NOT DOING MY JOB

Well .. this is an important morning for talk radio. George Bush delivered his State of the Union address last night, and I didn't watch it.  You see, last night was also the night for the Team Georgia roast of Royal Marshall.  The roast was more important .. so that's where Belinda and I were.  The partying went on, got home late, got up late, so I'm not up to speed for the Nuze ... but I'll certainly be loaded for bear by the time the show rolls around. 

Now .. this doesn't mean I came up absolutely empty.  We have some preliminary notes .. so lets get on with it.

HIS BEST SPEECH YET?

Fresh off his State of the Union speech last night, naturally the media came out with a variety of instant polls.  So what were the results?   The fact is Bush hit one out of the park.  It was probably the best speech of his presidency, and better than his inauguration speech from a couple weeks ago.  The general public seems to agree.

This all leads to a headache for Democrats this morning.  Their favorite "scare tactic" program is in trouble.  After Bush's speech last night polls showed that Americans are reacting more favorably to Bush's ideas.  Before the speech 51% of Americans thought that Bush was moving America in the right direction on Social Security.  After the speech that figure was 66%.  That's a 15% increase with just this speech.  (By the way, the figures for Bush's policies on Iraq went from 66% to 78%.)  Before the speech the CNN/Gallup poll asked Americans if Bush was making a convincing case on Social Security.  The figure before the speech -- 67%. After the speech -- 74%.  This spells nothing but trouble for Democrats.

MOANS AND GROANS

The part of George Bush's speech that brought the moans was his assertion that by 2042 Social Security would be exhausted and bankrupt.  Boos from Democrats.  Can you believe it?  Never in the history of the State of the Union Speech have boos been heard.  Tradition, courtesy and protocol means nothing to Democrats when it comes to expressing their hatred of George Bush, their pathological dismay at losing the reigns of power in Washington, and their fear of Social Security privatization. 

Now ... the Democrats will tell you that the boos were deserved; deserved because of Bush's statement that Social Security will be bankrupt by 2042.  Democrats will point you to the ephemeral Social Security Trust Fund.  They will tell you that there is plenty of money in the Trust Fund to take care of things for fifty years or more into the future.

Come on, folks.  I know you aren't buying that one.  Listen closely.  There is no money in the Social Security Trust Fund.  It is gone.  All of it.  Spent.  Every single year for decades Democrats and Republicans have raided the Social Security Trust Fund of every single penny that was left after that year's benefits were paid.  That money was taken and spent on various vote-buying programs.  All that Social Security has left is some IOUs sitting in a grey metal filing cabinet in West Virginia.

Think this through.  What happens in 2042 (or earlier) when working Americans are not paying enough in Social Security taxes to cover the benefits for retired Americans.  Some of those IOUs in that filing cabinet are going to have to be cashed in.  And where is that money to come from?  The U.S. Treasury, that's where.  Can you tell me where the huge surplus resides from which that money can be drawn?  Yup, you're right. There is no fund anywhere just waiting to cough up the money to cash in those trust fund IOUs.  This means that our congress will have to either (a) cut spending in other areas to come up with the cash; (b) raise taxes to come up with the cash, or (b) borrow the money.   That's a crisis, folks, by any definition.  A crises denied by Democrats .. denied for purely partisan reasons.

AND THE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE

Did you catch the Democratic response to the State of the Union address?  This one was a complete bust...a real snoozer.  It's hard to believe...but it's true: the Democrats have selected a worse communicator than Tom Daschle to represent them in the Senate.  Watching Harry Reid is about as exciting as reading an apartment lease.

Anyway, it was Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, sitting there looking like they should be selling jewelry or sex aids on the shopping channel.  Reid went first, and his goal was to bash the president and detail the obstructionist Democratic agenda.  In a display of blatant hypocrisy, the Democratic leader took a swipe at the president for the large budget deficits.  Fair enough.  Spending has increased exponentially since Bush took office.  But then Reid went on to propose more and more spending.....spending that would cost billions.  So which is it?  Is it that the president is spending too much money, or is it the deficit?  The answer is neither.

The Democrats would gleefully raise your taxes to cover the shortfall in the deficit and in the  process snuff out the economic recovery.  They have no intention to cut spending at all whatsoever.  Then he talked about Social Security.  More on that in a minute.

Then it was time to hand it over to Ms. Extreme Makeover herself, Nancy Pelosi.  The radical 60's leftist aging hippie from Haight - Ashbury who wants to somehow convince us that she's actually some sort of moderate started to talk about foreign policy.  This is where the whole thing turned into an outrageous disaster.

After Bush stood up there and said he didn't want to give a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq because he didn't want the Islamic terrorists to wait us out, Pelosi demanded one.  Then she went on to demand that the president do everything the president is already doing. 

The Democratic party continues its long walk off a short plank, and the disastrous leadership on the left in the Congress is leading the charge.

WHY DEMOCRATS ARE FIGHTING REFORM

Democrats actually have a pretty simple template when it comes to approving or fighting legislation in the congress.  If the legislation would make Americans more independent of government, the bill must be fought.  If the legislation would make Americans more dependent on government, the legislation is praiseworthy.  Do you think I'm oversimplifying things?  Fine!  Watch for yourself.  Watch the legislation that Democrats love.  Universal health care, expansion of "refundable" tax credits, spending programs after spending programs ... all designed to make Americans more and more dependent on government handouts and government programs.  When someone introduces legislation that would make it easier for individuals to purchase their own health insurance policies, Democrats rise in opposition.  When a bill appears on the floor that would make it easier for parents to get their children out of the clutches of our hideous government schools, Democrats go nuts!  It's all about dependency.  Democrats know that the less people need government, the less people need Democrats.  The idea of generations of Americans investing in their own retirements, instead of leaving that cash in the hands of the government, brings nothing but despair to the left.

Will the Democrats come up with a plan to counter Bush's efforts?  Sure they will.  They must!  With 74% of Americans saying that Bush is making a convincing case for Social Security reform, Democrats must come up with something.  Here's your guarantee.  The Democrats' plan will involve tax increases.  Oh, they may not call them tax increases ... but tax increases they will be.  A no-brainer, my friends. An easy call.

TO FIGHT REFORM, DEMOCRATS LIE

You no doubt heard the president announce his plans for reforming Social Security last night.  In what can only be described as a political masterstroke, he only gave an outline of how the program should be reformed.  He is leaving it to the Congress to come up with a solution.  He even went on to give the names of several prominent Democrats and the solutions they offered.  Bush's game plan is pretty simple.  Don't raise Social Security Taxes, allow people to invest at least some of the money they earned in their own privately owned accounts, and don't mess with the benefits for people 55 and over.

So what was the Democratic response to this bipartisan outreach?

Harry Reid has the response immediately after the President's speech.  Reid said they "disagree with the president's plan to privatize Social Security."  This is a scare tactic.  Bush just wants to make privately-owned accounts a part of the Social Security mix.  That's not "privatizing Social Security."  It's a simple scare tactic, but it will work with those with less than clear thinking abilities who tend to vote for Democrats. 

Reid also said "it's wrong to replace the guaranteed benefit that Americans have earned with a guaranteed benefit cut of 40 percent or more."  My friends, there is no guaranteed benefit.  Harry Reid can not point to one single paragraph in the U.S. Code that guarantees any Social Security benefits to anyone.  When benefits can be taken away on a simple whim and a majority vote in the Congress there is NO guarantee.  When you own the account yourself ... when that account is your private property ... well that's about as close to a guarantee as you can get in this world.  Also, Bush is not proposing any cuts in benefits.  This is a favorite Democrat trick.  Bush is merely going to change the formula used to calculate Social Security benefits in future years so that benefits don't grow faster than the rate of inflation.  Doesn't that make perfect sense?   

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Here's the full transcript of President Bush's State of the Union address.  If you missed it on TV and have an hour free, you can watch the video online.

With the successful vote in Iraq, Ann Coulter says Democrats haven't been this depressed since we captured Saddam Hussein. 

Those of you unfortunate enough to be represented by Cynthia Al-Mckinney will be pleased to know your Congresswoman was part of the receiving line at the state of the union address last night.

The AARP has reacted to President Bush's Social Security proposal, and naturally they have declared war on America's youth.  Did we expect anything less?

CNN's Eason Jordan made the claim that the United States Military has been targeting journalists on purpose.  He made the statement at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  This has received no coverage in the mainstream media, but is all over the blogosphere.  Image if someone from Fox News had said it!

Al-Jazeera might be for sale.  What should be done with it?  William F. Buckley writes that the pro-terrorist network should be put out of business.

Steve Forbes has a great article about restoring competition to our electoral process.  After all, if it's good for Iraqis, why not the United States itself?

Cal Thomas met with President Bush in the Oval Office Tuesday.  You can read the interview here.

Remember the media headlines calling the American people idiots for re-electing George Bush?  Remember the news stories that said elections in Iraq weren't possible?  Well, Larry Elder does, and he compares some of those statements with reality today.

The global warming jihad now has a new foe....author Michael Crichton, thanks to his new book "State of Fear."  Suzanne Fields talks about the global warming issue and the extremists behind it.

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