A quick roundup of SOTU links so that I can finally close this collection of tabs in my browser:
- Scott Rosenberg: “Every single senator, congressmen and dignitary who clapped at that moment was applauding the continued existence of the terrorist threat. ‘Hurray! The terrorists are here to stay!’ Not too bright.”
- The Independent (UK): “0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq. 100: Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003.”
- Oliver Willis: “That’s a big leap down from those sixteen words last time.”
- Southpaw: “Protecting the religious aspects of marriage is not the job of the president.”
- Molly Ivins: “Last year, Bush predicted a deficit of $262 billion. According of the CBO, the deficit is currently $480 billion. Bush plans to cut biomedical research, health care, job training and veterans funding, and that still leaves a projected deficit of $450 billion. It is unclear to me why anyone would believe anything the president says about our fiscal situation. Keep in mind, this is a man who took three Texas oil companies into bankruptcy.”
- Zogby International: 50% of Americans polled Jan 15–18 disapprove of President Bush’s job performance.
- Jake points to Moby’s deconstruction of the State of the Union: “’no child left behind’ is a fairly decent program. too bad bush has actually cut funding to education in the 3 years he’s been in office.”
- New York Times editorial board: “It is actually a cruel hoax to pretend that Washington can afford to do anything new, even with the modest grab bag of small new initiatives and familiar retreads suggested by the president. In that context, his decision last night to re-endorse the Social Security overhaul plan from his last campaign was terrifying.”
- Cheryl Jacques of the Human Rights Campaign on the President’s proposed constitutional marriage amendment: “In more than 200 years of American history, it has never been necessary to use the Constitution to deny basic rights.”