Bush's SOTU, Part II

AIDS
He's going on and on about AIDS in Africa. What's the angle?

"A work of mercy" to help the people of Africa. The price tag? $15 billion over the next 5 years. Damn! That's $5 billion per year (aren't I a math whiz?).

Sounds good to me, but this costs $$$. So how do you restrain spending, as Bush demanded early on, and cut taxes, and somehow slow the growth of our MASSIVE budget deficit? (My good conservative friend Tacitus is having seizures over at his site, seeing the illusion of "budget discipline" fade away. I feel his pain, but for different reasons...)

Terrorism
Bush receives daily reports and gives orders (ha ha! How cute!). "And we are winning." As his poll numbers fall, Bush is desperately trying to remind people of the "war on terror", and how he's responsible for "winning" (I thought this war would last a long, long time! He's claming victory only 1 1/2 years out? How "Vietnam War" of him).

He's now talking about al Qaeda, and many of its captured lieutenants. Does he mention Osama bin Laden? ... NOPE!

Shields
Missile Shield
Bio Shield

What about a commercial airliner shield? Allright, cheap shot.

Isms

"Hitlerism" was defeated by the US. Okay... First of all, what the heck is "Hitlerism"??? And if we're talking about Nazism, didn't the Russians have a small part to play?

We also defeated communism.

Unilateralism
Screw the world! "Our actions do not depend on the decisions of others".

Now he's going to defend the "freedom and security" of the American people. Against the Iraqi hordes on Miami Beach...

Iraq is bad, Hussein has WMD, but... that's it? One sentence. Interesting... If this was a call to arms, it fell woefully short.

Kudos to Iranians protesters. That's cool. No quibbles there.

North Korea "deceived the world", "America and the world will not be blackmailed". Bush is spending lots more time here than he did with Iraq.

The "Korean Peninshula". Ahh, here's the punchline -- North Korea is a lesson to be learned. We must now apply it to Iraq.

Inspectors weren't sent to conduct a "scavenger hunt". That's a clever phrase. Kudos to the speechwriter for that line (though the rest of the speech has thus far been a total bore).

More Saddam, stuff. Ahh, here's the "surprise" part of the speech -- actual "evidence" of Hussein's transgressions. If true, it's not a bad list. Enough for war? No. Bush says Saddam "might" try to dominate the region, or he "may" try to blackmail his neighbors. But none of it affects the US itself. And none of the US buildup or warmongering has been requested by Iraq's neighbors. Weak.

And if this intelligence is so solid, WHY NOT PASS IT ON TO THE INSPECTORS???

Wait, THIS is the punchline: He says Saddam helps Al Qaeda!

Of course, saying it doesn't make it so.

Saddam tortures. (Note to Bush, so does half this nation's "allies" in the war on terror.) Saddam's evil. While I cringe at the simplistic term of the use "evil", Saddam is slime. No one is contesting that.

Bush: we'll go to the UN. If they don't approve force, then fuck them anyway. I don't care.

"If war is forced upon us" -- repeated twice. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! I can't believe he said that with a straight face! Flying three planes into buildings -- THAT'S forcing war upon us. The fact that Saddam might have banned weapons, and that it tortures people is not exactly forcing anything upon anyone.

Come on! Whoever wrote that gem should be shot. The US is forcing itself on the WHOLE WORLD. To claim the exact opposite is ludicrous!

What was that, about 1/3 of the speech on Iraq? Well, he made his best case. Time to see if people bought it.

There WILL be a small bump up in his favor post-speech, but it will be interesting if it survives longer than two weeks.

The best part of the speech? No cheesy calling out to "regular folk" in the audience. I hope that stupid parlor trick is mercifully put to rest.

Posted January 28, 2003 06:40 PM | Comments (109)