U.S. Senate
See Full Big Line
(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
See Full Big Line
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
60%
40%↓
Att. General
See Full Big Line
(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
40%
30%
Sec. of State
See Full Big Line
(D) A. Gonzalez
(D) George Stern
(R) Sheri Davis
50%↑
40%
30%
State Treasurer
See Full Big Line
(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
(D) Jerry DiTullio
60%
30%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
See Full Big Line
(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
See Full Big Line
(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
See Full Big Line
(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Somebody
80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
See Full Big Line
(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
See Full Big Line
(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
See Full Big Line
(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
See Full Big Line
(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
See Full Big Line
(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
50%
40%
40%
State Senate Majority
See Full Big Line
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
See Full Big Line
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
February 25, 2009 04:58 AM UTC
76 Comments
For the first time in decades I am enjoying watching and listening to a Presidential Address to Congress (alt SOTU).
The last was Carter.
This is great. I look forward to our great country recovering from what has happened to it since then.
OBTW did you notice Degette?
.
Positioned hisself for the entrance handshake. Said to have waited hours for that spot.
I wasn’t able to pick Doug Lamborn out.
.
Somebody on his staff did. McInnis mastered the art. It just takes a tough staffer.
.
but the commentators on Fox (who else) said that staffers weren’t allowed to do that, only principals.
.
Some personally waited as many as 8 hours.
I kept waiting for President Obama to say something new.
Why did he waste our time?
I guess he wanted to hype his approval ratings, not get anything done.
You weren’t disappointed. You don’t like Obama so it’s impossible for you to be disappointed.
What a disingenuous fool you are.
The market hated Obama’s speech this morning. Down as much as 169 points. Now up 11, apparently moving on without the president.
The stock market makes up such a small portion of Americans that looking to them as a gauge for anything other than how they feel about the economy and business climate is stupid. Remember how much they loved dot com startups?
Even if they were more significant, reading today’s trading as a reaction to the speech ignores all the other stuff they are reacting to.
Another AS point effortlessly blown away.
If the stock market goes down, it is a measure of the defectiveness of something Obama did. If it goes up, it’s “moving on without the president.” Of all the lame things you’ve ever said (and, boy, are there a lot of them!), this is the most poignant.
It reminds me of a textbook story, possibly aprocryphal, about a cult in the early 60s whose leader actually predicted the precise day and hour when the world would come to an end. Only those who prayed hard enough, the cult leader said, would be saved. The day and hour came, and the world did not disappear in a puff of smoke as predicted. The cult followers said, “See?! That’s proof that we were right: Our prayers were so strong that they saved the world!”
You’re in fine company, there, AS. You just keep doing what you’re doing: Everything good that happens anywhere in the world (like some constipated octogenerian in Florida having his first bowel movement in days) will be thanks to your efforts.
Had forgotten, over the eight Bush years, what listening to an exceptionally intelligent, informed, open minded, intellectually curious, connected human being in the form of my country’s very own President felt like. It feels GOOD!
Wasn’t so great to listen to, but no one can be as boring as BHO was last night.
“I know how hard it is to put food on your family.”
“We have to make the pie higher.”
“They work hard at figuring how to kill Americans, and so do we.”
Oh, yeah, a fucking genius.
No, AS, OBAMA said something. A lot. And his stock is rising even among Republicans, if you’ve been following the news. Only ideologues like you and the R’s in Congress think they are smarter and more effective than our President.
Get used to it. Ninety five more months of President Obama! God, payback is SO sweet!
Try it some time.
Reality just leads to facts.
Which in turn lead to other more powerful facts.
Then you start to think, which ultimately leads to making sense.
God forbid we let this happen.
And everyone moved away from AS there on the group W bench….
Apparently, you can get anything you want at AS’s restaurant.
wow.
And people are STILL Republican, even after seeing how badly it can fry the mind?
Virtually all of the right-wing posters on this site are absolutely, unbelievably, whacked-out nut-jobs without a single molecule of rationality or logical consistency that could be scrapped together from among the lot of them…, and yet their ideology persists. I’ve known schizophrenic deinstitutionalized street people who speak a language all their own, who nevertheless make far more sense than AS or Libertad or Robert Jorden ever have. Someone should write a sociological article on “Zombie Arguments: No Matter How Many Times You Kill Them, They Just Keep Coming,” and explain how it is that people keep buying this crappola.
Most lively zombie, uh, dead.
Wonder what took him so long.
I’ve got patience coming out my ears. I just felt a sudden need to express some of that accumulated patience in a more emphatic way….
Between Darth Cheney’s evil glare and Bush’s chortling smirks, SotU’s had become downright tragic affairs.
Obama’s SotU-lite on the other hand is just an Orrin Hatch keg-stand away from being a real party. 🙂
What a refreshing new image:
I would rather have not found out, because both times and men are the result of terrible times (Not to mention both times due mostly to Republican policies, eh?)
Since you are so against government spending, we will be happy to take out the levees around N’awlins. We can use the steel to build some wind towers. In Texas.
He’s just too much reading offa the teleprompter. Definitely needs a speaking coach.
the stemwinders Dems gave when Bush was prez?
All I was doing was making a comment on was his delivery. This was supposed to be an important rebuttal and they picked the wrong dude.
Nothing to do with boring Dem speakers or for that matter, boring Republican.
or most Republicans either would have been quite so inept as to point out the total failure of a government that was under the complete control of his (or her) own party during Katrina as an example of government not working.
Did it never occur to Jindal that people might see that as an example of a Republican government of hacks not working due to abject incompetence? You know, the government they voted out so they could have a competent one instead? If Jindal is their biggest rising star, they still don’t get it. Works for me.
He’s a bright qualified guy, just like McCain, but if he’s going to accept the stale, ridiculous, nonsensical conservative talking points that are given to him by the nutjobs and not think for himself he’s toast.
Kind of like Ari Fleischman arguing the other night on CNN that the answer to our problems is to get out of the way of Wall St., regulate less, and let them do what they do best. Apparently what they do best is run their own firms into insolvency and then beg the government for for a bailout.
They just flat out don’t get it.
And he called Jindahl’s philosophy “nihilistic.”
First pander like crazy to the base. Second realize it doesn’t work for you and give up the race. Jundahl is still on step 1.
based on a videotape?
Though I fully expect him to pronounce someone possessed by the devil based on a crackly audio tape.
h/t to MyDD
“Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.”
“they don’t believe in anything ”
– Walter
We digress a lot to the Big Lebowski on this site, which is quite OK with me.
Sounded and looked like the intelligent Rhodes scholar that he is.
Nicely written, a bit tenative in delivery. Better than a lot of opposition responses to presidential speeches I’ve seen over the years.
In Obama, the empty rhetoric guy, he had a tough act to follow, and he was playing away from home without an adoring audience.
Unless… I once read of a neurological disorder where someone was basically tonedeaf to the spoken word – for the afflicted, everyone might as well talk like a robot from a 50s sci fi movie. Facial expressions also register zero with these people
Maybe you have this, AS, if you believe what you just wrote.
A.S., I really think the Republican Party is CO is lacking the visionary leadership of people such as yourself. I think you should run for State Chair! If you need a recommendation please don’t hesitate to call on me.
The GOP needs bright bulbs…..individuals with vision, great problem solving capabilities, compassion and character. The GOP needs AS for his thoughtful analyses, and honest assessment of facts…..political, scientific, geopolitical and economic. Heck, AS’s star could rise beyond all expectations. Spmeone, PLEASE, start a campaign for his candidacy…..regretfully, I’m too busy.
He appears to be the right man for the times….always thrilling. However, in the body politic, one senses a residual obstructionist chill…an ideological cough, a damaged esophogeal windpipe of wisdom.
Ennaresting times.
Having a president who is eloquent, talks to us like grown-ups, lays out the difficulities we face and the hard things we must do. I feel honored to have a president who talks to us this way.
His discussing the economic crisis, and especially how he basically said he agreed that the banking executives are scum, but we still must rescue the system. That was a great way of addressing people’s dislike of money going to banks.
Did you also notice that he basically said that banks that are underwater will be taken over by the government, cleaned up, and then sold back to the public. He didn’t use the word nationalization but we’re going to see the FDIC take over CitiGroup.
And he’s going for the long pass. He’s making it clear that he can do 4 things at once and we are also going to address energy, healthcare, and education. I can’t think of any president who has had this widespread of an agenda at once. In crisis there is opportunity and he is taking advantage of that opportunity.
Energy – carbon caps. That’s major. And his list of other items adds up to a radical shift in energy policy.
Healthcare – Not as radical here but it will be interesting to see what else they do. I think Daschle dropping out has slowed this part down a bit.
Education – yes! Make schools work, merit pay for teachers, charter schools. He spoke for the things that the teacher’s unions had made untouchable.
With his insistence that all need a college degree and his speaking of service in return for education – I think we are going to see college become free as K-12 is. About time.
And his statement that dropping out of high school was no longer acceptable – if he continues with that then through the mechanism of shame we may see the drop out rate reduced substantially.
Finally, yes the Republican side did not stand and clap every time with the Dems – but I’d say they did about 80% of the time. That’s amazing considering what he was saying & proposing.
And on his walk out the Republican house members were fighting to get his autograph.
A critical group that has been left out during the last 8 years are veterans. Addressing our concerns means a lot to so many of us.
…that Bush supported the troops? How dare you say such nonsense!
It amazes me how military people have supported Bush when 1) he kills them off, and 2) he doesn’t care about the wounded, whether physical or mental.
of the doctors, the health insurance companies and big pharma, there won’t be health care reform.
Jindahl was worse. He stuck with the same “affordable” health care with docs and patients calling the shots.
Yea, right.
Silly claims, dumb promises and a few lies to spice things up.
You even believe some of them. Just sayin’.
And you could have responded to this by thinking occasionally about what you say, trying to build up a reputation as a thoughtful conservative. Instead you just veer off into irrelevance, sounding like you’re utterly detached from reality.
When you’re not typing here, do you stand on street corners and yell at passersby for smiling?
When my son was young (around second or third grade) we were driving someplace and doing the name game with family names. I’d say “Do Uncle Joe” and he’d sing, “Joe Joe Bo Boe, Bonana-Fanna-Fo-Foe,” etc. Then I said do Grandpa’s name.
My sweet, innocent young child sang, “Chuck Chuck Bo Buck, Bonanna-Fanna-Fo…GASP!” and his eyes bugged out as he realized where this was heading. Caught himself in time, though.
Like the best con men he’s a smooth talker. At least he figured out that the fear-mongering wasn’t selling with the public. He was definitely more upbeat. It was a great campaign speech, promising tons of goodies to everyone. The problem is that he is now in charge of running things, and all of his promises will come with a huge price tag that he pretty much avoided mentioning. There is no way for government to deliver what he wants without expanding the deficit and debt to historic highs. And yet he is claiming he can do this and cut the deficit in half. Sorry, pretty words well delivered or not, I can’t see it happening.
going through the budget line by line and finding 2 trillion they want to cut already;
and, getting us out of Iraq.
Both of those create a lot of savings.
Obama is co-opting the repbulicans and they can’t stand it. Triangulation.
Clearly by choice Obama talked in a level voice. He wasn’t trying to sell this with rhetoric, he was laying it out for us and letting the facts sell it.
I think that was a good decision. But again, it speaks of a president who believes we will listen, think, and realize this is what we need to do.
In addition to slashing the deficit in half (eyes roll) and providing college educations to more than 50% of the population.
He hates Americans.
meant Obama but Aristotle did a mental jujitsu by pointing the self-delusion charge back on the backers of George Bush. What a pithy reply to a blowhard statement.
As far as Obama and self-delusion, this man has delivered every time someone said he couldn’t. He couldn’t get the nomination. He couldn’t win over the Hillary supporters. He couldn’t take on McCain and Palin. He couldn’t get the stimulus bill passed. Obama is used to pushing past the pussies and getting things done. He is one hard working person and the difference is going to show the longer he is in office and has a chance to learn. It is a quality that George Bush never possessed.
.
if I’m a pinko/ red and yet a Bush supporter, that could lead to dissonance ?
Then again, what about being a fan of the USA, its Constitution and values, suggests to you that I backed GW ? I did, however feebly, try to defeat his ardent supporter in the CD-5 race.
.
and come to grips with the fact that the gospel of Reagan is a failed religion.
I don’t think there is a group more self-delusional than Republicans thinking it is 1979 and that bold tax cuts are the answer to every crisis facing the United States.
Been there. Done that. Results sucked.
It is going to be easy for Obama to half the deficit because he is going to go from a trillion annual deficit back down to around 500 billion which is George Bush territory. You have to read the fine print to understand the context of the message. I know it sucks but that’s the way it is.
Interesting…
Half of the college students drop out for a reason.
They don’t have what it takes to benefit, but the education establishment wants to milk their parents and the public purse for all it can get.
Better to strip a kid of his tuition dollars and ego than let those bucks go to waste at some trade school.
I read this elsewhere but I think it makes a very good point. This was an unabashedly populist speech. And he had both side applauding the vast majority of it.
It didn’t cost anything to have good manners.
Um, you meant to say “Democrats” where you wrote “GOP.”
That’s been true ever since the dawning of the Gingrich era. Dems extend hand of bipartisanship, GOP bites it except when expedient.
What delusion.
I was amazed by the sweeping agenda he has laid out. The key will be the Senate. More compromise and pain for all to get bi-partisan support. But if he meets with the standard nihilistic GOP resistance, I see him playing the Vox Populi card in addition to using his bully pulpit.
We’ll all be getting more emails and text messages asking us to let our Senators know about our support for the President’s plan.
There may be a few more “retired” GOP Congressmen in 2010, judging by the few that were sitting on their hands all night.
It’s so great to get away from blind devotion to “isms” of all kinds.
Boehner said on his hands and moistened his eyes, and McConnell looked queasy and constipated. McCain was just constantly smirking, because cynical ironic detachment is the only way he can contain his rage. Republicans seemed really bitter at the fact that Democrats were treating this as a celebration.
….and on other occasions sat and sulked as they saw their influence and power waning.
Watching the rerun now on MSNBC. Strange that they’re doing the instant feedback focus group nonsense, which I hated on CNN during the election.
Who really gives a damn what McCain voters think anymore? They’re wrong and irrelevant and mostly stupid, and the fact that their approval line seemed constantly high makes me think they couldn’t tell left from right on the dial.
I used to own a Commodore Amiga, which had a neat little speech synthesizer built in. You could just type something in and it would, in a sort of Stephen Hawking voice, repeat whatever you wrote.
Jindal’s speech sounds like that speech synthesizer turned sentient, found the text of a children’s book somewhere, and started randomly modulating its pitch and volume while going nuts reading it.
Jindal’s speech reminds me of this recent xkcd comic.