State of the Union?

Are you effing kidding me? This is the one speech per year most Americans tune in to, and that's the best he can do? And what the hell is with the sycophantic clapping? Bush could barely get a word in edgewise between bouts of clapping. Was there a light-up Applause sign? Is it some weird pool the congressmen have, to see how many times they can cause the whole room to clap? I wish instead of clapping they would see if they could start a Wave. Hehe, given the tendency of everyone to follow along, I bet it could happen.

Ok, ok, let me back up. I was throwing a slime ball for Windy waiting for the hour to change and Flight of the Conchords, an irreverent New Zealand sitcom on HBO, to start. My husband came in and asked if wanted to watch the upcoming State of the Union with him. My first reaction was no, I don't care to hear what Bush has to say, but then I figured there's a reason he's asking me, I really should go sit and watch it with him. I still tend to avoid politics, but he's becoming much more interested in it of late. I figured I should bring my knitting along to work on, remembering a quote by Elizabeth Zimmermann that says "Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises". I think this is one of those times. It reminded me of Penelope, who knits while watching politics, and now I understand why. Focusing on my knitting kept me from jumping up and yelling at the TV. Well, almost, I did speak forcefully to the TV a couple times. By the end I was just mocking the sea of sycophants who kept leaping up clapping. According to Wikipedia, a sycophant is is a servile person who, acting in their own self interest, attempts to win favor by flattering one or more influential people, with an undertone that this is at the cost of their own personal pride, principles, and peer respect. Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Egads, I'm scared what this last year of the Bush Regime will bring. Reminds me of the quote "So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause".

On a side note, I didn't think it was possible for all 3 branches of government to occupy the same room together. Really, if something happened to that room (I want to give a pithy example, but the Patriot act is keeping me from taking that risk), who is left in the government? The congressional, executive, and judicial branches are all gone, along with the cabinet. I don't remember enough 7th grade Civics to know who's next in line.