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President Barack Obama's gaffe Tuesday night during his State of the Union address when referencing Russia has gone largely unnoticed by listeners and pundits alike. "Even as their economy contracts, Russia is pouring resources to prop up Ukraine's and Syria - states they see slipping away from their orbit," said Obama. There's a key discrepancy here: While Russia has been "pouring resources" into the conflict, it certainly has not been to "prop up" Ukrainian government, it has instead gone to those who seek to bring it down. Russia made headlines across the world starting in 2014 when Russian forces were...

Hardline conservatives should be celebrating the Republican response speech to the State of the Union, offered by Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina. The speech was a testament to how far the party is willing to go to cater to the putrid racism of the conservative base, as Haley, using her own background as the child of Indian immigrants, demonized immigrants and refugees fleeing war, and, in a particularly odious display, used the murder of nine people at the hands of a racist to scold Black Lives Matter protesters for speaking out. But the right just ain't having it, it...

Both President Barack Obama and Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley -- who delivered the GOP rebuttal to the State of the Union -- seemed to speak directly to Donald Trump at times on Tuesday night. In fact, they had strikingly similar messages of tolerance and bipartisanship. While they wouldn't agree on much policy, at many moments their speeches sounded very similar. Can you tell the difference? 1) We need to be honest with each other, and with ourselves: While Democrats in Washington bear much responsibility for the problems facing America today, they do not bear it alone. There is...

State of the Union Addresses belong solely to Presidents of the United States. In Article II, Section 3 the Constitution reads: He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient There is no requirement that it be an annual report. Nor, is there a requirement that it be delivered in the form of a speech in the Chamber of the U.S. House. Jimmy Carter delivered all four of his State of the Union addresses in written form. Harry...

In A Night At The Opera, Groucho Marx's carriage, running late, pulls up at the opera house, and he asks whether he's missed the opera. There's still a few minutes left, says the doorman. Groucho barks at his driver: "I told you to slow that nag down.... Once around the park, and drive slowly." That's my approach to the State of the Union. I took it once around the park and slowly, and arrived home just as President Obama was schmoozing and gladhanding his way out the door. But, alas, I had forgotten the Official Response to the State of...

A president's eighth State of the Union address is supposed to be his victory lap, a final year in the spotlight, in which he touts his achievements and then rides off into the sunset. Tonight, President Obama may utter the clichéd words, "The state of our union is strong!" If he does, it's just one more lie upon the pile. Obama will probably boast he brought the country back from the financial brink and try to argue that the American economy is doing well. (Avoiding "the brink" only took $8 trillion in new debt.) He will undoubtedly boast of...

Longtime readers know that I am not exactly the strongest supporter of Donald Trump.  As a big employer of illegal aliens and a five-time party switcher, his commitment lends itself to some doubts.  But that is no excuse to criticize him in a forum meant to represent the Republican Party response to the Democratic Party.  That is, however, just what South Carolina governor Nikki Haley did. According to her prepared remarks, Haley said: During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices," she will say, suggesting that Trump is an irrational, angry...

We're in a weird place when the GOP's SOTU rebuttal is essentially a rebuttal of the GOP frontrunner. And lest you think that was all Haley, she acknowledged today that her speech, as is customary, was approved by party leaders before she delivered it. It was a group effort. I, for one, welcome the impending Republican crack-up!

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 13, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) - The next Republican president will "respect" different forms of marriages, including same-sex "marriages," South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said in last night's Republican response to the State of the Union address. "If we [Republicans] held the White House," she said, "we would respect differences in modern families, but we would also insist on respect for religious liberty as a cornerstone of our democracy." Even the terminology "modern families" evokes the ABC sitcom featuring a homosexual couple raising a child. The GOP has been uncertain how to respond to the Supreme Court's Obergefell v....

House Speaker Paul Ryan announced Monday that he has invited two representatives of Little Sisters of the Poor to join him at President Obama's last State of the Union address Tuesday night. Little Sisters of the Poor is an order of Catholic nuns who serve the elderly poor. It's also the group that sought protection from Obamacare's mandate to offer birth control and other drugs in violation of their religious beliefs. Ryan was part of a friend-of-the-court brief filed in support of a case filed with the Supreme Court by the Sisters...

The First Lady will be featuring an empty chair as one of her guests for the State of the Union speech tonight. (It’s really rather crass to be stealing ideas from Clint Eastwood, isn’t it, Madam?) The empty chair will be joined by Syrian refugee Refaai Hamo, Paris train attack hero Staff Sgt. Spencer Stone, Ryan Reyes (whose boyfriend died at San Bernardino) and Satya Nadella.But it’s not just Obama cheerleaders in the crowd. As the Hill reports, one guest will be from a decidedly different camp. The Kentucky clerk briefly jailed last year for refusing to hand out...

Republican presidential candidate and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will skip President Obama's final State of the Union Address Tuesday night.While the other two Republican candidates currently in Congress, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio plan to attend Obama's address in the House chamber, Cruz' campaign staff told The Hill that Cruz will instead be on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, where he currently sits in fourth place in an average of New Hampshire Republican polling.Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is also scheduled to be in attendance for Obama's speech tonight.Although Cruz will not attend...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Out of time to push a new legislative agenda, President Barack Obama will look past Congress and to the American people in his final State of the Union address, aiming to define his presidency and his legacy before others can do it for him. For his seventh address, Obama plans to skips the traditional list of grand proposals, new policies and presidential appeals for new laws in favor of a broad overview of what he has accomplished since 2009 and what is undone in his final year in office. Aides said the president on Tuesday night will...

President Obama told supporters Friday that he'll leave one seat empty in the first lady's State of the Union guest box next week to represent victims of gun violence. In a conference call with about 20,000 activists, the president said the gesture during his annual address to Congress Tuesday night will "remind every single one of our representatives that it's their responsibility to do something." "We're going to leave one seat empty in the first lady's State of the Union guest box for victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice," Mr. Obama said. "We want them to...

First, let it be known that I am on the record many times declaring the tradition of the State of the Union and the State of the Union response as the worst monsters of democracy. I swear I would vote for anyone who promised to go back to sending a letter to Congress.If the SOTU is a dry, boring, laundry list of impossible goals and partisan cheap shots, the SOTU response is an even bleaker task. It has famously tripped up many a comer—Republicans more than Democrats, not because Democrats are any better but because the press is much...

The wording in the Constitution is simple and straightforward: the President “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union.” There's nothing in there about the Supreme Court justices and, accordingly, there's nothing simple and straightforward about their attendance. This year, six justices were in attendance, while three of the most conservative members of the court, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were noticeably absent. In the modern era, custom has held that the justices would show up in their official robes and sit impassively. But in recent years, they've become...

Last night, I spoke directly with the American people about what I believe we can get done together this year. My priorities are strengthening the middle class and ensuring our economy is rebounding for the whole country, not just the powerful few. I laid out a vision of middle-class economics, to help build on the progress of the past six years and make sure American families can get ahead in the 21st century. That means fighting to expand paid sick leave, helping any student willing to work hard get an affordable education, and cutting taxes for middle-class families ​by eliminating...

President Barack Obama shamed Congress in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night to pass legislation that already exists. Apparently not briefed by his secretary of labor and attorney general, Obama announced: "That's why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It's 2015. It's time." But it was June 10, 1963 when Congress passed “The Equal Pay Act of 1963,” which can be found at 29 U.S.C. § 206(d). It says: (d) Prohibition of sex discrimination (1) No employer...

Well that was a spectacle to end all; words fail me. Butt not Big Guy, his words – and he had plenty of them – shined like a million points of spite. I was up all night trying to figure out how best to summarize the SOTU for those of you who were too busy to watch it for yourself. Succinctly: it was 50 pounds of bullshit crammed into a 1 pound doggie poo bag. Butt before getting into any of the insignificant points of the speech allow me to comment on a couple of the more superficial aspects of the...

Relaxed and defiant are a few of the adverbs used by the mainstream media to describe the President’s 2015 State of the Union address. I have some adverbs of my own, but those words aren’t part of my vocabulary… Apparently, Barack Obama missed the midterm elections, and decided to continue to beat the drum of me, myself, and I am awesome… blah, blah, blah. Six years of the same old, same old. He did make a few Pinocchios though. Actually a lot of them. Here’s nine of my favorite big whoppers from the evening… 1. “Better politics isn’t one where...