:)

As readers of this blog (and defeatjohnjohn.com) are aware, I haven't always been a particularly active supporter of President Bush. Yeah, I voted for him -- twice -- but more out of a complete lack of intellectual respect for Gore or (shudder) Kerry than any overriding love of "Dubya".

But ya know, I think I've watched every State of the Union since the last couple of Reagan, and I just like Bush. (W., I mean -- never really cared for his father.) I trust him -- hell, at the risk of offending my friends, I even respect him -- at least far, far, far more than I did Clinton. Which is pretty amazing, considering Clinton had distractingly better speechwriters and dramatically greater charisma.

I watched tonight's address on ABC, and I think Cokie Roberts summed my feelings up best with this:

There was a lot in this speech that was not terribly conciliatory, and the Democrats were mainly well-behaved, but I don't think anyone watching this will get past the moment of the Iraqi woman turning around and completely, spontaneously, hugging the mother of the marine. It was such a moment -- and it really, in a lot of ways, spoke to what the President is trying to say: that the Iraqi people want us there, and that we have liberated them. And to have that completely spontaneous hug was something that leaves you with goosebumps, and I think will have more resonance than any words he said.

Now, I know, some of you will scream "it wasn't spontaneous! It was theatre!" and, well, who knows if it was or wasn't. But I haven't seen Bush get choked up like that since 9-11, and I don't think I'd ever seen Cheney choke back sobs before tonight, so ya know what- fuck it. Say it was for the "wrong reasons" all you want, say it was an "accident" or "afterthought" or anything else, but that doesn't change that this President did some good in the world. And to be honest, the Democrat party's "response", with the lamest, most historically-ignorant snot-oozing verbal diarrhea "we need a Marshall Plan for the U.S." sludge is exactly why I'm so grateful that the current iteration of the "Democratic" party is not in power.

Right before the State of the Union, I was watching a very old episode of The West Wing in which President Bartlet was going on about the need to "cross borders to build sustainable Democracies, that can banish privation and fear," to cheers of a Democratic party audience. How sad, then, that the Democratic party now preaches of isolationism, spewing racist nonsense about Middle Easterners not being "ready" for Democracy and self-government. Revolting.

Yes, I cringed at the whole gay-marriage amendment crap, and rolled my eyes when Bush said "nu-cue-lar" once again. But hey, I'll be a strong, proud Democrat once the party gets some JFK types back in the wings -- until then, the Republican party, "lesser of two evils" though they may be, has my support.