So. Are you going to watch the state-of-the-union addy tonight? (Or, depending on when you read this post, did you watch it?)
I can’t remember the last SOTU address I watched, and that’s not just because I don’t “do” TV. Watching politicians give speeches — especially “important” speeches — is as savory as watching circus geeks bite the heads off live chickens. And much less entertaining.
I’m sorta-kinda guessing the speech won’t have a big audience of BHM/Living Freedom readers.
Still, you’ve probably heard that Big O plans to leave a seat empty so that … oh, all the ghosts of gangbangers killed by other gangbangers (as long as they were killed with guns, not knives, garrots, gasoline+matches, shovels to the head, etc.) can enjoy the show. Jim Bovard suggests they leave the First Lady’s special section entirely empty to commemorate a whole lot of other dead people the Obama administration is responsible for.
Thanks, Claire! I need to restock on beer before the speech. Sobriety & politics is a dangerous mix.
Jim — I know you’re a beer devotee. But may I suggest that something stronger — much stronger — may be needed to get through a big Obama speech?
Propofol, perhaps?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propofol
As far as I know, I have never watched a “state of the onion” (black patches and squishy) speech. I’ve made fun of them, though, but I can do that without watching one of the lie-fests.
Not a chance. The longer I live, the more precious my time becomes. I’d rather watch dust fall in a beam of sunlight. MUCH rather. 🙂
I don’t recall ever sitting through one, no.
Never thought O or Valerie would stoop so low as to steal Clint Eastwood’s shtick.
Alas I cannot admit to having not watched at least one SOTU.
I can however admit that I survived with only a minor facial tick that doesn’t bother me … that doesn’t bother me … that doesn’t bother me … that doesn’t bother me BAMM sound of an open hand on a flat surface hardly at all. ahem
I have since avoided them as much as posssible. (Sold my TV ten or eleven years ago)
stay safe,
Hmmm. Can’t recall the last time, but yeah, I have watched them. Listening to O-blowhard? Nah. It’d be less painful than watching Rihanna and Sean Penn debate quantum physics, but only slightly so. Reading Stephen Green drunk-blog it could be fun, but you have to refresh a lot, and I have other things to do this evening. Steve has been doing this for years, and he’s good at it – last I read, which I admit was a while ago.
@Unclezip: Oh, they have no qualms about stealing.
Were I to watch one of those things, I think I’d want some ice-cold Ketel One on hand, rather than beer.
Geez, am I the only person around here with a macabre sense of humor? I had fun tweeting during Obama’s speech. Here’s a few outtakes –
I had fun on FB & Twitter with Obama’s speech –
*Obama warns of people who “use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals” – -Heck, but I enjoy sending out tweets!
*Bad sign ‪#‎SOTU‬ – Obama evokes “our commitment to the Rule of Law” and nobody laughs
*Obama says a prez with “gifts of Lincoln… might have better bridged the divide” between Americans. So burning down Atlanta would help?
* Obama says “there are outdated regulations that need to be changed” – Dude, you been prez for 7 years. Your fault.
http://jimbovard.com/blog/2016/01/12/my-carping-on-obamas-state-of-union-2016-speech/
All you need to know about the Real State of the Union:
10 U.S. sailors in Iranian custody
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/12/politics/10-u-s-sailors-in-iranian-custody/
Jim, did HRH even mention it?
I can’t believe that y’all missed the SOTU! Talk about a serious wasted opportunity for family bonding. Nothing brings people together like making fun of bureaucrats.
Seriously, we made up elaborate stories of what each person the camera pointed at would RATHER be doing. My ribs still hurt.
I just now stopped by and this was the first I heard there was even a SOTU happening today. Another missed opportunity… …and with so many prime ##check that## so many fiNe outStAnding overlords to kneel before. Sigh. But seriously folks… seriously.
I don’t listen to Obama speak, but I read the transcripts. My response to last night’s transcript: https://medium.com/p/9979e6110b8a
NO, I did not.
I’m just not interested in listening to the lies that spew forth from the liar in chiefs mouth.
Got a good nights sleep instead.
Bob
III
I did watch, and got thru without a single angry outburst , thanks to an ancient Celtic anger management herbal extract commonly known as ‘whisky’. A mere 3 did the trick. I did notice that it was mostly ‘substance lite’, with a lot of Camelot type talk, much of which was diametrically opposed to his performance. No mention of gun control, apparently because he didn’t want to mention any of his failures – which is pretty much all of it. Of course, there was the usual pack of lies about anything he did mention – e.g. were you aware that the economy is really strong? Yeah, I wouldn’t have known either if he’d not told me.
Heard a blurb or two on the news this morning, between the real news about the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot and the weed eating goats coming back to the Springs this year. But it all sort of tunes out while waiting for the weather best guess for the day.
Didn’t read the transcript, and didn’t read much more than the headlines of all the pundits’ analysis of the speech. Just reading the headlines brought me that much closer to the decision not to read the “news” at all anymore. Don’t know about where you live, Karen, but the weather forecast here is usually not accurate enough to be worth bothering with either. If I stick my head out the door a few times a day, I have at least as good an idea what the weather will be… and I get some fresh air while I’m at it. 🙂
Gosh, MamaL, that must be frustrating. Our forecasters do really well. What they predict, we get, somewhere, for about a half-hour. Then the weather does something else.
I usually watch SOTU addresses, from all presidents, and to my recollection I saw all of Obama’s previous ones. I missed last night’s, though, because I had to be out doing something else. I did manage hear a portion of it while driving home, however. My feeling is that I want to see what sort of lies our purported “leader” will try to spin this time. I keep up a running counter-commentary arguing with the TV over his whoppers and idiocies. (No one else in my family cares to join me in this, so it’s a solitary form of penance.)
My impression of what I heard last night is that it was a very mediocre performance. Whatever his flaws (and they are legion!), Obama is usually a fine reader of words someone else has written for him. (In other words, an actor.) But not last night. His heart clearly wasn’t in it. It’s a pity he didn’t honor his initial promise to “keep it short.”
FWIW, this article by Kevin D. Williamson is the greatest put-down of SOTU addresses that I have ever read. It’s from two years ago, but is still more than relevant.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/369607/great-caesars-ghost-kevin-d-williamson
Good heavens, Laird. I’ve only just read the first paragraph (which I noticed is all one absolutely grand, excessive sentence) and already I’m impressed. And depressed. But mostly impressed. How right Williamson is — once again.
State of the Union address – why? Since I am currently reading “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” for fiction, I rented/watched last night the futuristic (versus historical) documentary “The Martian” narrated by Matt Damon for a non-fiction break from the fiction.
The older I get, the more important to balance 50/50 the fiction and non-fiction that I watch and/or read.
Hmmm, Iwoots… I find it is increasingly difficult to tell the difference. sigh
I didn’t watch either, but a client came into the office gushing about how wonderful his speech was. “How compassionate and grand his world view is” . My only thought….He must be campaigning for his new job; UN Secretary General.
OMG, furry doc. What a freakin’ terrifying thought!
Yes, you’d think if his worldview was really all that grand he wouldn’t have spent the last seven years doing everything he could to factionalize and divide the nation — not to mention sniffing down his nose at anybody not precisely in his own faction.