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Something like that! The fake president is much more interesting and much less disturbing than the real one...at least to us, anyway.
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For some reason listening to Bush is a bit... frustrating for me... But, most politicians are like that, which is depressing.
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Why though? It aggravates me how he mixes up his sentences at times and says illogical things... But, anyone who says illogical things can annoy me...
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Just once I'd like to watch one of these and not have them mention our "dependence on foreign oil." When was the last time it wasn't mentioned, '85 or so ?
Posts: 349 | Registered: Feb 2004
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You must be a John McCain Republican then. Every TRUE Republican I know is soooo excited about this speech and the whole Presidency and defends Bush at every opportunity.
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While the domestic policy parts of the speech (the first half) didn't really sound much different than I expected in eithter content (although, if he actually expects to make his generalities into specific policies, the President wasn't kidding about "spending his political capital") or quality, the second half was remarkably good.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Decent speech, hit all the major points - energy, SS, health care, Iraq. The President has become a much better public speaker in the last year or so.
Only suprise was I thought I heard him call out Egypt, to support democracy in the ME....was expecting some Iran talk, but Egypt ? Can't say I disagree, just caught unawares.
Posts: 349 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote: You must be a John McCain Republican then. Every TRUE Republican...
Jay, I realize you're on a political high right now but to imply that Republicans who prefer/preferred McCain aren't really Republicans is lunacy and part of the image problem you have on this board.
Posts: 349 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Belle I couldn't agree with you more about Jay. I thought the speech was very good. I voted for the president and support many of his policies. However, blatant cheerleading simply to draw the ire of our left leaning friends annoys me as well.
Posts: 127 | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote: Every TRUE Republican I know is soooo excited about this speech and the whole Presidency and defends Bush at every opportunity.
This will always be true only so long as you continue to define a "TRUE Republican" as someone who's excited about the speech and the whole Presidency and defends Bush at every opportunity.
It's like saying a "TRUE Packers fan" is never allowed to say that Favre may be getting a bit long in the tooth.
quote: Every TRUE Republican I know is soooo excited about this speech and the whole Presidency and defends Bush at every opportunity.
Because you are obviously the leader of the Republican party, and so are able to judge who belongs to your exclusive club or not.
By the way, I now state that all liberals are not TRUE liberals unless they violently hate Bush for no real reason. Also, they have to love Michael Moore. To pieces. And they have to be impregnated with John Kerry's children.
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Oh, and I swear to freakin' Buddha, these political guys had better stop messing around and roll out the cold fusion already. They have to have cold fusion, because otherwise their economic proposals are completely delusional.
To put it another way, I'll give great odds to anyone who is willing to bet that President Bush is going to cut the deficit in half or that he even has a reasonable plan to do so that has any chance of working.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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The Financial Times several times mentioned Bush not mentioning where the "thousands of billions" (since trillions has different definitions in different places) needed to fund his proposal would be found.
(and they be one of the most important, influential, and conservative papers in the world)
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One important thing to remember with economic models, such as the model that allowed Bush to say he can cut the deficit in half by 2009, is that it all depends on what the model uses as inputs for some key numbers. So Bush can say that he has a model that "proves" that the deficit can be cut in four years despite permanent tax cuts AND social security reform, but that model most likely puts GDP growth at something insane like 7 or 8%. "Lies, damned lies, and statistics"...
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You know the sad thing is I’m only cheering for Bush 1/10 as much as people are cheering against him.
Posts: 2845 | Registered: Oct 2003
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My mom walked in while I was reading this thread and she called all of the smileys cute. She especially liked this one . I don't know why I found it so amusing but I did.
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Oh, the FT has nothing against Bush, its just extremely skeptical of anyone who seems to be claiming he can pull money out of a hat.
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If Bush was not doing so many illogical things and if some of his policies were not just wrong I would not be against him.
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Jay, do you wake up in the morning and set a goal for how many people you're going to alienate that day?
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quote:Tonight I propose a three-year initiative to help organizations keep young people out of gangs, and show young men an ideal of manhood that respects women and rejects violence. Taking on gang life will be one part of a broader outreach to at-risk youth, which involves parents and pastors, coaches and community leaders, in programs ranging from literacy to sports. And I am proud that the leader of this nationwide effort will be our first lady, Laura Bush.
First off, I'm not sure that Bush rejects violence, I'm eager to see Laura Bush hustle. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt.
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I hope he follows through and it doesn't go the way of AmeriCorps.
Of course, in a broader sense I'm wondering if its going to be done in a way that should involve the federal government; somehow, I doubt it.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Watching the SOTU right now. Commenting as I go. I don't see how he can cut the deficit in half with cut taxes and spending growth just below inflation, where are the extra funds coming from? Cutting tons of programs? What programs? The man needs to give details.
He wants to expand No Child to high school? why doesn't he wait to make sure it works for the lower grades first? I like that he wants to increase the size of Pell Grants, lord knows I could use it, but where is the money coming from?
Asbestos claims are frivilous? Damned people and their wanting to be able to pay their medical bills! Geez these people will give anything a standing ovation. I like what he wants to do with health care, all of that sounds like an improvement, but again, where is the money coming from?
Uh oh, energy, here we go ::braces for impact:: Clear Skies is a joke, it ruins the Clean Air Act, clean coal is a joke too. And apparently four years of debate isn't enough, people still don't like his plan. Still, how do we pay for a new power grid, nuclear power plants and the like?
lol, he said "doodie"
Examine the tax code, good stuff. Immigration reform, very good stuff, but that too will cost a lot of money.
Social Security, I give the man credit for putting himself on the line to save SS, but will his plan really work? I like how people clap whenever he makes a dramatic pause, regardless of what he said "SS benefits are in trouble" ::CHEER!:: Woah, the man has lots of numbers, gotta give him credit for that. I honestly have to say it really seems like he cares, and I applaud him for that, and for the fact that he is considering all the options, well apparently except raising taxes on the wealthy. And here's the personal retirement accounts, which I don't really like the sound of. Your money only grows at a greater rate if you aggressively push the money through the marketplace, otherwise it grows at the same rate as before, plus you risk losing it all if the market drops, that isn't secure at all. How can they assure its safety like that? It isn't feasible.
I totally don't like the ban on gay marriage, and I'm glad everyone there didn't clap like sycophants. Don't agree with the anti stem cell research stuff. I don't agree with him wanting to take away the power of judicial review, it is their right to declare laws unconstitutional. I really like the initiative to help young men in the city, so long as it isn't caked with religious undertones (But how to pay for it?). And it's about friggin time Laura did something. I like the DNA thing (more funding? again, where is the money coming from?)
Foreign policy, I don't see how he can praise Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in one sentence, and decry tyranny in the next. He needs to make up his mind, he can't flip flop on that one and hope to get anything done.
quote:America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
Eventually someone needs to hold his feet to the fire on that one and get a clear answer out of him. That's a lofty goal, and I agree with it, but at what point do we actually start using plays from our own playbook?
I like how he wants to help Palestine, on this one I don't care where the money comes from, it's worth every cent. Nice of him to pick a fight with Syria and Iran, at this point, why not? Can't really get much worse short of all out war can it?
As a whole, on average, I think I like the speech and what he had to say. I like his programs, most of his ideas, and what he wants to do. But I don't understand how he will pay for any of it, let alone all of it. You can't cut a couple hundred billion dollar deficit in half when you want to increase spending by that much to pay for this stuff, especially without raising taxes. He needs details, now, and if they measure up, I might actually find myself supporting him.
Oh no, I'm questioning my Liberal identity!!
[Edit to add: AmeriCorps failed because Bush cut its funding and created FreedomCorps, the same thing but with a new name. And AmeriCorps/FreedomCorps needs more funding. They turn away volunteers at my University because of a lack of funding.]
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Lyrhawn, Bush promised to increase (I believe the number cited was double) AmeriCorps funding at the SOTU after September 11th. As you note, he then worked to decrease its funding. Hence my earlier comment.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Was there just one Justice wearing his robe or did only one show up? Odd. They usually all show up/wear their robes.
I thought Bush's speach was ok. I liked the guests, the Iraqi woman and the parents of the dead soldier. It was pretty cool when the two mom's hugged. Really brought it out that her son didn't die for nothing.
The only thing I was really against, of course, was the anti-gay/protection of marriage thing. Everything else was ok, I suppose. I'm not an economist so I can't really say if his plans for saving Social Security will work or not... I hope they do. And I do agree that the tax code needs to be simplified greatly.
And what was that when Bush kissed the cheek of that senior Democrat? Why was Bush thanking him?
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quote:Foreign policy, I don't see how he can praise Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in one sentence, and decry tyranny in the next.
I'm pretty sure Musharraf overthrew the elected prime minister around 1999, and Saudi Arabia is proudly anti-democratic.
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Exactly my point, how can he promote the end of tyranny but praise Pakistan and Saudi Arabia when they are ruled by Musharraf and Abdullah, both men who are against democracy in the nations they rule.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Wait a second, Americorps is failing? This is one of the very problems I have with Bush. Americorps is a wonderful program I joined after college. I'd like to join it again. It does a lot of good. In our program we helped children who were having difficulty reading. If any program needs as much money and support poured into it as possible, it's the Americorps program. But what does he do? Praise it one second, cut it the next, mainly to fund these unnessasary tax cuts. When will he learn that you really, really cannot have your cake and eat it too? You can't cut trillions of dollars worth of capital gain tax and estate tax that won't even benefit most ordinary citizens AND expect things to run smoothly. If he really wants to save social security, cut the tax cuts for the wealthy, eliminate corporate welfare and tax loopholes for people who don't need it and cut the taxes of the middle class, raise EIC for the poor and people who need it, do things like that. Start doing something that benefits more than just the 1%. But he will not do that. He will keep doing the same stuff that doesn't work. Keep pushing stuff like NCLB. Keep weakening regulations and doing all the stuff that just supports a small minority while saying it's good for the majority and people will keep right on blindly and cheerfully supporting him and nothing will change. What's the point?
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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How come conservatives scream for smaller government, yet worship politicians like they were Jesus?
In the 4 years that Bush has been President, has the government gotten smaller?
Yes.
The asbestos thing was WEIRD.
Like, Everyone in America agrees that one of our biggest problems is those people bringing up their fake lawsuits against Halliburton and it's harmless use of asbestos!
Constitutional Amendment to ban gays from marriage.
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OK, one quick aside: For people screaming about the asbestos claims are frivolous line, the problem there is not that any claim about asbestos is frivolous, but that many people who have not been injured are filing frivolous suits to get in on the action. This is slowing down recovery for people who actually need it.
I'll try to find a link later, but even many plaintiff advocates have complained about it.
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in that last shot?
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