What was particularly hollow for me was Bush’s call for bipartisanship, working together for the good of the country. Give me a break! In 6 years as this administration and the Republican Party had control of both houses, hell; they did not know how to spell bipartisanship. The Democrats were NEVER part of the debate, the Republicans did what that wanted, presented what they wanted and passed what they wanted. They were the kindergarten bullies on the playground. Now that Bush is in a corner, NOW he wants to play nice and fair. You can guess where I stand on that, to hell with them. In the last 18 days, the Democrats have given this country more substantive and meaningful legislation for the middle class than “they’ve” done in 12 years. We do not need them, we have proven that, and it will be our job as progressives to keep the Democratic leadership focused on this country’s shrinking middle class, jobs, the economy, education, and healthcare. I don’t think that’ll be too hard, given the fact that the carrot at the end of the stick of good Democratic governance will bare fruit.  When the 2008 elections roll around in just 18 months, the voters will sentence the Republican Party to 20 years of insignificance and irrelevancy, a just sentence for their many sins against this nation.

  

The White House spin ahead of George W. Bush’s seventh State of the Union address was that the president would make a bipartisan call to revive his domestic agenda with “bold and innovative concepts.” The problem with that was obvious last night — in six years, Mr. Bush has shown no interest in bipartisanship, and his domestic agenda was set years ago, with huge tax cuts for wealthy Americans and crippling debt for the country.

Combined with the mounting cost of the war in Iraq, that makes boldness and innovation impossible unless Mr. Bush truly changes course. And he gave no hint of that last night. Instead, he offered up a tepid menu of ideas that would change little: a health insurance notion that would make only a tiny dent in a huge problem. More promises about cutting oil consumption with barely a word about global warming. And the same lip service about immigration reform on which he has failed to deliver.