Substanceless State of the Union Post

I've made a habit of watching the State of the Union from the health club. It serves two purposes. One, when I get pissed off at just how stupid the president (and for that matter, the response) is, I can channel my frustrations into the elliptical machine. And two, the closed-captioning for the speeches always provides for some entertainment when the stenographer mishears or mistypes what's being said.

My favorite example from last night came during Jim Webb's response, where this line:

"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."

Turned into this:

"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 to bloody, stale meat."

Which come to think of it, is really only a more graphic, slightly lurid way of saying the same thing.

Also, Drudge helpfully links to this Broadcast & Cable article which notes that Nancy Pelosi clocked in at a nearly sweat-breaking 25-30 eye blinks per minute, and adds:

Cheney barely mustered 3 or 4. If energy conservation is a personal virtue—as he once said so dismissively—Cheney is a saint. The man functions admirably on standby power.

That is the kind of analysis this country needs!