February 03, 2005

Go here for the complete text and webcast of the President's speech:
State of the Union Address
For myself, my favorite parts were these:

Because courts must always deliver impartial justice, judges have a duty to faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench. (Applause.) As President, I have a constitutional responsibility to nominate men and women who understand the role of courts in our democracy, and are well-qualified to serve on the bench -- and I have done so. (Applause.) The Constitution also gives the Senate a responsibility: Every judicial nominee deserves an up or down vote. (Applause.)

*IOW, he's reminding the Dimocrat Senators that they should give the President's fine judicial nominees an up or down vote-- their role is to "advise and consent," not continue this farce of fillibustering and insisting on their 60% cloture vote! (Is Bill Frist willing to GO NUCLEAR to make this happen??? We can only pray that he is!)

*Loved Bush's drawing the line in the sand with Syria and Iran and the call to the Iranian people to seek democracy like their Iraqi neighbors:

To promote peace in the broader Middle East, we must confront regimes that continue to harbor terrorists and pursue weapons of mass murder. Syria still allows its territory, and parts of Lebanon, to be used by terrorists who seek to destroy every chance of peace in the region. You have passed, and we are applying, the Syrian Accountability Act -- and we expect the Syrian government to end all support for terror and open the door to freedom. (Applause.) Today, Iran remains the world's primary state sponsor of terror -- pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve. We are working with European allies to make clear to the Iranian regime that it must give up its uranium enrichment program and any plutonium reprocessing, and end its support for terror. And to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you. (Applause.)

I could swear I heard NRO's Michael Ledeen whooping with joy all the way down here in Texas when President Bush said this!
Ledeen's been asking for the President to do this for years, really.

*On the domestic front, I also liked the sound very much of the President's desire to reform the IRS, too:

All these proposals are essential to expand this economy and add new jobs -- but they are just the beginning of our duty. To build the prosperity of future generations, we must update institutions that were created to meet the needs of an earlier time. Year after year, Americans are burdened by an archaic, incoherent federal tax code. I've appointed a bipartisan panel to examine the tax code from top to bottom. And when their recommendations are delivered, you and I will work together to give this nation a tax code that is pro-growth, easy to understand, and fair to all. (Applause.)

Dare we hope that at the end of this road is the Flat Tax?!
Well, I've got my fingers crossed--it can't hurt!
And then there was The Hug:


First Lady Laura Bush and Army Staff Sgt Norbert Lara, foreground left, injured in action, look on as William Norwood, whose 25-year-old son, Marine Sgt. Byron Norwood, was killed in action in Iraq, reaches out to Marine Staff Sgt. John Manuel Martinez while the dead Marine's mother, Janet Norwood, embraces Safia Taleb al-Suhail, leader of the Iraqi Womens Political Council.

Was there a dry eye in America last night after this?
I think not!
What a moment for Ms al-Suhail to not only comfort a fellow woman and human being who is grieving but to do so in grateful appreciation and in the full knowledge that it was the blood of American soldiers like Mrs. Norwood's son that made Iraq's new democracy (and its attendant vote) possible?
These 2 loving ladies spontaneously expressed everything about this week's events with one heart-felt hug..the bitter--the loss of our soldier's lives and limbs,and the sweet--Iraqis being able to vote in a free election for the first time in 35 years!