Reading The Transcript To Respond: A State Of The Union Rebuttal

Maura Alwyen

HVAC/R Master Craftsman, Chef, Woodworker, Journeyman Metalworker, somewhat of a Blacksmith, & Author I do my own stunts & cinematography. Typos, poor word choices, wrong but similar sounding word choices are par for the course. All mistakes are artisanally crafted from the finest oopsies. Otherwise I'm just a regular girl with opinions and a point from which to shout into the void.

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13 Responses

  1. Brandon Berg says:

    Here’s real GDP. 5.6% YoY growth in Q4 2021.

    https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=NjnG

    Why are you trying to rebut a claim about the growth rate for the whole year by citing the growth rate for Q3 alone? Q3 had by far the lowest growth rate last year.

    Of course, as you say, Biden can’t personally take credit for it because it was just the result of people going back to work after getting vaccinated, and it was the Trump administration that had pushed for accelerated vaccine approval.Report

  2. Jaybird says:

    Maura, let me just say that I think that this was a freakin’ awesome post.

    And I have no idea why it didn’t result in a 300+ comment food fight.

    My father died of a cancer that I’m told that they named various tests about in the various hospitals adjacent to the UofM (Michigan variant).

    My goodness, I hope that the adult version of me never has to go through what you had to go through. Heck, I hope that none of us have to go through any of the various synonyms of what we’ve all had to go through… but the problem is that acute problems get funding and chronic problems just don’t.

    And if the timeline is more than X weeks… it’s no longer acute. It’s chronic.

    Which sucks.Report

    • Damon in reply to Jaybird says:

      Jay, everyone was still obsessing and posting on the Overton window thread, and then there was that last RUSSELL MICHAELS ·last post which also probably drained the energy. But yes, I too expected a lot of drama posted here. Or maybe no one gives a damn.Report

      • Pinky in reply to Damon says:

        No offense intended to Maura; I’m sure she had an interesting take, but to get to it I’d have to read through what is the most boring, inconsequential speech every year. I started with the best intentions, but I don’t think I made it through two page-downs.Report

        • Chip Daniels in reply to Pinky says:

          Thus is Joe Bidens superpower.

          He is the Human Golden Retriever, a figure of such immense amiability, able to unerringly find the precise center of political gravity and constantly shape-shift into the most reasonable guy in any room, as to be impervious to attack.Report

          • pillsy in reply to Chip Daniels says:

            Yeah. People consistently underestimate his political skills because a lot of them seem to come in the form of his affable but often befuddled demeanor.

            In this respect–and exactly zero other respects–he is the George W. Bush of Team Blue.Report

            • Pinky in reply to pillsy says:

              This affable but befuddled president just said that Putin cannot remain in power. Apparently off-script in a major speech. If so, I mean, this could be the biggest foreign policy blunder in our history, right? What we just got accidentally committed to?Report

              • KenB in reply to Pinky says:

                Hopefully everyone knows to take him seriously but not literally.Report

              • Pinky in reply to KenB says:

                Is that a joke? A head of state just called for the removal of another head of state? I’m trying to think of how we backpedal from that, or what the consequences of backpedaling would be, and I’m hoping we do backpedal, but seriously, am I overreacting? This feels huge. I don’t remember anything like this happening before. We’ve called for the removal of heads of state before. With Syria, and we backed down and looked like fools and basically ensured that one of the worst rulers would never be removed. Or we’ve actually done it, as with Saddam Hussein. I’m trying to think of a way that today doesn’t end up in a history book, and I’m not coming up with one.Report

              • Chip Daniels in reply to Pinky says:

                Again the comparison to GWB Is apt, down to calling for regime change.

                I’m not looking forward to Biden strutting across a flight deck wearing a codpiece, though.Report

              • KenB in reply to Pinky says:

                Well I was being flip — that was the line for how to react to the outrageous things Trump said. But it wasn’t entirely a joke, as Biden has a reputation for going off script and needing clarifying statements to be released later (which has already happened in this case too).Report

          • Pinky in reply to Chip Daniels says:

            I haven’t watched a SOTU speech since maybe Bush Senior.Report