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********************** SOTU WRAP-UP Some observations and reflections on last night's State of the Union address: * It was worth the price of admission just to see ol' Ted Kennedy shaking his head "no," rubbing his jowl and smirking when the President spoke about prescription drugs and weapons of mass destruction. What a dinosaur. * Despite other serious differences conservative may be having with this president on other issues these days, there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that we are a safer and stronger nation with him and Dick Cheney in the White House than we were when Bill Clinton and Al Gore were there...or would be with Howard Dean or John Kerry or Hillary Clinton or any of the other donkey-dwarfs seeking the Oval Office. Except maybe Joe Lieberman. * Best line of the evening: "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people." Take THAT Howard Dean and Wesley Clark! * Judging from the reception it received during SOTU, the President is going to have a VERY tough time getting the Patriot Act renewed. * Make tax cuts permanent. Make tax cuts permanent. Make tax cuts permanent... * The President mentioned, not once, but twice, the terrible toll junk and frivolous lawsuits are having on our economy and on health care, calling for reform legislation. * On the other hand, he didn't mention the filibusters a half-dozen of his judicial nominees still face in the Senate. Recess appointing Pickering last week was good, but it would have been nice to see the President put this critical issue on his list of priorities for the coming year by discussing it with the American people in the SOTU. I mean, for crying out loud, if steroid use made the list, you'd think something as important as judicial nominations would. * You just had to love the dagger aimed directly at Hillary's cold heart when the president said, in no uncertain terms, that a government-run health care system was the "wrong prescription." * As expected, the biggest disappointment of the speech was in the area of restraining government. There will be no veto of the pork-laden omnibus spending bill. And again, the President called on Congress to only limit the growth of discretionary spending to under 4 percent and cutting the deficit in half over five years. * No mention of freezing spending, rolling back spending or even cutting older or non-essential programs in order to fund new or more important ones. For example, the President called for doubling the budget for the National Endowment of Democracy to help in the war on terror, but didn't suggest that maybe, in order to fund some of it, we eliminate, say, the National Endowment for the Arts. * The President finally and forcefully threatened, in no uncertain terms, to use his veto pen. Unfortunately, it was to threaten Congress to veto any attempt to roll-back or repeal the largest expansion of government since LBJ 's Great Society days, the prescription drug bill. * It's a shame that, considering how the president failed to scold the Senate for holding up his judicial appointments, he devoted so much time talking about judges and gay marriage. He warned activist judges to cool their heels on this issue or he would favor some kind of constitutional marriage amendment (though not necessarily the one presently being considered). This statement, designed to further clarify and solidify the President's position on this issue, only raised yet another question: What if a state legislature or ballot initiative approves gay marriage in a particular state rather than a court? Would the President be OK with gay marriages under those circumstance and oppose a federal constitutional marriage amendment banning them? * As for the Democrat response: Good grief. Nancy Pelosi came off looking like a complete boob. Despite what appears to have been an extreme physical make-over - maybe even by those queer-eyes-for-straight-guys guys - Pelosi is a walking liberal cliché in drag. And what was up with those deer-in-the-headlights eyes? It looked like they were propped open with invisible toothpicks. * As for Tommy Daschle, well...he still seems "saddened, saddened." What a lame-o. If this is the best the Democrats can come up for leaders in the Congress, no wonder the best they can come up with for presidential candidates is an off-his-rocker doctor, a French-looking dude (who, by the way, served in Vietnam), a fired general, a trial lawyer, a peacenik, a race-baiter and she-who-shall-not-be-named (yet). Oh, and Joe Lieberman. * Finally, my favorite line of the entire evening. In giving that 10-year-old girl her good-citizen marching orders, the President suggested something which every darned one of us should take to heart: When you see a man or woman in uniform, say "thank you." So for those of you in uniform who subscribe to News & Views, including those of you who somehow get this in Iraq and Afghanistan: THANK YOU! ******************************* DEAN GOES BONKERS In case you missed hearing Howard Dean go nuts, yelping out what can only be described as some kind of primitive professional wrestling scream, click HERE (http://www.drudgereport.com/dean.mp3) for a real hoot. This guy is either on drugs (maybe steroids?)...or desperately needs some! *************************** FIANL DAYS We only have about 20 "Liberty Calendars" left, so if you haven't kicked in for our Winter Fundraising Drive yet in order to get your copy of this very unique and very American calendar, please visit www.citizenoutreach.com TODAY! *************************** CPAC SIMULCAST! CPAC is the grand-daddy of all conservative political action conferences on the planet. And for the first time in CPAC's history, we'll be webcasting "live" for the entire three days, beginning on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. (EST). For additional details or to listen in, go to www.rightalk.com For additional information on CPAC and to see the line-up of conservative super-stars who will be speaking this year, go to: www.cpac.org In addition, we'll have a special up-to-the minute play-by-play News & Views "blog" running throughout the conference. You'll be able to access it at: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm _______________________________________ THIS WEEK ON THE DISCUSSION BOARD State of the Union Address Democrat Primary Omnibus Spending Bill Bush & His Base Immigration Nation Weigh in. Share your opinion. Comment. Inter-activate. Just go to: http://blog.chuckmuth.com/blog/ ________________________________________ SURVEY SAYS! Is the "Mean Dean Presidential Machine now dead after his embarrassing Iowa loss...or will he be the next "Comeback Kid" after New Hampshire? Cast your ballot today by clicking on the "Survey Says!" button at www.citizenoutreach.com __________________________________________ MUTH'S TRUTHS Why are conservatives so ticked off at the President's amnesty...er, "temporary worker" program? Find out in this week's "Muth's Truths" at www.citizenoutreach.com __________________________________________ THE (CAMPAIGN) DOCTOR IS IN! You can't change public policy if you don't change public officials. So Citizen Outreach has established a separate website project dedicated to helping under-funded, underdog campaigns...especially at the state and local levels. Visit today...and make sure you sign up for FREE email "hot tips" on how to get more votes, more money and more volunteers for your campaign or grassroots organization. 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