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The State of the Union Speech
The speech • satire • analysis • language • general comments • foreign policy • Iraq/Middle East • economy • energy • conservative commentary • DNC attack ad
The speech
Bush's State of the Union Speech 1/31/06
Watch what happened when Bush said, "Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security."
State of the Union satire...or is this the reality?
Whitehouse.org uncensored version of the speech?
Daily Show: - State of the Union CCXVII
The crux of Bush's speech: we're dependent on foreign oil. Though if you're jonesin' he knows a guy...
Video of State of the Union Speech in a highly offensive alternate universe . But which universe are we in?
More sober analysis
Factcheck.org (Annenberg Public Policy Center): "Misstatement of the Union: The President burnishes the State of the Union through selective facts and strategic omissions." February 1, 2006
Summary
The President left out a few things when surveying the State of the Nation:
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He proudly spoke of "writing a new chapter in the story of self-government" in Iraq and Afghanistan and said the number of democracies in the world is growing. He failed to mention that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan yet qualify as democracies according to the very group whose statistics he cited.
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Bush called for Congress to pass a line-item veto, failing to mention that the Supreme Court struck down a line-item veto as unconstitutional in 1998. Bills now in Congress would propose a Constitutional amendment, but none have shown signs of life.
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The President said the economy gained 4.6 million jobs in the past two-and-a-half years, failing to note that it had lost 2.6 million jobs in his first two-and-a-half years in office. The net gain since Bush took office is just a little more than 2 million.
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He talked of cutting spending, but only "non-security discretionary spending." Actually, total federal spending has increased 42 percent since Bush took office.
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He spoke of being "on track" to cut the federal deficit in half by 2009. But the deficit is increasing this year, and according to the Congressional Budget Office it will decline by considerably less than half even if Bush's tax cuts are allowed to lapse.
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Bush spoke of a "goal" of cutting dependence on Middle Eastern oil, failing to mention that US dependence on imported oil and petroleum products increased substantially during his first five years in office, reaching 60 per cent of consumption last year.
[More details:]
Analyzing the language
The Hidden State of the Union
By George Lakoff, AlterNet. Posted January 27, 2004.
"The President's speech, like most right-wing discourse these days, was in a kind of code, based on a moral system that not all Americans share." Lakoff is the author of Moral Politics and Don't Think of an Elephant: Know your values and frame the debate, intended as a manual for progressives.
Katrina vanden Heuvel, Decoding the State of the Union. The Nation, 2/1/06.
In general
David Corn, Bush's Simple State of the Union--and the World. The Nation, 2/1/06.
Jason Leopold, A Night of Fear Mongering, Big Time
t r u t h o u t | Perspective Wednesday 01 February 2006
On Foreign policy
FPIF Policy Report: A Mis-statement of the Union Address
By Stephen Zunes | February 1, 2006 Foreign Policy In Focus
James Ridgeway, Mondo Washington
Bush All Mixed Up on Iran
President sort of pro-democracy, pro-nuclear--and sort of not, too.
Village Voice, 2/1/06.
On Iraq and the Middle East
Juan Cole
The economy
Short Changed
The times call for good economic stewardship, and last night we didn’t get it. By Jared Bernstein. Bernstein is the director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute and co-author of four editions of The State of Working America.
On Energy
Juan Cole: How to Tell if Bush is Serious about Ending US Dependence on Foreign Petroleum
Conservative Commentary
Heritage Foundation
Cato Institute
DNC attack ad
Factcheck.org: "DNC State of the Union AttackA DNC TV ad accuses Bush of breaking his word, but it strains some facts in the process."January 31, 200
An ad released by the Democratic National Committee in advance of President Bush's Jan. 31 State of the Union address accuses him of breaking his word on jobs, education, body armor for troops and the federal deficit. We find it misleading in most respects, but close to the mark on the deficit.
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