Tag: state of the union

Speaker Paul Ryan has brought the big guns for tonight’s SotU.

Nuns.

Seriously, there’s not much farther you can escalate things than with nuns. The only group that might hope to trump nuns would be Girl Scouts; and not even Barack Obama crosses the Girl Scouts if he could possibly help it. This is a documented truth, by the way. It is a minor tragedy of my life that I never quite figured out how to duplicate that event at a later time…

Regretfully, I will be healthy enough for the SotU.

I was kind of hoping that I’d still be as sick as a dog, but alas I’m almost better.  Just a bit of a sore throat and strained stomach muscles, for pretty much the same reason and you don’t want to hear any more on the subject, yes? Yes, I thought so.

So, live-tweeting the thing tonight, apparently. What fun. What joy. What a shining day for the Republic.

One year, eight days.

Joe Biden doing his Clown Show routine during State of the Union.

So, yesterday there was an animated gif going around that showed Joe Biden being the most Joe Biden that Joe Biden could possibly be…

…but I told myself that it wasn’t real.

Nope. It’s real.

Continue reading Joe Biden doing his Clown Show routine during State of the Union.

Mitch McConnell: No, there will be no tax hikes to replace the sequester.

This is a pretty clear statement.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that he would not accept a plan to avert the sequester by raising taxes, just days before Democrats are expected to propose exactly that.

“My constituents in Kentucky will not accept a tax hike in the place of spending cuts that were already agreed to by both parties,” McConnell said. “We agreed to reduce this amount of spending in October of 2011, without raising taxes. We’ve already made this agreement.

“The question is, what are we going to do about it?”

Continue reading Mitch McConnell: No, there will be no tax hikes to replace the sequester.

Speaker Boehner extends State of the Union invitation to President.

That’s not all he’s extending.

Speaker of the House John Boehner has formally offered an invitation to the President to give his annual State of the Union address.

As we work together to end this legislative year by advancing initiatives to help Americans struggling a difficult economy, we must also look ahead for new opportunities to put solutions before politics.  In the coming year,. Republicans will continue our efforts to create an environment for economic growth and job creation, and we welcome an opportunity to hear your new ideas for working with the Congress.  There fore, I am privileged to invite you to deliver an address on the State of the Union on January 25, 2012, before a Joint Session of Congress.

Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to your response.

You know, I just bet that Speaker Boehner does.  Not that Barack Obama dares respond as he would like to; which is to say, with a blistering oath or two. Continue reading Speaker Boehner extends State of the Union invitation to President.

Paul Ryan to give GOP SotU response.

The Washington Post reports that Representative Ryan will be giving it from the House Budget Committee room, which is simultaneously: nicely symbolic; and a reminder that there’s a reason why Ryan is now the House Budget Chair.

It’s an interesting choice.  As the WaPo noted, the last two choices were Governors Jindal (2009) and McDonnell (2010).  While I actually liked Jindal’s response, there’s no denying that the message being conveyed by both of the GOP’s picks was more or less parallel to the actual speeches themselves.  In Jindal’s case, the Republican message was The Democratic party lies when they claim that we hate minorities; in McDonnell’s, it was You ain’t so tough, Barry.  You can be beat.  Knowing what I know of Rep. Ryan – I expect to see at least three graphs during his response – the underlying message here is We will be talking about fiscal responsibility, whether or not the President chooses to himself.

If President Obama is smart, he’d be well-advised to not permit too much of a contrast in that regard between his remarks, and Rep. Ryan’s.  He’d also be well-advised to take Ryan’s advice, but I’m not about to start relying on “And then a miracle occurs” when it comes to domestic policy.

Moe Lane (crosspost)