National Public Radio’s Juan Williams said he was “touched” by Bush’s speech. Democrat Sen. Joe Biden, a Bush foe, complimented the president on his address.
These compliments would not be a big deal if these men were not commonly associated with anti-Bush comments.
Bush answered the questions the media and public have been wanting to hear and even the Democrats had to agree it was a very humanist, well-given speech made before the 108th Congress.
But the Democrats painted a clear picture if you watched carefully last night during the 77 lapses of applause. All drawing a line on both political parties’ ideology.
Brit Hume reported that Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee arrived at 5:30 p.m. to get a good seat for the president’s address. Yet, during Bush’s talk on Medicare and defense issues, Lee opted not to stand in defiance of his stances.
The first time for most of the Democrats to remain seated was after Bush finished talking about creating more small businesses and cutting taxes. Many Democrats talk about the richest 1 percent receiving the bulk of the tax cuts.
An article released by the Washington Times revealed that the richest 1 percent gives disproportionately to the Democratic Party instead of the GOP.
Of course this is not that great of a surprise, but you can learn a lot from someone’s body language.
When the president spoke of the 10 million seniors in America benefiting from the dividend tax cuts, the Democrats did not stand.
During the 2000 presidential election Gore’s campaign team led by Donna Brazile played scare tactics with seniors in Florida by insinuating that Bush would tax them to death.
The hot issue between doctors’ and patients’ rights drew an ill face from Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. Edwards has campaigned as “a man of the people” but most of his support comes from trial lawyers such as himself, according to columnist Robert Novak.
Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman have been fighting for more fuel-efficient cars thus blasting those who own SUV’s. Do these gentlemen really care about the environment?
One may wonder after their reluctance to stand or their choice to not stand at all when Bush proposed hydrogen-powered pollution-free cars.
In past election years some Democrats such as Rep. Dick Gephardt have supported the ban on partial birth abortion. Last night, the line was not skewed as most Democrats chose to remain seated during the president’s petition to ban partial birth abortion.
Bush had nothing but compliments for our military and other world militaries helping to rid the world of al-Qaeda.
The president then announced his plans to build a better ballistic missile defense system but neither of these proclamations drew much fervor from the Democrats.
The last real drawn line in the applause was after Bush announced that the United States would take the responsibility for protecting mankind. Again, many Democrats were reluctant to join the applause.
The Democrats have a right to their opinion, but the posture left a definite water mark of where both parties stand.
Anyone could have looked at Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s face as Bush talked about his economic package to tell where she stood. Ms. Pelosi should know that the shaking of the head and rolling of the eyes are always caught on camera.
Make your own decision! Each party’s stance is decisive.

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