Wednesday, February 01, 2006

As Seen On TV

So I tried my best to stay away from national television last night. Didn't really want to see any of the State of the Union. Didn't really care what Bush had to say. I knew it wasn't going to be that important, especially to me and the people of NO. Dude talked for about 40+ seconds about Katrina and the Gulf Coast. Yet they still clapped. And that's why this tradition must end.

Really, what's the point of the State of the Union address. I pretty much see it as a way the president can feel good about himself by having members of Congress, especially the majority, stand up and clap at every pause. Hasn't the President's road trip around the US been enough? He's touring the country mapping out his plan. Why do we need a made for TV event.

And yes, all that was last night was a made for tv event. I tried to watch them, but it seems like they're all full of shit. Bush, Clinton, Bush, Rea....nope probably wasn't too coherent when Reagan was President. I was anywhere from 0-8 years old. They go up there with their prepared speeches and say what they're going to do. Not sure if they ever do. Don't really care. They're going to do what they are anyway. And Congress will still clap at every pause...well at least half anyway.

And what's with the clapping? Tell me why. Can they just let the man finish. I wish I could count the number of standing ovations he received and compare them to the previous presidents. I can tell you there are always about 20 too many.

I don't know what we get from these televised events. Is the country better off? Doubt it. But I guess it's a chance for the president to feel good about himself, not discuss issues raised by the opposing party, and only give issues that matter to real people about 43 seconds. But I'll give you one thing...

Must be nice to hear all those cheers.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

No kidding on the State of the Union. Just one more chance for our glorious Commander in Chief to give himself a huge publicity hard-on and be happy about it. As if having all of the 24 hour news channels wasn't enough, we now have a period where we just have to sit and take it, because he co-opts just about all of the channels.

On the other hand, the tradition of the State of the Union address is a good one. It is a time where, theoretically, we should be sat down by our elected head of government and given a straight-out no-shitter on how things are going. Right now though, with constant news everywhere, it is really unnecessary. King George could just have his press secretary, who holds up better under questioning than he does and has better delivery, give the speech to the networks, and that would be it. Or, even better, just post it on the Internet, hearkening back to the greatness of Thomas Jefferson, who sent a memo to the legislature, and they read it when they wanted to know. Right now, it is exactly what our current talking head office-holder needs it to be. A huge, on-camera, publicity blowjob for the president. Because heaven forbid that we actually think that this blithering idiot we elected actually knows what he's doing and who he's doing it to.

6:51 PM  

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