The White House is trying something new. This is a live stream of President Obama's State of the Union address, but the new wrinkle is charts, graphs and new info tied to whatever part of the speech he's in. Pretty cool.
We'll also have a live blog - join us, and let us know what's on your mind. If you're watching/reading the SoTU on this feed (and not tv) you might want to open the Live Blog in another tab.
Who's going to an SoTU watch party? Let us know in comments where you'll be, and what you're anticipating for tonight. Then please join us just before 9 when two posts will go up:
Later tonight, just before President Obama strides into the joint session of Congress to deliver his State of the Union address, we're going to put up two posts.
State of the Union Live Stream with "Enhanced" Bonus Info The White House is doing something different this year, an "enhanced" live stream of the speech - more on this here - with charts, graphs and other info popping up to further illustrate what the president is saying at that moment.
Live-blogging the State of the Union If you're listening/watching the president's speech in our live stream post, open a second tab to participate in our live blog, so the president's words continue uninterrupted. We'd love to know what's on your mind.
How stupid/naive are the Democrats? a.) Very b.) Extremely c.) Quite a bit d.) All of the above.
As you know by now, much ado is being made about the Democrats and Republicans sitting amongst each other rather than separately. Some Democrats are absolutely giddy about the prospect of sitting next to their Republican colleagues.
Does anyone know who will be sitting next to Senator Lautenberg or Senator Menendez? Does anyone care?
Will this usher in a new spirit of bipartisanship? Don't bet on it.
When will they ever learn that the Republicans are not interested in working with the Democrats on anything? As soon as the President is finished with his speech, by tomorrow the Republicans will be getting back to work on their agenda, beginning with attempting to chip away at Roe v Wade and further restrict reproductive rights. Economic recovery can wait, because the economy is working quite well for the real Republican base, thank you.
What about jobs? How about removing the word "bipartisanship" from the vocabulary and replacing it with "jobs"? The President and his Democratic cohorts in Congress can take a lesson from the Republicans, and name every bill they introduce "The Job-Creating {insert name of bill here}".
It's about JOBS, Mr. President. Not "stimulus", not "bipartisanship", not a new spirit of cooperation and national unity.
Senator Bob Menendez appeared on the Rachel Maddow show last night to discuss the State of the Union and the state of play going forward. Rachel started asking him about a memo regarding driving a wedge between the tea party movement and Republican party.
He said it's a question of whose side you are on. He talked about the GOP sitting on their hands over the bank fee, contributions in elections and regulatory reform. He said they don't stand with the average citizen. Rachel questioned about Blue Dog defections sapping the strength of the argument, but Menendez said that he suspects these are issues that the Blue Dogs will have to be on board with. I'd say that remains to be seen. Menendez says this election needs to be a contrast. You need to define yourself, define your opponent and give the voters a choice. He then talked about strategies for both the primary and general. You can see for yourself:
Updated by Jason Springer: The full 70 minute speech is viewable through the embed thanks to nbc. Here is the text.
I'm a little late to the party and just getting home. But here is a stream of the President's State of the Union. Are you watching? What do you think of what you hear? This is an open thread:
This is a pretty interesting statement by my Republican Congressman, definitely choosing to talk about Democratic issues. Do you see anything about terrorism or Iraq?
"Last week, the President rightly set the tone for how the Congress and the Administration should work together to solve the issues facing the country. In cooperation with Speaker Pelosi and Republican Leader Boehner, the President agreed upon an economic stimulus package to calm the anxiety of American families, including those in South Jersey. It is a legislative package that will be considered by the full House this week and one that I intend to support. Tonight, the President highlighted additional economic initiatives and other key domestic issues that I hope the Congress can again find bipartisan cooperation on.
Since the poor guy had to sit through it, I want to put his statement up...
"For the eighth time in eight years, the President's State of the Union Address failed to lay out a strong vision for America's working class families. Job losses, long term unemployment, reduced family income and a damaged stock market have forced anxiety around kitchen tables all across the country."
This is only marginally New Jersey-related, but I hope Juan will forgive me for drawing your attention to this DCCC contest called The Real State of the Union. The Blue Jersey community is too talented to overlook this video opportunity, even if not a single celebrity judge is from New Jersey.
Step 1
Get your camera and make a short video telling us what you want to hear at the State of the Union. Where do YOU want the country to go in 2008 and beyond?
Step 2
Go to YouTube.com and upload your video.
Step 3
E-mail the web address of your video to stories@dccc.org to let us know where we can find your video!
A panel of celebrity judges will select the winners.
ps. Post your youtube here in a diary too. Mention New Jersey again so that I don't get deleted for violating the site rules. :)
George W. Bush said tonight that "success in this war is often measured by the things that did not happen." What he apparently doesn't understand is that failure is also measured by that same yardstick.
President Bush said we would be welcomed as liberating heroes, and that didn't happen. President Bush said that we would find remnants of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, and that didn't happen. President Bush said that Iraqis would set aside sectarian differences to create a civil society, and that didn't happen. President Bush said that if we just "toughed it out" that the insurgency would be defeated and peace would reign, and that didn't happen, either. Now the same person who has been wrong about every other thing that has happened in Iraq is telling us that everything will be fine if we just send a few more thousand American soldiers to serve as targets for sectarian militias.
The President's "new strategy" is limited to a few new lines of rhetoric to describe his failed "stay the course" policy. Oh, and sending 21,500 more American soldiers into harm's way without any clear idea of what they are supposed to achieve or how they would achieve it. One definition of insanity is to try the same thing over and over and hope for different results.
Democrats will not sit by idly and allow this to happen. I specifically requested a seat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee so I could be sure that someone would hold the Bush Administration responsible for conducting our military affairs in a way that brings honor to our servicemembers and greater security to the American people. My fellow Democrats and I will use all of the parliamentary procedures at our displosal to ensure that President Bush does not waste our resources - including our most precious resource: the lives of our fighting men and women.
(let us know your response too in comments - promoted by Hopeful)
George Bush gave his 2007 State of the Union address tonight. Below are responses from Democrats 2000 supporters and party leaders from around the state.
Steve Lenox, President, Democrats 2000
"Many of us have benefited from working for understanding employers who have stuck with us early in our careers knowing that we would soon grow into our jobs. Unfortunately, now 7 years in, voters across the country have realized that President Bush is grossly unqualified to for the job he was 'hired' to do."
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Zenon Christodoulou, Dems2000 Supporter, Somerset
"President Bush pledged to cut the defecit in half and I hope that doesn't mean he's going to impoverish twice as many of our kids."
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Nathan Rudy, Chair, Blue 7th PAC
"President Bush's solutions are always half measures that do more harm than good, from his international disasters to his domestic proposals. It's frankly amazing that he can propose that increasing taxes on middle class families with good health plans as the basis of reforming health care in this country. It's yet another right wing think tank idea like the Iraq war escalation he calls a "surge" that is going to hurt Americans more than help them."
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Barbra "Babs" Casbar, President, NJ Stonewall Democrats
"After six years in office George W. Bush has no veracity with the American public. His tax cuts for the rich, and his generous grants of corporate welfare have put the financial burden of his misguided and mismanaged war in Iraq on the backs of our working poor. By embracing the "big-brother" concept of government and funding of domestic theocratic organizations, his actions have run counter to our American principles of Democracy.
His new proposal to tax health benefits which may put the greatest burden on middle class singles and families, and especially those with children, appears to be downright diabolical.
Bush and the Republican administration continue to foster divisiveness and do nothing to foster civil rights for racial, religious, sexual, ethnic and gender minorities.
His war built on lies and convenient half truths has left over 3000 of our sons and daughters dead, and many thousands more maimed mentally and physically."
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Jeff Gardner, Executive Board, New Jersey for Democracy
"The president's attempt to use a token domestic agenda to divert attention from the disaster he created in Iraq only underscores how little can be done domestically while spending $6 billion a month elsewhere. Universal Healthcare? Better Education? Equal Opportunities? Maybe if we still had the extra $500 billion we've squandered on Bush's war, we could have a real domestic agenda to talk about. Instead, the only good news is that Bush has - at most - one more State of the Union address to give."
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Victoria Pistone, Dems2000 Member, Jersey City
"For almost two terms in the White House, President Mr. Bush and his administration have failed to recognize that there is a global warming situation affecting more than just our climate. Changes in our environment are more evident than ever, and it's time that this administration accepts the science of experts around the world and begin dealing with this reality immediately."
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"I welcome the President's focus on the ever-growing crisis of the uninsured and underinsured in our country. The 46 million uninsured individuals, including 1.2 million persons here in New Jersey, deserve our immediate attention. The President's comments are helpful, and I am certain other governors would agree this should be a starting point for a bipartisan discussion to finally address this pressing issue.
"The President's willingness to provide funding to states experimenting at ways to cover the uninsured is a positive step, as long as it is not done at the expense of the successful SCHIP, Medicaid and Medicare programs. I have great appreciation for the ability of state governments to tackle challenging problems in new and innovative ways, and we would certainly be open to working with the Administration and our Congressional delegation to take advantage of this program. With that said, this plan does not and should not relieve the federal government of its responsibility to find a larger solution to this problem.
"While I have never believed that the tax code is the best way to help the uninsured and the underinsured in our country, this is a national problem that requires leadership at the national level. It is beyond time to act. We must now keep our eye on the ball as we develop proposals to address this growing crisis."
Senator Menendez:
The president and his surrogates have been doing a considerable amount of talking during the past few months - including his recent speech on Iraq and tonight's State of the Union address. It has become increasingly clear, however, that one thing the president hasn't been doing is listening. Specifically regarding his continued failed policy in Iraq, the president has not been listening to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans in the Congress, or to our allies abroad. American families watched tonight's State of the Union address seeking a glimmer of hope, a sliver of possibility that the president would alter his failed foreign policy. They, like all of us listening in the chamber, were sorely disappointed.
"While I welcome the president to the overall dialogue on energy independence and conservation - the fact remains that President Bush's rhetoric on this issue has not been rooted in reality. The American people have heard a lot of promises from the president, but haven't seen a lot of progress. Just last year, the president declared the need to kick America's addiction to oil - he then followed that sweeping rhetoric with a budget that furthers our nation's dependency on foreign oil."
Democratic Response of Senator Jim Webb
To the President's State of the Union Address
Good evening.
I'm Senator Jim Webb, from Virginia, where this year we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown - an event that marked the first step in the long journey that has made us the greatest and most prosperous nation on earth.
It would not be possible in this short amount of time to actually rebut the President's message, nor would it be useful. Let me simply say that we in the Democratic Party hope that this administration is serious about improving education and healthcare for all Americans, and addressing such domestic priorities as restoring the vitality of New Orleans.
Further, this is the seventh time the President has mentioned energy independence in his state of the union message, but for the first time this exchange is taking place in a Congress led by the Democratic Party. We are looking for affirmative solutions that will strengthen our nation by freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil, and spurring a wave of entrepreneurial growth in the form of alternate energy programs. We look forward to working with the President and his party to bring about these changes.
There are two areas where our respective parties have largely stood in contradiction, and I want to take a few minutes to address them tonight. The first relates to how we see the health of our economy - how we measure it, and how we ensure that its benefits are properly shared among all Americans. The second regards our foreign policy - how we might bring the war in Iraq to a proper conclusion that will also allow us to continue to fight the war against international terrorism, and to address other strategic concerns that our country faces around the world.
When one looks at the health of our economy, it's almost as if we are living in two different countries. Some say that things have never been better. The stock market is at an all-time high, and so are corporate profits. But these benefits are not being fairly shared. When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it's nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day.
Wages and salaries for our workers are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth, even though the productivity of American workers is the highest in the world. Medical costs have skyrocketed. College tuition rates are off the charts. Our manufacturing base is being dismantled and sent overseas. Good American jobs are being sent along with them.
In short, the middle class of this country, our historic backbone and our best hope for a strong society in the future, is losing its place at the table. Our workers know this, through painful experience. Our white-collar professionals are beginning to understand it, as their jobs start disappearing also. And they expect, rightly, that in this age of globalization, their government has a duty to insist that their concerns be dealt with fairly in the international marketplace.
In the early days of our republic, President Andrew Jackson established an important principle of American-style democracy - that we should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base. Not with the numbers that come out of Wall Street, but with the living conditions that exist on Main Street. We must recapture that spirit today.
And under the leadership of the new Democratic Congress, we are on our way to doing so. The House just passed a minimum wage increase, the first in ten years, and the Senate will soon follow. We've introduced a broad legislative package designed to regain the trust of the American people. We've established a tone of cooperation and consensus that extends beyond party lines. We're working to get the right things done, for the right people and for the right reasons.
With respect to foreign policy, this country has patiently endured a mismanaged war for nearly four years. Many, including myself, warned even before the war began that it was unnecessary, that it would take our energy and attention away from the larger war against terrorism, and that invading and occupying Iraq would leave us strategically vulnerable in the most violent and turbulent corner of the world.
I want to share with all of you a picture that I have carried with me for more than 50 years. This is my father, when he was a young Air Force captain, flying cargo planes during the Berlin Airlift. He sent us the picture from Germany, as we waited for him, back here at home. When I was a small boy, I used to take the picture to bed with me every night, because for more than three years my father was deployed, unable to live with us full-time, serving overseas or in bases where there was no family housing. I still keep it, to remind me of the sacrifices that my mother and others had to make, over and over again, as my father gladly served our country. I was proud to follow in his footsteps, serving as a Marine in Vietnam. My brother did as well, serving as a Marine helicopter pilot. My son has joined the tradition, now serving as an infantry Marine in Iraq.
Like so many other Americans, today and throughout our history, we serve and have served, not for political reasons, but because we love our country. On the political issues - those matters of war and peace, and in some cases of life and death - we trusted the judgment of our national leaders. We hoped that they would be right, that they would measure with accuracy the value of our lives against the enormity of the national interest that might call upon us to go into harm's way.
We owed them our loyalty, as Americans, and we gave it. But they owed us - sound judgment, clear thinking, concern for our welfare, a guarantee that the threat to our country was equal to the price we might be called upon to pay in defending it.
The President took us into this war recklessly. He disregarded warnings from the national security adviser during the first Gulf War, the chief of staff of the army, two former commanding generals of the Central Command, whose jurisdiction includes Iraq, the director of operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many, many others with great integrity and long experience in national security affairs. We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable - and predicted - disarray that has followed.
The war's costs to our nation have been staggering. Financially. The damage to our reputation around the world. The lost opportunities to defeat the forces of international terrorism. And especially the precious blood of our citizens who have stepped forward to serve.
The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military. We need a new direction. Not one step back from the war against international terrorism. Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos. But an immediate shift toward strong regionally-based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq.
On both of these vital issues, our economy and our national security, it falls upon those of us in elected office to take action.
Regarding the economic imbalance in our country, I am reminded of the situation President Theodore Roosevelt faced in the early days of the 20th century. America was then, as now, drifting apart along class lines. The so-called robber barons were unapologetically raking in a huge percentage of the national wealth. The dispossessed workers at the bottom were threatening revolt.
Roosevelt spoke strongly against these divisions. He told his fellow Republicans that they must set themselves "as resolutely against improper corporate influence on the one hand as against demagogy and mob rule on the other." And he did something about it.
As I look at Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. "When comes the end?" asked the General who had commanded our forces in Europe during World War Two. And as soon as he became President, he brought the Korean War to an end.
These Presidents took the right kind of action, for the benefit of the American people and for the health of our relations around the world. Tonight we are calling on this President to take similar action, in both areas. If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be
showing him the way.
At tonight's State of the Union address, President Bush will face a markedly different audience than he ever has for his annual appearance before Congress and the American people. Not only will he have a Democratic-led House and Senate in the chambers, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi looking over his shoulder, but he will also be addressing an American public that has never been more skeptical of his ability to lead our nation to a sensible solution in Iraq, the most important moral and political issue of our day.
President Bush's proposal for a way forward in Iraq is not promising. He has notified the American people of his intention to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq. For the past several years, as casualties and dollars have mounted and our international prestige has declined, President Bush has exhorted Americans of the need to "stay the course" in Iraq. Now, astonishingly, he has found a way forward that is even worse than "stay the course." It is now, "stay the course, but put even more American lives at risk"-- with no more security for Americans at home and with no better future for Iraqis.
The American people could not have made themselves more clear in November. The opposition in Congress to President Bush's escalation is overwhelming and bipartisan, and includes former Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee John Warner (R-VA), a thoughtful and experienced mind in military affairs.
In the coming weeks, Congress will take action to show disapproval of President Bush's proposed troop escalation in Iraq. Rather than increasing the number of American troops in Iraq, we should be implementing a responsible withdrawal (starting immediately), encouraging Iraqis to take control of their own security, and implementing an aggressive diplomatic offensive with regional interests and others. The American people and the brave members of our Armed Forces deserve no less.
Here's some nice analysis of the State of the Union from Senator Lautenberg's office:
Charts released today by United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) shows that President George Bush in his five State of the Union addresses wrapped himself in topics that were popular with the American people, but ignored the same issues when public opinion soured.
For example, during his 2004 SOTU speech, President Bush mentioned his plan for a Medicare prescription drug law nine times. Tuesday night President Bush did not mention the new law at all, which took effect on Jan. 1 amid mass confusion.
The podcast has been a huge success so far. There have been over 100 downloads today alone (click here to subscribe). The website continues to grow - today our 300th registered user signed up. If you haven't signed up yet, you should do so now.
Tomorrow, Congressman Rush Holt will join us on Blue Jersey to give his response to the State of the Union address, and to have a live discussion with us. You must be a registered user to join the discussion.
Several other Members of Congress will be responding to the State of the Union through blogs as well. Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr will be blogging at NJ for Democracy and Congressman Jim McDermott of Washington will be blogging at WashBlog.com. Make sure you register for an account at those sites, too.
We're very excited to announce that our first podcast is live and ready to download. If you've already subscribed to our feed through iTunes, it should download for you next time you start the program.
For this month's podcast, we sat down with Congressman Rush Holt to hear his thoughts on the upcoming State of the Union, political blogging, NSA domestic spying, rising energy costs, the President's upbringing (hint: it involved immersion in oil) and more.
On Medicare Part D: "I'm not going to accuse them of designing it to fail - although that thought has crossed my mind."
Holt answers the question: "Where are the Democrats?" and shares his thoughts on how to regain a Congressional majority.
If you're already subscribed to our feed, the podcast should download for you the next time you start up iTunes. If you have iTunes (free download) and haven't yet subscribed, just click the button below to subscribe to our feed. Otherwise, you can access the mp3 file directly through this link.
We're very excited to announce that our first podcast is live and 
