1115.org

Just because we will be watching the State of the Union with notebooks and scorecards in hand, doesn’t mean that you have to do the same. So to make the SOTU more interesting and fun for people less obsessed with politics than we are, we suggest the State of the Union Drinking Game.

The best part of the game is that they divide “times The President says ‘nukular’” from times he says any other psuedo-word, each instance forcing more drinking (or in Peabs‘ case, a fat rail of meth). They’ve covered everything, so if you choose to play you will no doubt be down for the count.

In serious SOTU news, the President is promising more steps to help people get jobs. Funny, I thought that’s what the $1,000,000,000,000 in tax cuts were for.

“We will work to expand opportunities for all Americans to own their own business. We’ll press forward on an agenda of economic growth so that everyone who wants to work can find a job,” Bush said.

Look, that’s what he has been saying for over two years now. I call bullshit, again. The agenda of tax cuts for the rich has been massively overdone (and proven inefficient in terms of job creation), extensions to unemployment benefits have been rejected (real compassionate), and why is it that high-end stores like Neiman Marcus did very well over Christmas while downmarket retailers like Target and Wal-Mart disappointed?

Could his reckless policies finally be catching up to him?
This CBS poll shows a fairly dramatic rise in the President’s disapproval numbers, from 33% a month ago to 45% now.

Reports out of the White House are that no new tax cuts will be announced. Well, at least that’s what their spin is.

In a relatively modest initiative, the president is expected to propose new ways to help Americans save money. The plans include lifetime savings accounts — for purposes such as a house or college tuition — and retirement savings accounts.

While we applaud anything that causes more Americans to build up savings, what good does it do to get a tax break to save money (at current low interest rates) when average credit card debt in this country is something approaching $20,000? This is nothing more than another tax shelter for the wealthy. The majority of Americans will continue to have negative net assets.

Whatever happens, it’s safe to say that there won’t be another Niger/Uranium-style deception. The real question is whether anything of any substance makes it into the speech or if it is full of empty platitudes and future broken promises.

Almost makes me want to drink.

We’ll have our reactions the the speech on Wednesday, feel free to let us know how the game goes.