Someone needs to give Pelosi some constructive criticism on controlling all those mouth movements she was making.  It was distracting and not very flattering.  At one point I thought she was chewing on a jawbreaker or maybe about to blow a bubble.

I have to say though, she sure looks better than the evil, grumpy old bastard sitting to her right.

The Sound of No Hand Clapping

So, Democrats - and straight-thinking Republicans - why not spare us the trained-seal act this year? Stand in respect for the office, but keep your flippers folded politely in your laps. Don't clap. And most certainly don't cheer.

And when he reaches the podium, and is introduced by Speaker Pelosi, remain seated and busy your hands by checking your Blackberry for messages, straightening your tie or scratching that itch. But please, no clapping.

Doing so would provide those us watching on TV two important services. First, we would not have witness those we voted for because they promised to "do the right thing," applauding the man who has done more wrong than any President in our nation's history. Second it would allow us to identify those serving in Congress who are either truly stupid or incurably corrupt, because who else - at this point, after all that's happened - who else would applaud and cheer such a man?

Nothing would speak louder, to this President, to the nation and to the world, than silence Tuesday night. Stand, but stand as you do when the casket is rolled down the church aisle at a funeral mass. Stand in silence, in respect for the office of the Presidency and in mourning for the ways the current holder of that office has abused it, disgrace it and in so doing, disgraced us all.

A president who, as multiple polls released this week have underscored, is the most despised occupant of the White House since Richard Nixon at the height of the Watergate crisis, was treated to repeated standing ovations led by the new "Madam Speaker" of the House of Representatives, Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. ...

Led by Pelosi, Democrats rose repeatedly in standing ovations for the so-called war on terror and those who are waging it. They stood and applauded for Bush when he declared that Washington's mission was to "help men and women in the Middle East to build free societies and share in the rights of all humanity." This despite the fact that US policy has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and turned their country into a nightmare of death and destruction, while American imperialism continues to base its regional power on a Zionist regime that oppresses the Palestinians and on Arab despots who suppress their own people.

The perplexity of the Democrats found its consummate expression when they were brought to their feet with the following passage from Bush:

"We went into this largely united--in our assumptions, and in our convictions. And whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure. Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq--and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field--and those on the way."

Here Bush's speechwriters earned their pay. The passage made clear that the Democrats in Congress were Bush's partners in crime, voting the White House a blank check to wage a war of aggression against Iraq. It also spelled out that Democrats and Republicans alike reflected the consensus position within America's ruling elite that military force must be used to assert the interests of US capitalism worldwide, most decisively by seizing control of world energy supplies.

"Our country's pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work."