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Bush's Lame Duck State of the Union Address

The Progress Report. Posted January 28, 2008.


Bush will offer "realistic" goals to Congress, but history shows he has a habit of ignoring his promises.
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The Center for American Progress's Progress Report is written by by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, and Ali Frick.

Tonight, President Bush will deliver his seventh and final State of the Union address. "Bush faces a steep challenge in persuading Americans to heed his words on the war, economic policy or any other issue, according to administration officials, lawmakers and outside observers," notes the Washington Post today. In fact, Bush's State of the Union (SOTU) speech will "skip bold proposals in favor of ones the country has heard before, a modest approach for a White House that prides itself on big ideas." Attempting to shift blame for Bush's inaction to Congress, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said, "It's just not realistic," baselessly labeling the 110th Congress the "do-nothing Congress." "American people are looking for a new direction and leadership from Washington," noted Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). "But what will the American people hear from the President during his State of the Union address? In the words of the White House: 'no new ideas.' The time has come to trade no ideas for new ideas; lethargy for leadership.'" (See the top 99 failures of the Bush administration here).

Failed domestic policies:Examining Bush's past SOTU addresses reveals a host of failed proposals. "I hope you will join me to pay down $2 trillion in debt," Bush asked Congress in 2001. But under Bush, the debt will top $10 trillion by Jan. 2009. Bush vowed to help Katrina victims in his 2006 address, but notoriously did not even mention Katrina in his 2007 SOTU. In 2005, he called for the privatization of Social Security, an unpopular plan that also eventually failed. In 2007, Bush called for a "serious, civil, and conclusive debate" on comprehensive immigration reform but was unable to muster support from his conservative base to pass immigration legislation.

Failing foreign policies:Currently, 28 percent approve of the way Bush is handing Iraq, but Bush will press that "more time is needed for the Iraqi government to reach a political settlement" and be responsible for security. Bush has been using the SOTU to tout false promises on Iraq for years. In 2004, he claimed that Iraqis were assuming more responsibility for security "month by month." Now Iraqi officials say they can't defend Iraq until 2018. "And our plan will help the Iraqi government take back its capital and make good on its commitments," Bush said in 2007, referring to political benchmarks. Today, the Iraqi government has met only three of 18 benchmarks. Furthermore, the unpopular President will also use tonight to "ask voters to trust him with more surveillance authority." Bush's Middle East peace push, the "initiative that has the most potential upside in terms of helping him to build a strong legacy," is now "on life support," said columnist Jim Hoagland.


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Drinking Acid Would Be More Fun
Posted by: QQOblivion on Jan 28, 2008 10:41 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Anyone who watches this bunk (the SotU speech) is a masochist who likes being lied to. Or else you will watch just for the laughs.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Bush no Lame Duck.
Posted by: daniel1982 on Jan 28, 2008 11:46 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Say what you want about Bush, but he is not acting like a Lame Duck president. He's been pushing around the Democratic congress, and getting his initiatives through as if he had another term to go.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Bush no Lame Duck. Posted by: JSquercia
» RE: Bush no Lame Duck. Posted by: carbon-based
» RE: Bush no Lame Duck. Posted by: braxxian1
» RE: Bush no Lame Duck. Posted by: VZEQICVA
Bush's Properganda Minister Rove at Choate Rosemary Hall in Conn. Feb. 8 th.
Posted by: williameon on Jan 28, 2008 1:47 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Let's give an appropriate welcome to the dirty trickster himself
Disgraced!
A plague on America and the world.
Carl Rove!
333 Christian Street
Wallingford, CT 06492
(203) 697-2000
The propaganda minister himself has the gall to show his face in Conn.
Spewing more Reptilian BU__! SH__!
What is he going to bestow on the faculty and students of this prep school?
How to start a War with 935+ lies?
He belongs in Gitmo getting one of his own water treatments.
He is a disgrace to this Country.
Let's give him the appropriate welcome!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Capt. Bullshitter strikes again
Posted by: jeffrey7 on Jan 28, 2008 2:08 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bush only backs up the idea that he's the savior of the world. Truth is he's the world's anathma. That means you're a curse George,I know you don't know what anathma means. Iraq is a vendetta operation. Afghanistan is about getting the opium.Pakistan is the back door to Iran. Iran has all the Caspian Sea oil. He's got less than a year and believe me it would'nt be hard for him to create a bust of an election and keep the power. We already know the congress is as lame duck as he is,they have no courage to stand up against him because the same folks that own george own the congress and the candidates and the election
www.youtube.com/RevJeffrey7
the one person not owned by anyone and the only one that really cares for you,your children,and the grandchildren we'll never know. Maybe it's time to think outside the system.

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Does Cheney know that Bush is a duck?
Posted by: johnclark on Jan 28, 2008 2:11 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think someone should tell him. We all know how skilled a hunter he is.

Think Elmer Fudd/Daffy Duck.

I mean, after that, there will be enough votes for impeachment.

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More BU__! SH__! from the Shrub!
Posted by: williameon on Jan 28, 2008 2:14 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Lies, Lies, and more Lies!
G. W for WRONG Bush is a disgrace to this country.
What a jerk!
He has destroyed this country.
Some of the damage can never be fixed or recovered from.
The pain and destruction he has caused here and around the world.
The consequences and effects of his disastrous policies on pollution and human health care will reverberate on forever.
It will take us three times as long to fix all of his mistakes.
He has accomplished exactly what he has started out to do.
Steal from the poor and give to the rich.
He destroyed what was left of the American middle class and it's dream.
He is Wrong Way Bush!
Everything he has done has been backwards.
He lives in Bushzarro AmeriKa..
He has bankrupted the treasury.
Doubling the National Debt in 7 short years.
He has created more Red Ink than all the previous Presidents put together.
Now that's what I call a fiscal Con-servative!
He has started a phony War based on 935+ lies.
Which the Faux Media repeated a million times.
Killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
Sacrificed our Militia in a Phony War and created
The Dark Army.
He is a disgrace.
The WORST American President ever.
He is a lying, spying,treacherous,piece of SH-T!
He is the symbol for everything that is wrong with this country!
He was selected and never elected!
Good by Wrong Way.
Don't let the door hit you in the a-s!
Start a library with all the missing emails and shredded documents you lost.
Bush's legacy of sin.
What a putz!

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What to Watch For In Tonight's SOTU Address
Posted by: informavore on Jan 28, 2008 6:25 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What To Watch For In Tonight’s State Of The Union Address

Of course the best thing about Shrub’s SOTU address tonight is – that it will be his last.

Thank God for small favors. Soon, our long national nightmare will be over, and with hard work and a little luck, in November we’ll choose to let the healing begin.

What we’ll see and hear tonight?

1. Look for Shrub to identify “problems” that aren’t .. or were only caused by him.

2. Where there are problems, look for him to lay the blame elsewhere, and more often than not, it will be partisan blamestorming.

3. Dogmatic, fundamentalist reichwing rhetoric.

4. Glossing over the true economic state of the union … if you consider the “economy” to include people who actually work for a wage and a living.

5. An “agenda” that suggests a fight to the last second of the last day of his stolen term of office, to turn our country further right, further corporate, further plutocratic...tax cuts or making current ones permanent, threats of vetos, etc.

May God bless America … no one else will.

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The 1930s Reichstag (but more anti-worker) has moved to Washington DC
Posted by: mrcentrist on Jan 28, 2008 6:36 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Republican members of Congress are even more frightening to watch than is Bush. Their hatred of working- and middle-class people is palpable. Whenever Bush even mentions a social program that would help people (which he's not going to fund anyway, but that's a separate topic) the GOP members don't applaud and actually look enraged. What a bunch of scumbags.

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...Did I Mention "Fear" As Another Theme Tonight?
Posted by: informavore on Jan 28, 2008 6:46 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Fear" will be another theme tonight....fear as a motivator, fear as a rationale, fear as a warning.

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» Terrorist Posted by: HeKnew
No Respect
Posted by: AlexLawyer on Jan 28, 2008 9:30 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bush isn't a lame duck; he's a hybrid lame hawk, chicken and vulture. Congress should neither stand when he enters the room nor applaud. It is inappropriate to show respect for the most corrupt, incompetent, lawless, arrogant and brutal president in our history. They should followup the symbolic actions by investigations, hearings and impeachment proceedings.

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Terrorist
Posted by: HeKnew on Jan 29, 2008 9:04 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Try 'em & Fry 'em

It ain't over 'til WE say it's over.

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