Forecast for #SOTU: Obama will pretend to say something new, media will pretend to hear it.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 27, 2014
Forecast for #SOTU: Obama will pretend to say something new, media will pretend to hear it.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 27, 2014
71 comments:
(1) Just in case there's anyone out there who doesn't get it, that's a play on the old "We Pretend to Work and They Pretend to Pay Us" joke, and a rather good one, IMHO.
(2) Hello. I'm Eric the Fruit Bat. I'm from the internet. And I'm here to help.
You forgot to mention that you were chair of the rush committee, Eric, and damned glad to meet us.
I plan on watching a recorded Top Gear tonight instead of the SOTU. But since my daughter slept late during her nap I may well be watching a Sheriff Callie marathon. Sigh.
Somehow found myself reading National Review. Here's a bit of one Kevin D. Williamson on the SOTU:
It’s expensive maintaining an imperial class, but money isn’t really the object here, and neither is the current occupant of the White House, unlikeable as he is. Whether it’s Barack Obama or some subsequent pathological megalomaniac, Republican or Democrat, the increasingly ceremonial and quasi-religious aspect of the presidency is unseemly. It is profane. It is unbecoming of us as a people, and it has transformed the presidency into an office that can be truly attractive only to men who are unfit to hold it.
Amen, brother!
Is it not odd for conservatives to want to hear something new?
Kevin Williamson might want to read that part of the Constitution that requires the SOTU. In case he's unfamiliar with it, it's Article 2, Section 3.
Does he ever get anything right?
Iowa pretty much nails it.
Nobody's listened, or cared, since '10.
Rhythm and Balls said...
Kevin Williamson might want to read that part of the Constitution that requires the SOTU. In case he's unfamiliar with it, it's Article 2, Section 3.
Does he ever get anything right?
Does Ritmo?
Most Presidents until Woody Wilson just sent a copy to Congress.
Nothing in the Constitution says it has to be spoken live ("He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient") to Congress by POTUS.
Williamson's complaint is not with the constitutional requirement but with the pageantry of the personally delivered speech and the part that plays in the ever increasing glamorization of the office and the man holding it.
Get it right.
Yeah, ed. And most presidents also make use of the most effective medium of the time. What else would Wilson have used, telegraphs? FDR used radio. His successors used tv. In fact, Reagan used tv far more than any founding father, and more than just for SOTUs.
Now this Obama guy, I'm actually watching his address on something called the "internet". Yes, how horrible it is that the technology for witnessing required functions of government progresses. And the fact that all his allies and opponents were in the same room to hear it? That's just called being civilized.
That part also helps for making government less dysfunctional, if one is so inclined.
I'll also note, Ritmo, that this is the first time I ever recall any Democrat actually caring about the requirements of the Constitution in the last five years.
Oh for Christ's sake, Rabel. What's next… getting rid of inaugural addresses? People have sought to glamorize the office since John Adams. But Washington's rejection of his proposed honorific still didn't stop the man from giving a few good speeches.
Get the context of what Kevin's going after right.
Ritmo, you stupid shit, nothing in the Constitution states that the SOTU has to be delivered in person,
And nothing's forbidding it. What isn't illegal is legal. And it's more civilized to actually hear what the president's proposed in person, not that Republicans go about governing in a civilized way, or even make the effort of trying to take him seriously. But then, they have politics to play.
...or has to be a media event,
Right. Because the 1790s definition of media would have been really relevant here.
...or that the First Lady should play a part in it,
Uh oh. Here's the real big complaint!
or that Congress should line up to suck the shit out of the President's asshole as though eh were some modern Pharaoh.
Very graphic. And creatively obscene. I have no response other than to just let that little morsel exhibit itself as the sort of thing that would, for some apparently very ungodly reason, happen to come to your mind.
Not that you would care about that, being the totalitarian lick-spittle Democrat that you are. Anything to make your President appear more Godlike.
Hey, you're just mad the people found a prospective "beer buddy" in their president to be less qualifying than Bush and Rove hoped they'd find it to be!
I'll also note, Ritmo, that this is the first time I ever recall any Democrat actually caring about the requirements of the Constitution in the last five years.
Ooooh! Very scary! Be careful what you wish for!
You know it is more remarkable when Obama is not on TV lecturing the Nation than when he is.
He is even going to interviewed during the Super Bowl. WTF?
That's like Un-American or something. Just proves that he is a communist Muslim.
Americans did just fine for hundreds of years not hearing SOTU addresses, reading them later as the technology required. The world will not stop if people tune POTUS out. More and more, he invites disrespect from the right and the middle. Only his hardcore faithful hang on his every word.
Of course I don't care about the Super Bowl this year so I will be watching the Puppy Bowl.
Of course you know what Obama would be thinking if he tuned into the Puppy Bowl.
Lunch.
Rhythm and Balls said...
Yeah, ed. And most presidents also make use of the most effective medium of the time. What else would Wilson have used, telegraphs? FDR used radio. His successors used tv. In fact, Reagan used tv far more than any founding father, and more than just for SOTUs.
Try again.
Tom Jefferson, y'know, father of your party, thought going to Congress and addressing them was way too monarchical, so he sent a clerk over to read it. That was the model until 1913.
It was only that unreconstructed Confederate, arrant racist, and founder of the first secret police in this country, Woody Wilson who, dare I add, wished he could do away with the Constitution and came up with the "it's a living document" nonsense, decided only his exalted presence could give his thoughts the majesty they deserved.
What would happen if the Republicans and the Justices of the Surpreme Court just decided not to attend.
You want to give him all the respect that he has merited based on his performance in reaching across the aisle.
being the totalitarian lick-spittle Democrat that you are
Them's fightin' words.
Trooper York said...
What would happen if the Republicans and the Justices of the Surpreme Court just decided not to attend.
Morning Ralph, house Republicans still have a few percentage points of approval to lose. Why not shoot for a perfect zero?
Is this complaint really at the heart of any particular pressing issue when it comes to modern politics?
After all the whining is over, basically what I'm hearing is:
Screw you, mean media for making it harder to ignore the president despite my addiction to my 500-channel flatscreen tv!
You know man (men?), there are options in life. I found that a lot of good programming declined in 2007, so I junked the (mostly) useless and way overpriced cable subscription. Just last fall though I thought about how nice it would be to get a flat screen, and got a "Smart" tv. It does what tvs do nowadays: it connects to the internet. I get all the programming I want, and am in no way compelled to follow (or even know much about) what some idiotic station programmer feels would be worth my time. I decide.
And still, why no complaints about how overexposed a job of broadcasting himself that Reagan did? Was it because he was actually a better actor? He played for the right team? Because Get (or whine) about Obama By Any Means Necessary?
Page from Timothy Leary's book: If you hate him so much, tune in (to something else), turn off and drop out. But go with the medium that allows you to do that: Internet/Internet TV.
Oh we will tune him out. We have been tuning him out since he first got to Washington. He will be content with preaching to the choir.
"Oh for Christ's sake, Rabel."
I didn't say that I agreed with Willianson, but was making the point that I read his article before commenting whereas you apparently did not which made your "get anything right" remark look a little foolish and invalidated your opinion on his piece.
You can do better. I just know it.
...the increasingly ceremonial and quasi-religious aspect of the presidency is unseemly. It is profane. It is unbecoming of us as a people
George Will just said as much.
Well, guilty as charged Rabel. I should have read Williamson and might have done so if I'd not found him so damn insufferable almost every other time I've read him (I'm hoping there may have been an exception here or there, and he does tie a mean necktie). So the response was just to Icepick's comment and the quoted excerpt. Apologies if that seems like it was playing off-sides to do so.
The applause was muted.
No problem, Ritmo.
And as part of this new bipartisanship, I want to say that I like the Presidential tie.
Even if it is a little oversized.
It's hard to go wrong with straight shiny blue, but I actually also like Boehner's. Probably because I don't have any nice light green ties and that's always been a color I've wanted to find a way to look good in.
I think it was a cape knot that Williamson wore once. Props. People don't attempt exotic tie knots nearly enough.
Rhythm and Balls said...
I actually also like Boehner's. Probably because I don't have any nice light green ties and that's always been a color I've wanted to find a way to look good in.
Need deep orange skin to really set that thing off properly. On my screen Boehner is darker than Obama.
"opportunity is who we are"... and my job has been to kill it.
ARM - are you aware that Boehner does not go to tanning salons and that is his natural skin color? Look it up.
I'm actually finding myself sympathetic to the anti-broadcast SOTU spectacle. This really is little more than a pep talk that you either believe in, or more likely, don't. I can see why others resent their party being present for what's basically a political rally. I guess it's a splinter in my mind that you guys are helping to see better.
THE STENCH!
I'm about ready to turn this off. For whatever reason, a lot of what he's saying won't amount to much if for no other reason than the political mood. The legislature's controlled by a faction that hates everything about him. Gridlock is strong. The economy's in a state of nausea. This changes none of that and accomplishes nothing. You're right, he should just break precedent and have submitted a letter.
When you're right, you're right.
Rhythm and Balls said...
I guess it's a splinter in my mind that you guys are helping to see better.
I feel Ritmo slipping away with each passing day, the force is strong on this blog.
I feel Ritmo slipping away with each passing day, the force is strong on this blog.
Ritmo is just reasonable.
I'm pretty sure I am and will remain liberal. The good thing about the connies though is that their obsession with simplifying things and making everything more personable is those can be helpful goals that can still be accomplished through a rational/problem-solving mindset that they don't always indulge.
But, but, but, ... I'm AReasonableMan.
Ritmo has always been reasonable. He is like me in that he likes to mix it up. Sometimes that leads us into an alley that we don't want to go in but we get caught up in enjoying the fight.
With a kind and generous blog master like Lem there is a lot less anger and tumult. It is the tone that is set that gives rise to the more civilized tone here. Just sayn'
Don't get excited Lem.
Boston still sucks.
Has he apologized yet for lying?
I have hopes for you ARM. Hang around with us long enough and we will entice you over to the dark side.
We have sandwiches. And girls with big tits.
It's true. ;-) One one hand I'm embarrassed at some of the alleys I chose to go down but still had too much fun scuffing it up to regret that. Verbal sparring is/was an art form that I sometimes had the gift/curse of not recognizing when I took it to a place that unnecessarily offended others.
BTW, Obama's totally demagoguing on the equal work/pay issue. Maybe I'm starting to become more libertarian/classically liberal on that. Or maybe I just appreciate sloth and a good woman at home enough to not discourage her from, er "pursuing" some more of that should she want to. ;-)
Dating European women is definitely changing my idea of relationships. Ha.
BTW, if you watch the SOTU on El Presidente's website (whitehouse.gov) they're broadcasting it through YouTube with a split screen where everything on the right is propaganda talking-points in sync with the speech on the left. I went there after ABC's stream crashed.
Has he apologized yet for lying?
"He didn't build it."
Have I mentioned lately how the Red Sox are the World Champions of Baseball?
Yea. They won it all just a few short months ago.
Almost an hour before he said something above politics.
Obama thanked the troops.
Holder still around. unbelievable.
What... if Ronald Reagan what?
Iran. 'For the first time my administration will help a Muslim country build a nuclear bomb'
Hussein, ARM and Montana Urban Schmendrick won't let loose with a total all out smile until America is EXTINGUISHED! Then watch them join hands and do the Komrade Kazatski dance around her coffin.
When is Obama going to stop talking?
ricpic said...
Hussein, ARM and Montana Urban Schmendrick won't let loose with a total all out smile until America is EXTINGUISHED! Then watch them join hands and do the Komrade Kazatski dance around her coffin..
I've been practicing the dance but it is a lot harder than it looked in the propaganda films that I watched each evening with my parents before our daily satanic rituals.
Our President does not have an honest bone in his body.
The horror is that unless a massive economic implosion comes the country will limp along being bled dry by the "compassionate" Left and not reach the level of rage necessary to deal the villains ARM, Montana Urban Schmendrick and THE WOOKIE the well deserved smack in the chops followed by the expulsion they so richly deserve.
ricpic said...
The horror is that unless a massive economic implosion comes
I wonder what we might call this massive economic implosion - maybe 'The Great Recession"? That's got nice ring to it.
Don't stop with us, Pric. You also want every last Latino, black and other non-white conservative expelled ASAP and won't put an end to your "rage" until that happens too.
Lol. "Expulsion". What is this, grade school? Ever try growing up? What do you do for a living? Anything?
Addressing you as if you were a serious person is a waste of time.
Rogers kept her tard kid.
Rogers/Duck Dynasty 2016.
Winning!!!!!
I wonder what we might call this massive economic implosion - maybe 'The Great Recession"? That's got nice ring to it.
No ARM. It's the Teahadist Restoration. They've improved the economy massively, haven't they? Don't believe riffraff ric's contention that they haven't been powerful enough. They've done awesome things for the economy and they should be proud of the 2 million Americans they've laid off. It undoubtedly made the country much stronger.
How do guys like him get away with not being garroted? If I were as naturally offensive as he, I might have to consider a number of areas of my own city "no-go" zones also.
Well, he's got one thing going for him, he's a helluva demagogue.
I see worthless turd from hell Schmendrick is playing the race card good little leftist puke that he is.
Is it over yet? Otherwise, I'll got back to sleep.
Obama the great speaker, not. He's the Black Jack Kemp.
Rand Paul has a new wig and some fab highlighting...similar to Duck Dynasty star, who is a total metrosexual fake.
Titus, how's the sex life?
You hate everything and everyone, pic (fitting name, BTW), and don't have anything worth saying or listening to. Your irrelevance is only equal to your smallness.
In that vein, you manage to hit on both "puke" and "turd" in your short eruption of a reply. That's quite an accomplishment, for a five-year old. Yes, we can tell what's on and in your mind. And not much more.
Please consider what you or anyone else gains by your not going away.
You don't wanna talk to me, Titus? That's fine. Just know that I love you and always will you demented 'mo.
I agree with the crackpot who abhors ceremony.
OMG the religious ceremonies make me puke. The whole time I'm going, "God, is this really what you want?" and God is going, "No."
Did I ever mention I used to be an acolyte? No shit.
I was forced. Not my cup of tea. Did I ever relate what happened one day in the supplies closet?
It is a narrow closet with a tall stately door on one end and an honest-to-God stained glass window at the other end. Exterior architecture extremely lithic and rock-hard traditional Neo-gothic armorial interior wood. A long blank wall, and opposite a tall built-in chest of drawers. Chester Draws. Long narrow drawers containing things relating to services; tall beeswax candles filling a drawer, candle-lighting wicks inserted into long snuffers filling another drawer, communion wafers.
I was dumping communion wafers into a silver plate and they all dumped except one. One single wafer would not come out of the plastic bag. I held the bag by the ears, as it were, and jostled the open bag upside down and the bag moved up and down but the wafer stayed hovering in space before my eyes, with beams of light streaming directly into the narrow room, a holy place surely, illuminating the silver tray, just me and religious things in there, and God is showing me he likes to play with wafers sometimes for his perverse amusement. Psych! Static electricity.
So there's that.
It all seems so Mithraic. The rituals do.
Washington Hollywood ugly people etc.
Unseemly? Why don't they just blow each other and get it over with, autofellate and call it a day.
Our President does not have an honest bone in his body.
I'm making Ravel honorary blog president.
I plan to rule by executive order.
Also, alcohol subsidies. Playing to my base.
I missed the whole thing.
Should I be sorry?
One of the worst aspects of the State of the Union speeches is the demeaning presence of the members of both the Supreme Court and the JCS sitting at the Presidents feet appearing more as approving supplicants/adherents than anything else. Were I EL CID I would do away with that part of the "ceremony."
The setting does make the other branches of government look like groupies at a rock concert. Of course the other branches only emphasize this by giving him free blow jobs all the time. And then thanking him for the privilege.
The whole chamber should go dark right before he comes in, extended drum roll, "ladeez and genulmen ...," [drum roll continues, fog machine effects kick in], "the Prezzzzeeedeent," [light show effects kick in], "of the Un" [screaming, fog machine, light show, fireworks].
Oh, shit, it's a scene from Idiocracy.
I'd still do a speech but I'd come in by the side door, haul ass to the podium, and be out for boneless wings and beers in seventeen minutes flat.
BANG!
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