Bob Novak points out something I missed:
Webb’s astringent comments contrasted sharply with Bush’s tone, which indicated he still has not shed illusions that he carried from Austin to Washington in 2001. Congressional Democrats are nothing like the tame Democrats in the Texas Legislature whom Bush dealt with as governor. On Tuesday night, Bush ignored issues dear to the conservative base such as embryonic stem cell research, abortion and same-sex marriage. Delivering his State of the Union on the day after the annual March for Life on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Bush did not see fit to mention the abortion issue, which is important to so many of his supporters.
Instead, the president talked about goals, though not methods, dear to Democratic hearts: expanded health insurance, energy independence and federal aid for local education. Bush was reminiscent of President Bill Clinton in sprinkling his speech with small proposals that might be popular. Yet Democrats immediately indicated that all such Bush plans have no chance of passage.
When was the last State of the Union address that did not mention abortion? When was the last SOTU by a Republican that did not mention abortion?
dreggas
well Ricky wasn’t in the audience this year so we also didn’t hear anything about manimals and such. Of course now that midterms are over and bush doesn’t have to worry about bein re-elected he doesn’t have to toss a bone to anyone so he is finally letting go of all the fundie nonsense he never really believed in anyway.
srv
Look, Bush hasn’t been able to triangulate the Sunni Triangle in 3 years, he’s not going to have much luck playing Clinton.
Thanks for reminding me to piss on Bob Bullocks grave at least once a year.
Zifnab
I am a bit shocked by that, personally. If anything, now that the mean old Democrats are in charge, I would think Bush would slink to uber-pandering the favorite National whinning points.
Where’s the “Christians are so persecuted”, “taxes are unfair to the wealthy”, “pat on the back for solving civil rights” bullshit we’re so used to in a Republican SOTU? It was all War, War, War when he wasn’t trying to dangle a bone to the Dems. At least we know where our President’s priorities lay.
Paddy O'Shea
Bush ignoring the abortion issue at such a key time will only reinforce the message of the Brownback wing that corporate Republicans have deserted social conservatives.
Bombadil
Bush used the word “abortion” once in last year’s SoTU (stating that “There are fewer abortions in America than at any point in the last three decades”), and once in 2003 (in a reference to partial-birth abortions).
Other than that, nothing.
Captain Comeback
Abortion, like other hot button social issues are no longer politically important to this president – he isn’t up for a re-election again. While running on them, these issues have drifted to the back burner. I guess he wasn’t really that concerned about abortions and gay people after all.
Pb
Bombadil,
That’s true, but he’s always thrown the Christian Right a bone or two in previous SOTUs–this time, nothing:
As for why, my speculation is that because they didn’t manage to win enough elections for Republicans in 2006 to keep control of Congress, they don’t get to dictate the agenda anymore. You can look at that as a practical shift away from them and back towards the mainstream, or a petty bit of revenge on Bush’s part (or both!), but that’s my take on it.
Bombadil
Pb —
Yeah, I used the interactive thing on the NY Times to do some word searches. He never specifically said “stem cell” either. As far as “marriage” goes, he mentioned it once last year, twice in 2005 and this year not at all. However, he spent a whole section of the 2004 SoTU speech on marriage in 2004. Any one have a clue why he might have spent so much time on it that year?
Bombadil
And, yes, he did give the 2004 SoTU in 2004. Probably at about 9:00 PM in the evening.
Sheesh.
Pb
I assume that’s a rhetorical question, as I do remember something else political that happened later in 2004 that might have had to do with it. :)
Oregonian
I thought the president’s hypocrisy on abortion was really quite striking. In his speech on Monday he praised a group of people who are trying to recriminalize abortion, and then, in his speech to the nation on Tuesday, he said that “the best health care decisions are not made by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors.”
Does Bush fail to see the contradiction there, or does he just think the American people will fail to see it?
Tsulagi
Yeah, I also caught there was no socialcon pandering in this SOTU. You think Dobson got the message? That those groups are only relevant when they want to use them at election time? Nope, no way.
Republican leadership never intends to deliver on abortion and gay marriage issues at the federal level. Why would a drug dealer cure their junkies?
RSA
George Bush doesn’t care about
blackunborn people.dreggas
of course he doesn’t but the thing is in the minds of the fundies abortions are not “healthcare” and are not performed by “doctors” but are rather “conveniences” performed by “butchers”.
pharniel
Because it’s never a medical neccissity….i mean, worst case scenario both the mother and the child die and go to heaven afore us and get to bask in teh warm inviting glow of jesus.
when you have a particularly long lived death-cult attempting to set social values things get a bit fucked up right quick.
also, I’d like to note that dobson and the ultra-conservaitve social con goone squad are all heratics per the Nicene convention.
We should have a bonfire.
Bubblegum Tate
Fixed to reflect the language of talking points.
dreggas
Yeah you’re right oh how I have strayed.
On an interesting note…Someone over at Greenwald was commenting on Hagels speech yesterday and lamented that they don’t make republicans like that anymore.
My response was they do they are just now called Democrats and Independents. The rest of what is called the “Republican party” is a joke.
Jake
The Radical God Botherers are pissing butyric acid over this. I wonder if they gathered around the TV set with their popcorn and sody pop to hear Dear Leader to condemn Mary Cheney to the darkest depths of hell, pledge to nuke every Planned Parenthood and require all females over the age of 12 to accept implantation of at least one left over embryo from a fertility clinic.
And they waited, and waited and the popcorn went cold…
I think it is slowly starting to dawn on these folks that they’ve been used and cast aside like one of sHaggard’s hookers. On the one hand, I find this amusing. On the other, those bastards rate much higher on my personal “Scary-Bastard-O-Meter than any number of jihadist.
ChristieS
Yes. /sarcasm
dreggas
Thank god you didn’t say “shaggard’s condoms” I am eating lunch…
jenniebee
None of this addresses the seminal issue, which is that Bob Novak is both a hack and a tool, which are two words that do do not mix well together, especially as a seminal issue.
numbskull
Bobbo No-Facts writes:
Ya think, Bobbo? I’d say that this shows that the Democrats are more savvy than the neo-cons and fundies. The Democrats know that anything Bush touches turns to crap. It’s the opposite Midas touch. No way do they want Bush messing around with making decisions about issues that are “dear to their hearts”.
And leave it to No-Facts to say that “health insurance, energy independence and federal aid for local education” are “small proposals that might be popular.”
I’m sure they’re tiny considerations in his life. He’s got insurance, drives a Vette, and has a job that requires the populace remain unedumacated.
dreggas
And from now on it should be referred to as “The Sheitze Touch”
pharniel
couple things
1 –
This midas touch is a fucking curse. It’s a monkey trap. And even crap could be useful, as he could turn polluted water into fertilizer or something….bush just….fails. he’s got a void touch. whatever he touch withers and dies or else attempts to destroy whatever is around it.
2 – is it possible this is base baiting? reprisals for ‘not coming through’ last election session and a year of ‘we’re gonna let the dems do whatever the hell they want. two years even. you come back in talk to us in two years and bring the votes, and we talk about undoing some of what the horrible majority democrats have done…’
Jake
Why? Are you eating calimari?
Richard 23
How “reality-based” of you. How many Christians flew planes into buildings on September the 11th? But keep screaming this kind of hateful CDS nonsense so the voters know how far out you really are.
TenguPhule
Fixed.
dreggas
I love this deflection of course when asked how many Christians blew up abortion clinics, killed abortion providers, attempted to bomb the 1996 olympics over…you guessed it abortion… or for that matter called for a very christian version of jihad against these clinics.
Nope no similarities whatsoever. Of course these are the same christians calling for the elimination of muslims and locking muslims up in detention facilities.
Oh yes we are so far off…here’s your sign you aren’t even worthy of pie.
As for the crack about voters seeing how far out there we are…hmmmm they have been hearing this for a while now and yet voted for us….
Pooh
Did anyone else see Brownback’s announcement speech where he went on and on about “our greatness is our goodness. If we lose our goodness we lose our greatness…”
Stewart replied “if this speech loses its crappiness, it will also lose its suckiness.”
Jake
Whatever DS I suffer from, it doesn’t hinder my ability to read. But since you didn’t catch it in my earlier statement:
[Ahem] I don’t have a problem with most Christians, I do have a problem with the radicals who [Irony Alert 1] commit murder in order to “save lives,” the ones who cheer when a soldier gets blown to shit in Iraq because it is a sign of God’s wrath, [Irony Alert 2] the ones who torch synagogues because they love Jesus, the ones who willingly and joyfully harass and assault gays and lesbians because they think the Bible tells them so. Yeah, they scare me far more than Osama bin Laden because they’re fucking here already and if you think there aren’t a few groups of demented Bible Bangers out there who are getting good and mad because the President didn’t stop the queers an’ close down all the baby killin’ mills then I must question your grip on reality.
Now what’s this about the voters? I’m not running for office so what the shit do I care about the voters?
There. I didn’t even need to get into all of the other shit so-called Christians have gotten up too over the years.
Pb
dreggas, Jake, etc.:
That wasn’t a troll, it was a spoof–an obvious Darrell parody, actually. But, that having been said: YHBT, YHL, HAND.
ThymeZone
It’s because this SOTU has no electoral significance to Bush.
Abortion is a wedge issue. If there is no need for a wedge, they don’t care about it. The rhetoric has no particular effect on actual abortions. It is all about politics.
This SOTU was about being a lame duck. Wedge issues not needed, therefore, not mentioned.
Simple as that.
Jake
You what?
Translation please. Especially since I can’t see the word HAND without thinking JOB.
The Other Steve
Yes.
Richard 23
I forgot to say “leftist wackjob.” I failed. Sigh.
Pb
Jake,
Look it up, n00b–or is TEH GOOGAL broken again? It’s even in The Jargon File (under YHBT no less).