• He came out with both barrels blazing, a pleasant surprise.

  • Disappointing to hear him make hay of No Child Left Behind. I have never met a teacher that thinks this is a good or helpful, much less sufficiently nuanced program. Just more federal interventionism.

  • Where were these veto promises for the last 7 years. Amazing.

  • Disturbing to hear him refer to Columbians, Panamanians and South Koreans as customers not people.

  • Under what reading of the Constitution is it the Federal Government’s job to help people learn new skills and find new jobs?

  • So Congress should save Social Security. How?

  • Good statements on immigration.

  • Does he believe in the fallenness of human nature? People will choose freedom and the good if they are just given the opportunity? Seriously?

  • Freedom = the American civil religion, without a doubt.

  • Good use of improvements in Iraq over the last year. I still want to know what success in Iraq looks like, and why we think it will last if we leave.

  • “A free Iraq will deny Al-Qaeda a safe haven.” Is this self-evident to everyone but me?

  • Israel = the Holy Land? This is weird from a president.

  • ‘Big Brother allows us to catch terrorists, therefore if you don’t support Big Brother you’re supporting the terrorists.’ This logic seems problematic.

  • It never hurts to throw a bone to veterans. Or two.

  • Confidence in freedom? That’s sort of like In God we trust.

  • God Bless America - Just in case we can’t do it ourselves.

    You know I really do like Bush as a person, and he certainly could have done worse, but I remain baffled by large portions of his political thought. Big government Republicans/neo-cons just strike me as walking contradictions. How can you basically bow before the altar of freedom speaking of it in terms that evoke gospel messages and at the same time condemn opposition to the Patriot Act and call for hosts of new programs and federal government expansion in the face of massive debt, unconstrained inflation and gross disregard for the rule of law as laid out in the Constitution, even as you call for approval of strict constructionist Supreme Court nominees?