This inventory was published by the NYT. You can see what the Bush Administration wants us to think about (and what not to think about) by reference to this graph. Also, check the President’s plummeting approval ratings at the bottom of the chart.
Inventory of word used in the State of the Union Speeches since 2001
I watched most of Potus' spin session last night. Is it just me after 5 days of fever, or did he begin by reciting planks of the Democrat platform (health care, support science, balanced budget) and then propose tax cuts, new expenditures, earmarks for churches and religious schools, and proposed laws to further restrict science and technology?
I didn't listen to Bush's speech…the blather that comes from him is too much for me to bear…but I did hear a sound bite in which he declared that the troop surge was working because al Qaida attacks have dropped way off. Conveniently missing from his remark was the fact that al Qaida did not exist in Iraq until after his invasion; thus making his "success" merely the (partial) reduction of a problem of his own making.
Dan mentioned Bush's comment about earmarks. I understand Bush now wants earmarks to be open to debate and voting, in sharp contrast to the blind eye he gave his fellow Republicans when they were gorging themselves on surreptitious earmarks.
I also caught the soundbite about "Al Qaida" attacks having dropped off. To me it's just a continuation of the big lie about the Al Qaida/Iraq connection.
How much do we know about the group that calls itself "Al Qaida in Iraq"? Is there any real connection between this group and Osama bin Ladin, other than one of inspiration and rhetoric? How many attacks on Americans are carried out by this specific group? Is any calling Bush on this?
Further to Vicki's comment, "al Qaida" appears to be a generic term the Bush Administration uses whenever a suicide bomber strikes anywhere in the world, or when someone kills an American anywhere in the world, or when a bomb explodes anywhere in Iraq, etc. It's part of the well-orchestrated, and well-executed, Republican fear campaign for political power. Perhaps we shouldn't blame them entirely for telling so many lies…they only do it because it works so well, and it's really not *their* fault that it does.
Richard Clarke, on the State of the Union: