State of the Union: The Liveblog (with Democratic response)

* Links to the full text of both the SOTU and the Democratic response are at the bottom.

8:09 The President of the United States makes his way to the podium. Anonymous handshaker's comment: "Mr. President, I am saying a prayer for your success." At least the applause is loud. Sounds like Keith Olbermann caught that quote too -- he just commented on it. (That, or he's reading our liveblog.)

In case you missed it, by the way, I did a quick prequel to the SOTU, with some comments on the press briefing earlier this morning. Read that if you want to know what to expect.

8:12 Speaker Pelosi introduces the President. Applause, applause.

8:13 The President gives props to Speaker Pelosi as the first woman Speaker of the House. Friendly handshake. Also a shout out to Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Charlie Norwood.

8:15 Congratulations to the Democrat -- not Democratic -- majority.

8:16 "Our citizens don't much care what side of the aisle we sit on, as long as we're willing to cross that aisle when there's work to be done." Wish he'd said that 6 years ago.

8:17 Mentions our strong economy. 7.2 million new jobs, rising wages. "Economy is on the move, and our job is to keep it moving, not with more government, but with more enterprise." I'll be checking those numbers later, of course.

8:18 We can balance the budget. We can do so without raising taxes. A (partial) standing ovation. The budget he will submit will balance the budget in five years.

8:19 Ending earmarks -- "expose every earmark to the light of day," cut the number of earmarks in half. Leaves half too many, if you ask me. The language is straight out of this morning's press briefing.

8:21 A Republican is talking about fixing Medicare and Medicaid and saving Social Security. Somebody pinch me. Oh, wait -- that was *also* straight out of this morning's press briefing.

8:22 Talking about the success off No Child Left Behind. Also want to give students going to failing schools "the right to choose something better." Vouchers, anyone? Asks for NCLB reauthorization.

8:23 All our citizens deserve affordable health care. Pelosi stands and applauds.

8:24 "For [the impoverished] Americans, private insurance best meets their needs." Some applause. Pelosi stays seated, doesn't clap. I don't imagine many Democrats do.

8:25 Explains the tax savings we'd get from his plan if we buy overinflated private insurance. More half-the-room applause. Pelosi still seated.

8:26 Funding to help states cover private insurance for the underprivileged. HSA's, association health plans, better information technology to reduce medical errors, price transparency, and medical liability reform. Standing ovation from half -- make that just over a third -- of the room. The R side, of course. Pelosi's looking *really* ticked.

8:27 Make sure that medical care is not controlled by companies, but by doctors. *That* got applause.

8:28 Immigration. Ways for employers to verify status of their employees, so they have no excuses. Upholding the great tradition of the melting pot with immigration reform. Dealing with those currently here without animosity.

8:30 Energy. He throws out the "dependence on oil makes us more vulnerable to terrorists" bit. We need a variant of Godwin's Law for that line. Expand biodiesel. New methods of producing ethanol (there's his switchgrass pledge!) Wood chips, to grasses, to agricultural waste. Reducing US's oil usage 20% in the next 10 years. Standing ovation.

8:32 Plan will reduce dependence on foreign oil, but not enough. So step up domestic oil production, double the current capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. SUV owners stand and applaud.

8:33 Dealing with energy and environmental issues will help us deal with "the serious issue of global climate change." Standing ovation again. Shouts of "Flip-flop!" sadly absent.

8:34 Expediting the appointment process through the Senate. Huh? That wasn't in the briefing.

8:35 Now we're back on terror. What happened to not dwelling on this? "We have to take the fight to the enemy." Hesitant applause. Pelosi claps. Eventually.

8:36 Successes in the war on terrorism. Stopping a hijacked plane from crashing into the tallest building in the West Coast, stopping an Al-Quaeda cell that was developing anthrax, a number of other things attributed to better intelligence and not to the Iraq War (but don't tell him that). "Debt of gratitude" to our soldiers -- now that's damn right. Standing ovation, of course. The least we can give them for sending them to an unnecessary war.

8:38 Al-Zarqawi's quote about "killing our dreams." Video of that's out there on the intertubes, I think. A Bin Laden quote as well. He also names Hezbollah as terrorists -- nice that he finally noticed. Standing ovation on "finding the enemies and protecting the American people."

8:40 "Decisive ideological struggle of our time." I note this, because I'm sure this must be in *some* SOTU drinking game out there.

8:41 Stating the case for Iraq that they said he wouldn't cover in the press briefing. MSNBC cuts over to Condi, looking pissed serious.

8:42 Applause for the 12 million who voted in Iraq.

8:43 Bringing up Lebanon's Cedar Revolution. Again, glad he noticed. I couldn't tell before today. And brings up the blowing up of the Golden Mosque in Samarrah, stating the purpose of inciting retaliatory violence from Shi'a. Never mind that this has already been debunked, as Shiite death squads were killing people a year before this happened. Link after I quit typing my fingers off here.

8:46 "We didn't drive the terrorists out of Afghanistan... only to let them set up a safe haven in a free Iraq." No, we'd much rather them set up shop back in Afghanistan. Maybe Pakistan, too; that sounds good.

8:50 Minute 15 of reiterating the defense of the Iraq War. I think they told the press this wouldn't happen just so they'd actually show up. And yes, of course he brought up 9/11. We need *two* new Godwin's laws. Some Dems applaud that, simply because they want their constituents to see them clapping when defense of 9/11 is brought up. Pelosi stays seated. Way to stay strong, Nancy.

8:50 And then he brings up supporting the troops. Everyone obviously agrees with that -- I guess that's Bush's take on "bipartisanship?" Standing ovation.

8:51 Asks Congress to increase active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next 5 years. Wow, MSNBC is clever. They cut to some random Army officer, who doesn't clap until he realizes a camera is on him. Nice catch! And apparently, he wants to create a civilian army-for-hire. Big red flags on that one.

8:53 Preventing Iran from getting the bomb. Bringing peace to the Holy Land, and forming a Palestinian state. Keeping the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons. Freedom in places like Cuba, Burma, saving the people of Darfur. Standing ovation.

8:54 "American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy." Though lately, it's been less than "war and diplomacy" -- anyone seen the latter? Helping the AIDS/HIV situation in Africa. Also wants $1.2 billion to combat malaria in 15 African countries. But remember -- we're going to balance the budget without raising taxes. Funding the Millenium Challenge Account for emerging democracies. Expanded trade and debt relief.

9:56 Apparently, Dikembe Mutumbo is a fan. Bush gives a shout out to the upper gallery, where he sits beside Mrs. Bush. Mutumbo built a hospital in his hometown with his NBA bucks. Standing ovation for Mutumbo as a US citizen.

8:58 Next shout out -- founder of Baby Einstein, used her bucks to for some charitable children's foundation the name of which I unfortunately missed.

8:59 Shout out #3 to Wesley Autry, who saved a guy who fell into a subway line by holding him down between the rails as a train passed above his head. Cool. But it is feeling a little like we've jumped the shark.

9:01 Sgt. Riemann (sp?) took bullets to the chest and arm to protect his gunman, and after that repelled a grenade attack. Got the Silver Star. Standing ovation.

9:02 "...our cause in the world is right, and tonight, that cause goes on. Good night; God bless." Showing the confidence in our cause that our country doesn't have. That's the end of the speech. Keith Olbermann's immediate take: "Not a bad speech, not a particularly good speech."

9:13 A couple of notes on the analysis before the Democratic response -- Brokaw mentions that George Bush actually used the phrase "global warming;" I only heard "climate change" -- I specifically thought GWB was avoiding the phrase.

9:15 Democratic response. "Wouldn't be useful to rebut the President's message in this short amount of time, nor would it be useful." Hope the President is serious about immigration and energy reform; work together on healthcare. Points of contention: performance of the economy, and Iraq foreign policy.

9:16 The economy: "as if we were living in two different countries." Yes, the stock market is at its all-time high, and corporate profits are at record highs. CEO salaries now at 400 times the average worker. Real wage down, college tuition off the charts, work being outsourced. Destroying the middle class; white-collar workers also noticing, as their jobs start to disappear as well. But must measure the economy not at its peak -- the numbers out of Wall Street -- but at its base -- its effect on the middle class.

9:19 Foreign policy: many warned ahead of time not to go into Iraq; now we're held hostage by the situation we created. Webb's bit on his family and how they served "not for political reasons, but because we loved our country" starts the best rhetoric of the entire evening. Look for it in the full text. Democrats looking not for a weak withdrawal or surge, but an immediate diplomatic effort that can create the situation where troops can begin to leave.

9:23 Teddy Roosevelt urging his Republican cohorts to act against the "robber-barons" hurting the middle class; Eisenhower moving to end the Korean War -- Presidential examples Bush should follow. Heeding the voice of the American people: If he listens, Democrats will follow; if he doesn't, they'll show him the way. MSNBC's take: Webb 1, Bush 0.

Josh has responded to the State of the Union address in an open letter to President Bush.

Full text of the State of the Union, 2007: here.
Full text of the Democratic response: here.