
ReplyDeleteThe troops and their families are in my prayers.
As our mine.
Jesus never did drugs, slept with prostitutes, or lived as a beggar, yet he had compassion and connection with all of us.
The fact the Bush came from money... which is kind ironic, since his father started as a very middle-class man, doesn't make him out of touch. As a person, I like him. As a leader, well, no one's perfect (save Jesus), but no president in recent times has faced this many major catastrophes (9/11, Katrina, Tsunamis, 4 Hurricanes In Florida) in his term of presidency: cut the man some slack.
God Bless
Doug