Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The SOTU and the Democratic response
I drove from York, Pennsylvania back to Princeton tonight after dinner, so I watched the SOTU on TiVo'ed delay. The blogosphere has already reacted at length, so I will confine myself to saying that I thought Bush gave an excellent speech, and Jim Webb's counterpoint was more interesting and less annoying than any such Democratic response in many years. At least insofar as I remember them.
3 Comments:
By 
Lanky_Bastard, at
Wed Jan 24, 02:40:00 AM:
I thought Webb was boring.
To be fair though, the best part of the SOTU is the congressional theatrics. You've got Cheney scowling over one shoulder and Pelosi blinking up a storm over the other. Those two crack me up! Cheney was holding in laughter too at one point. I think he tried to mumble something out of the side of his mouth at Pelosi, but she ignored him. Then there was the part where Pelosi wanted to sit on the global warming comment, but 3/4 of her caucus stood so she did too. Funny stuff.
By Ronbo, at
Wed Jan 24, 06:04:00 AM:
Bush still doesn't get it....
Ronbo Rants Against Bush In State Of The Union Speech
By 
, at
Wed Jan 24, 10:11:00 AM:
Interesting that Webb invoked Eisenhower ending the Korean War. According to this cached google report (and multiple other sources), "Nearly three years later, Truman's successor, President Dwight Eisenhower, also wielded the threat of U.S. nuclear use. In May 1953, Eisenhower authorized an expanded Korean bombing campaign, prompting the North Koreans and Chinese to respond by increased ground action. As part of the heightened military activity, the Joint Chiefs presented six different scenarios for ending the war, "most envisioning the possible use of atomic weapons," according to an official Pentagon history. "After the NSC reached a seeming consensus on May 20 to employ atomic weapons both strategically and tactically--that is within and outside the Korean Peninsula--the administration communicated its resolve to the Chinese and North Koreans. . . . Both Eisenhower and [Secretary of State John Foster] Dulles believed the message had the desired effect" of ending the war, the history reads." So, is Webb saying the US should threaten the use of nuclear weapons to end the Iraq war?
