I thinking about how Obama and Hillary could have a win-win situation, I was thinking about Hillary as a Supreme Court Justice.  It’s inevitable that a President Obama would be appointing one or more during his term.  

Imagine having Hillary on the SOTU as a champion for women’s reproductive rights and other progressive issues. Imagine her fighting spirit up against Alito, Roberts and Thomas.  

The SOTU could enable Hillary Clinton to have a lifetime of service with power and prestige standing up for the issues she cares about.

If Obama has long coattails, a Democratic majority could confirm her nomination.  It would salve a lot of consciences of SD’s who may have forsaken her.

It would seem to be a win-win for everyone concerned, including the American people who would have a powerful, progressive woman on the Supreme Court.

[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.

Stepping back from President Bush’s State of the Union address four days one is struck at how the country and Americans have become completely accustomed to being utterly ignored.  Iraq continues to be a horrifying cauldron of failure, the disaster of federal deficit is a significant detriment in an economy gone to hell, New Orleans still festers in unbelievable neglect and incompetence, health care is another horror, the Army and Marine corps are busted with the Reserves wiped out, infrastructure and education scream for investment, and yet what does the President of the United States babble on about?

Earmarks.  This from an utter charlatan of wanton drunken spending the likes of which will never be seen again, after blowing half a trillion dollars on Iraq (so far) in a nauseating unending horror show this felon, this rank liar with lakes of blood at his feet, actually expected someone, anyone, to think he was serious in this ludicrous yap of infuriating denial about spending discipline—it was as if Stalin had showed up and lectured Congress on the rights of political prisoners.

Just thought this would be a fun distraction from all the candidate mania:

The Washington Post reports today on a bunch of college students hosting a SOTU drinking game. What's so special? First, these are Democrats at BYU. Second, of course, this is a non-alcoholic drinking game--sodas only. You'll remember these intrepid kids from their national-news-making protests against Dick Cheney coming to speak at their graduation last June. More fun over the flip!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Click this link -->> Bush vs. President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.   President Camacho is  man with vision.   He finds the best people to hire, regardless of background.   Time will tell.

The other night we heard President Bush's final (!) State of the Union speech, and yesterday we heard responses from Presidential candidates and (sadness!) soon-to-be former candidates. Well what I have been thinking about and was thinking about during SOTU, besides the hilarious interjections of a co-worker "correcting" Bush's statements to reflect real life, was what the President had to say about our legal rights and our legal sytem. Civiljusticey as I am usually, this was particularly important to me given all the FISA stuff going on (go Netroots!) as well as the presence of 9/11 volunteers in the audience who STILL haven't received adequate health care and compensation for their sacrifices.

What Bush did say certainly had stunning implications for our rights. In brief review below the fold:

Each time I sit down to type out my latest blog, I get this strange sensation that maybe I’m reading far too much into what I’m about to discuss.  

What prompted this particular feeling of ‘did I just hear that right?’ was Shepard Smith and Bill O’Reilly questioning their job security.  Smith was speaking with Carl Cameron and Major Garrett about the upcoming election and he stated that they ‘have job security at least until the Spring’ of next year.  O’Reilly, during his ‘Talking Points Memo’ about the SOTU, used the phrase "...if I’m around this time next year".  Is it just me, or are you getting the sense that the guys and gals at Fox’News’ are fearing they will be losing 'power' with the exeunt of the Bush administration?

Like I said, maybe I’m just seeing and hearing things that aren’t there.    

Rather than analyze the SOTU, as so many diaries here will have already done, I thought it might be interesting to see what some of the ‘wingers’ are saying about Bush's bland, talking-point-fest.

------------> more sleep deprivation speculation below the fold

In my diary yesterday, I can’t believe I’m doing this!, there were numerous comments that asked me to post back about how my students, who were required to watch at least while the President spoke, reacted to the State of the Union message on Monday.  For many it was the first time they had seen the SOTU ceremonial, which perhaps shaped some of the reactions.  For others, including several who are exceedingly political aware, they were in a position to compare this SOTU to at least a few of those Bush has previously given.  This diary will offer some of what they had to say.

Here's an informational alert on a new development in the state of the union's health care crisis.

Employer group plans, which usually have better benefits and coverage, are being dropped and switched to payouts to employees to buy their own individual coverage.

Bush's SOTU address did not address this trend specifically, but since Bush promotes private individual health plans as a panacea, this terrible new trend is likely to continue without government intervention and perhaps tacitly promoted as part of Bush's belief in rewarding insurance company cronies with private individual insurance as the 'solution' to our health care coverage crises. If this trend continues, Bush and his insurance company cronies will be in ecstasy while Americans suffer even more.

You know, I’m not going to beat around the Bush(who just complained about junk lawsuits and lawyers in the SOTU), I’m a little irritated with the lack of substance and clarity that many have, regardless of their credentials, when it comes to what’s been happening in the last 4 years. Apparently I can remember, what so many self-proclaimed legal experts can’t: the 2004 election:

It should come as no surprise that Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) attended the President's final State of the Union (SOTU) speech.  Hopefully, it's Norm's last as a Senator, too.  What was Norm's reaction to last nights speech and how does that compare with his previous enthusiastic enabling support of the President's lack of any vision whatsoever for our country?

"We have a lot of challenges out there. I think the public wants us to get things done. There wasn't a specific agenda or roadmap here, it was challenges. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle figure out that we've got to move forward on these issues." - Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
(West Central Tribune Online)

Here's the translation from Norm-speak^TM into plain and only slightly snarky English:

"I'm going to have trouble getting reelected because of Iraq, the recession, healthcare and the home foreclosure crisis.  Especially since I haven't done anything constructive to deal with any of these problems.  Bush has no plan, he's hanging me out to dry here people.  Somebody please help me."

Thought I'd take a break from a personal and take a look at some words from the man who made this blog possible. Yesterday during President Bush's final State of the Union (is that Handel's Messiah I hear?) he briefly discussed education, one of the few "achievements" of his presidency. He talked about the success of No Child Left Behind and the necessity to strengthen the bill:

Six years ago, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and today no one can deny its results. Last year, fourth and eighth graders achieved the highest math scores on record. Reading scores are on the rise. And African-American and Hispanic students posted all-time highs. Now we must work together to increase accountability, add flexibility for States and districts, reduce the number of high school dropouts, and provide extra help for struggling schools. Members of Congress: The No Child Left Behind Act is a bipartisan achievement. It is succeeding. And we owe it to America's children, their parents, and their teachers to strengthen this good law.

BIG FAT MOUTH

you take my time
you take my money
you take "me, mine"
and you think "me funny"

man you think you're as cool
as the breeze blowing out
of your big fat mouth

you take their arms
and you take their legs
you take them live
and you make them death

and you think it's as cool
as the breeze blowing out
of your big fat mouth

---

we're just lucky
that everything's a dream

and someday, oh someday
that dreamer is going to wake up

i just know that she will

In what is shaping up to be the snub of all snubs, sources close to the action say that one of the Clintons passed gas during Bush's SOTU speech last night. Aides close to both campaigns have confirmed it was a real stinker. A source, who wishes to remain anonymous is quoted as saying:

I think that once Obama snubbed Hillary so obviously that one of them [Clintons] took it upon themselves to let one fly and snub the snubber.

Another person close to the two camps noted:

The thing is, it was silent. So it's really hard to tell which one [of the Clintons] let her rip. It packed a real wallop. My guess is that it was Hillary. It was all we could do not to pass out.

The Obama campaign has refused to respond to questions regarding this supposed snub. But the blogosphere is alive with traffic pondering the matter. Rumors are afloat that a picture will surface showing the aforementioned bomb dropper mid rip and will confirm if in fact it was Hillary doing the passing. One pundit summed up what many are thinking in the field of punditry:

If it turns out that Hillary did commit the ultimate snub, will the press portay this as "dirty" politics?

Over the past several years, both sides of the aisle have played politics with the troops. The Republicans are clearly the worst offenders with their mantra "You can't support the troops without supporting their mission." Hand ringing Democrats- like Joe Biden - who once supported the war, now claim they were "misled" and the war has been "mismanaged." If only Biden had read a couple of diaries here at Kos he would have known this was thing was going to be a disaster. Biden and friends claim they truly understand and care about the troops. Joe claims that he's the reason the pentagon finally got the MRAPs (mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles)over to Iraq. The truth is there should have been and should be now an honest debate on the policy rather than using the troops as a political football.

Last night, Mr. Bush spat in the face of every person who believes that the purpose of our government is to promote the common welfare of this country's citizens.  After declaring that his mal-Administration lacked the imagination to foresee a single god-damned thing coming down the pike, Mr. Bush asked us to trust everybody but the government, making it abundantly clear that he has been working since Day One to dismantle all of the mechanisms that have worked to protect us from ignorance, disease and poverty.  As if Katrina didn't make it obvious enough, Mr. Bush wants government to fail.

In his last State of the Union address, President Bush fired one final salvo his war against public education in signature fashion.  Not to content to endorse yet another conservative school voucher scheme, President Bush appropriated the name of the very popular Pell Grant program to market it.  And by targeting African-Americans with his "Pell Grants for Kids," Bush zeroed in on the one Democratic constituency conservatives believe might support it.

This diary is my response to Senator Dick Durbin’s response to the President’s State of The Union address.
http://www.dailykos.com/...

Senator Durbin, a single question was in my mind as I watched your response:

WHY?
Why would our Congress allow the travesties of the Bush administration to continue?

Why haven’t the Democrats been able or willing to stand up to Bush with every legislative power possible to, at a minimum, STOP more appalling things from passing?

Sadly, enough legislators haven’t stood up to Bush....in fact, many joined the President on votes that continue to bankrupt our country, destroy our environment, kill our military, and gut our Constitution.

Why Senator Durbin hasn’t there been ACTION against this corrupt, lying administration?  

And going forward, Senator Durbin, what are you going to do about it?

Cross-posted to the ACLU blog.

As expected, President Bush played the fear card in his State of the Union address last night. Once again, he's trying to scare the public into thinking that come February 1, the phone lines will be burning up with terrorist-to-terrorist phone calls that our intelligence agencies won't be able to listen to, because Senate Democrats want to debate FISA legislation instead of blindly accepting the White House's demands: