At this spot tonight at 9 PM EST. Swing by.
PAD
Okay, I’m tuned into PBS and ready for the speech. I’m pretty sure this is the first live blog I’ve done since the stroke (that I’ve typed myself; Kath did the typing on last year’s Oscar blog), so it should be interesting. And here we go after the jump.
9:04–I wonder if any GOPers are going to heckle him.
9:10–And we’re off. That guy with the glasses looks like a bald Richard Dreyfuss.
9:14–One of the few times when both sides stand at the same time.
9:15–He doesn’t actually have the names of any of these people, but it’s nice to mention them.
9:17–God forbid Boehner could actually applaud.
9:18–Oh good, Boehner applauded.
9:19–He’s throwing down the challenge early by calling them on the divisions that have shut down the government.
9:21–I wonder how soon before he brings up minimum wage.
9:22–Yo, idiots! You don’t applaud when he says people aren’t working. That’s a BAD thing.
9:22–“Steps without legislation.” He just said he’s going to be making more extended use of executive fiats.
9:25–A thumbs up from Boehner. It’s anything can happen night.
9:27–“I’ll act on my own.” He keeps making it clear that he’s not going to stand around and wait for them to pitch in and help because he knows they won’t.
9:30–The problem is that in schools we are busily doing everything we can to kill children’s imaginations. So many times they are taught there is only one answer and discouraged from going off in other directions.
9:31–Oil states won’t like that one.
9:32–Or that one.
9:33–You know, I never noticed: Boehner’s really tanned, especially sitting next to Biden.
9:34–“Climate change is a fact.” And Teapartyers start booing all over the country.
9:35–Ooo, and the GOP remains seated as he brings up immigration. No surprise. The last thing the GOP wants is more people coming to the country who will end up voting for Democrats.
9:36–Too bad Detroit the city is falling apart.
9:38–And the GOP doesn’t want to restore unemployment insurance? Sweet.
9:42–Kids thinking rather than obsessing with test taking. A good thing to go after.
9:45–Yeah, EVERYBODY gets up for women getting equal pay. Stay seated on that and it’ll be noted and commented on. Not sacrificing a job because she had a baby? Kathleen would probably agree with that considering she was fired years ago right after having Caroline.
9:48–Well, what if they work full time at McDonalds?
9:48–And order in pizza!
9:49–Boehner was quick to dismiss Obama’s decision to raise the Federal minimum wage saying that it would have zero effect because it’s for the future.
9:53–“In case you haven’t heard.” Yeah, I think they’ve heard about health insurance. She got covered January 1. She’d been on line since December 26th…
9:54–That’s for dámņëd sure. If I didn’t have medical coverage through Marvel, the stroke would have driven us into bankruptcy, no question.
9:55–Yeah, convincing the GOP on the merits of the law is an understatement. And now he’s basically telling them to knock it the fûçk off trying to do away with health care. It’s enough already.
9:57–“Plus she’ll appreciate hearing from you.” Whoever wrote that line is Jewish.
9:59–That’s a line that’ll be quoted. “The power of the vote not the size of the bank account…”
9:59–Gun control. Good luck with that. He talked about it for twenty seconds. Figures.
10:00–The armed forces. Yeah. You better stand for that.
10:04–Like my predecessor did…
10:06–Hasn’t he been talking about shutting down Gitmo for five years now?
10:07–Throwing a bone to Israel. Better than nothing.
10:08–My God, he really believes Iran isn’t building a bomb.
10:10–Iran’s leaders will say whatever it takes to get what they want, but we all know they will never give up trying to weaponize uranium and build a bomb to wipe Israel off the map.
10:12–Okay, everyone can get behind the Olympics.
10:17–Love the story about the soldier. Not sure about Michelle’s skirt though. A little too Scarlett O’Hara for Kathleen’s taste.
10:20–Overall, a good speech, I think. Drew lines, told Congress to stop screwing around, was by turns humorous and dramatic.
• 
“I wonder if any GOPers are going to heckle him.”
You mean you actually have doubts?
The question is whether a GOPer will pull a “You lie!” or not.
Doubtful. It’s been done.
A Boehner thumbs up? Get ready for more RINO talk from the Teapublicans.
Eric Cantor had such a sour look on his face. Best look for him I suppose.
I got scared there for a minute. One of the red stripes behind the POTUS started moving funny and I thought the flag was going to fall down. It turned out that it was just Boehner though.
Seriously, does no one tell that man that he needs to start using a different tan in the can color that’s less unnatural looking?
I want Bill Plympton to draw an animated version of John Boehner. He’d look like a giant thermometer.
Biden? Heck, he’s actually slightly darker-skinned (at least on-camera, and given the lighting) than Obama!
“Speaker Boehner’s tan is now so dark, he was stopped and frisked 5 times on his way to the State of The Union.” – Manny Schewitz
Announces helping students with adding to the deficit. I’m sure Fox News will spin that one six way from Sunday.
That’s why they bought so much Dramamine.
$10.10
Better than 9 9 9.
Which is 666 upside-down. Herman Cain is the Antichrist!!1!
You just reminded me of the movie End of Days. Thank you for ruining my day 😉
Still wants to close Guantanamo Bay. Boehner gets a sour look, Republicans still sit on hands and likely plan to continue to do everything they can to block the closure.
Just so they can accuse him of not keeping his promise to close it.
“Okay, everyone can get behind the Olympics.”
No, not everyone. Remember, it was the American Right that cheered the fact that America didn’t get the Olympics. They seemed to get such joy from it.
As someone who is certainly not part of the American Right, I’m perfectly happy if the US never hosts another Olympic Games.
While I certainly believe in the ideal behind the Games, I don’t believe in the IOC, nor the ‘arms race’ of spending that is all but required these days to host.
That said, the IOC would’ve felt right at home in Chicago. So would FIFA’s executive committee, for that matter.
There’s a difference with not being a fan of the thing in general and turning it into a cheering competition to see who can be the most gleeful that America didn’t get it in order to gloat that “Obama failed” whenever you get near a mic or a camera.
That’s what the deal became on the Right. Most people in most countries were pulling for their countries and the leaders when it came to getting the Olympics to come to their country. The American Right was praying for failure on America’s part and gleefully trumpeting that failure for a week. But, hey, they are what they are and they just can’t help it anymore.
Republican response- Republicans have plans. What, besides filibustering everything and saying “No” to anything (even Republican initiated plans) that Obama says he might like? This is the same Republican party that just a short while ago gave us the (correct me if I’m wrong) historical first of having a republican call for a filibuster on a vote on a bill that he himself supported and called for a vote on.
We’ve seen the Republican plans. Hopefully American plans include removing even more of them from office.
Watched at work. One of my two partners was practically yelling at the monitor, “SO, WHAT IS THE PLAN?” The other just shook his head at the stories about the three kids.
“I will direct…”
“I will use my authority…”
“I will issue an executive order…”
“I will bìŧçh about anything he said. ….”
“I will direct…”
“I will use my authority…”
“I will issue an executive order…”
Yeah, you know, like the POTUS is supposed to do.
No, only white POTUSes are supposed to do those things. If a black POTUS does them, why, he’d be uppity!
As an aside, it’s worth noting that a major problem for the lower/barely middle-class isn’t just the low minimum wage, but also minimum *hours*. When people from both parties talk about the minimum wage, they always to assume it’s a 40-hour work week for 52 weeks a year. I work for one of the top three retailers in the country, and after three years at my store (and 10 years at another one before I moved) my annual average is 20 hours a week; and since this is the “slow time,” next week I only have 11 hours! I’ve also been told they don’t have the budget to make me full time, and two weeks later been asked to train new part-time employees in my department (for no additional pay, of course). A friend of mine who does corporate taxes says he’s seeing more and more companies that hire permanent part-timers to avoid the benefits that full-time employees get.
So please stop assuming a consistent 40-hour workweek when figuring how much minimum wage earners make. It just ain’t so.
“A friend of mine who does corporate taxes says he’s seeing more and more companies that hire permanent part-timers to avoid the benefits that full-time employees get.”
I was seeing that 20 years ago.
It may have been seen 20 years ago, but it’s certainly been ramped up the last 5 years or so.
And whether it’s the ‘Great Recession’ or the ACA, or simply the corporate bottom line/greed, there’s plenty of excuses to go around as to why apparently nobody in this country deserves a living wage any more.