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The Talk Shows Sunday, July 12th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John Cornyn, R-Texas; Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa.

The Talk Shows Sunday, July 5th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and John Boehner, R-Ohio.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Pre-empted by coverage of Wimbledon tennis.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Adm.Mullen; Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y. THIS WEEK (ABC): Vice President Joe Biden. STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Adm.Mullen; Queen Noor of Jordan..

PBS Talk Show Host Tavis Smiley and a variety of America's black leaders meet in Los Angeles, CA, for the 2009 "State of the Black Union." This day-long event is titled, "Making America As Good As Its Promise." This event will re-air on C-SPAN2, Friday, March 6 at 8pm (ET).

I don't know whether or not Free Republic is allowed to hotlink images from IBD, so I'll just provide the link.

It’s a sad day when the most regal person on stage at the State of the Union is Nancy Pelosi, but that’s exactly what happened last night. And despite the media accolades, the fact that Barack Hussein Obama’s first entrance into the US House of Representatives had all the pomp and circumstance of Hugo Chavez at the racetrack was as clear as day. Most of it was Obama’s own fault. Yes, whoever decided to divide up the announcement by the Sergeant-at-Arms of his arrival to the House with a split introduction that contained ten seconds of pause in between did...

The president’s address tonight comes at an interesting juncture. The stimulus has passed, but the administration is backpedaling on just how much good it is going to do and how quickly we will feel its effects. The mortgage bailout plan has induced a populist backlash. And the financial sector is paralyzed with fear. While promising fiscal responsibility there is nothing but government spending and rising deficits in the near term. The New York Times hints at the dilemma: "It was only 13 years ago that Bill Clinton declared before a joint session of Congress that “the era of big government...

It is almost State of the Union time. So what is the real state of our union's finances, specifically our federal budget?  Are we going to hell in a hand basket?  Or do we have nothing to fear but fear itself?  I crunch the numbers so you don't have to. For fair comparisons over time, I provide numbers as a percentage of our economy, specifically Gross Domestic Product. The Past.  Let's start with what we know: the past.  Below is a breakdown for federal spending in 2007, as a percent of GDP, in which total outlays were exactly 20% of GDP...

Here is video of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs telling reporters, in answer to a question today, that President Barack Obama will deliver a "State of the Union-style" address to a joint session of Congress sometime in February. No date has yet been determined. . . . . . . (watch video)

Ullman as Padma Perkish Video TRACEY ULLMAN did not become an American citizen so she could make fun of the residents of these United States. She had already done that with “The Tracey Ullman Show,” a sketch comedy and variety show on the fledgling Fox network from 1987 to 1990... Ullman, 48, born in England moved here 20 years ago, passing her civics test and taking her Oath of Allegiance in 2006: “has released me psychologically to say that bit more about the people I impersonate.” “Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union,”begins Sunday on Showtime. Characters, such as Doris Basham,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, standing before Congress one last time, urged the nation Monday night to persevere against gnawing fears of recession and stay patient with the long, grinding war in Iraq. He pressed Congress to quickly pass a plan to rescue the economy. "We can all see that growth is slowing," Bush said in a blunt acknowledgment of rising food and gas prices, increasing unemployment and turmoil in the housing and financial markets. He cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that would jeopardize progress achieved over the last year. "We have unfinished business before us,...

Excerpts from the prepared text of President Bush's final State of the Union address Monday, as released by the White House. ___ On Congress: "The actions of the 110th Congress will affect the security and prosperity of our nation long after this session has ended. In this election year, let us show our fellow Americans that we recognize our responsibilities and are determined to meet them. And let us show them that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time." ___ On trusting and empowering the American people: "From expanding opportunity to protecting...

US President George W. Bush warned Iran Monday that the United States will "confront those who threaten our troops" and defend its allies and interests in the Gulf. Bush, in excerpts of his State of the Union speech provided by the White House, also urged Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, embrace political reforms, and "cease your support for terror abroad." "But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf," he said. His message echoed US warnings about...

Today the President will give his final State of the Union speech, please feel free to use this thread as a safe haven during the speech. Guest List for the First Lady's Box at the 2008 State of the Union The White House have issued a Fact Sheet: President Bush Takes Action to Prevent Wasteful Earmarks Click here for details Today the President proclaimed tomorrow as the Sixth Anniversary of USA Freedom Corps click here for details.Pray for President Bush - Day 2692 Today Secretary of State Condoleezza met with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith at the State Department The...

<p>I finally figured out what that smirk is for. George Bush just can't keep saying his lines with a straight face.</p> <p>Tonight, he's giving his last State of the Union speech - finally! - and he's bound to claim that he's made American stronger, safer, bigger, and better. But after seven years of his failed policies, nothing could be further from the truth.</p>

WASHINGTON - On Monday evening, President Bush will stand before a joint session of Congress and give a speech about the state of the Union – and perhaps about the state of his place in history, as well. This doesn't mean that Mr. Bush's final State of the Union address will be a nostalgia-fest of retrospection. Bush, like his father before him, famously is averse to dwelling on the past. But he's unlikely to unveil bold new initiatives, say experts, given his low approval ratings and the lack of time left in his term. At best Bush might push items...

Congressional Democrats, trying to have the first word on President Bush's State of the Union speech, challenged him Friday to renounce use of waterboarding in interrogations, close Guantanamo Bay to detainees and outline new policies toward Pakistan and Iran. Domestically, Democrats said they expect Bush to invest more in the development of renewable energy and to support any compromise Republicans and Democrats strike to renew a law governing the president's secretive surveillance program. At the National Press Club, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched into a tightly coordinated pair of speeches in which Pelosi...

"i>“We must not turn the Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.� — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson In his State of the Union address next week, it is imperative that President Bush push for the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Setting aside foolish partisan politics and ad hominem arguments, FISA is necessary for the national security of America and the safety of Americans. FISA is the law that governs gathering foreign intelligence information. Last year, when the CIA and intelligence community announced there were gaping holes in our ability to track overseas terrorists,...

A couple of days ago I did a radio interview, offering my observations of President Bush’s State of the Union address. Even though I disagreed with much of what the president had to say, I at first accepted his remarks as par for the course from this president. A week before, I received an email from the leader of Canada’s Christian Heritage Party, Ron Gray. Mr. Gray observed that all of Canada’s national parties now adhere to a Marxist social perspective (Gray, 2007). However, about a third of the way through the discussion on President Bush’s remarks, the speech’s content,...

There was someone in the gallery during President George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech that he would not dare publicly recognize. Even though he knew she was there, I’m confident he never even bothered to look up at Gallery 5, Row B, Seat 9, because sitting in that seat was Monica Ramos, the wife of imprisoned former Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos. She was the invited guest of Republican California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.

The following is a citizen’s response to the President’s State of the Union address and the Democrat response. This response is to the Men and Women of the United States Armed Forces. With all the political events of the past week, I was going to issue you an apology. Seeing how the people of whom I would be apologizing for are self-centered, self-righteous, better-than-anyone citizens of our great nation, let it suffice to say I am more disgusted than anything else. I can’t even come close to knowing what you must be going through in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the...

Senator James Webb (D-VA) said this in his rebuttal to George Bush’s State of the Union address. "The President took us into this war recklessly. He disregarded warnings from the national security adviser during the first Gulf War..." Since he (inadvertantly of course) left out some other people who “took us into this war recklessly,” we will help him out by reminding him and the American public of what his friends John Kerry, Hillary “I Want a Third Term in 2008" Clinton, Thomas Daschle, Albert “The World is Melting” Gore, and William “I did not have sex with that woman,...

Republican senators joined their counterparts in taking aim at Bush's Iraq plan -- even if they were only shooting blanks. The Senate on Wednesday took baby steps toward opposing President Bush's strategy in Iraq, as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee moved forward a nonbinding, legally toothless statement opposing deeper military entanglement there and pushing for more diplomacy in the region. In their criticism, Democrats and Republicans seemed to share the same talking points. Senators from both parties spoke of the ramifications of failure, the United States' dwindling options, and their skepticism about war plans from a White House that has...

US President George W. Bush is in a world of political pain right now. Congress has turned against him. The Democrats smell blood. Even Republicans are deserting him. Next week the US Senate may vote on a non-binding motion opposing the President's strategy of a US troop surge in Iraq. Friendless, beleaguered and with the clock running down on his presidency, Bush is a lonely figure. All of which makes it all the more encouraging that he gave a particularly fine State of the Union address yesterday. It was, in all the circumstances, I think as good a speech as...

Something unprecedented happened tonight, beyond the doorkeeper announcing, "Madame Speaker." For the first time ever, the response to the State of the Union Message overshadowed the president's big speech. Virginia Sen. James Webb, in office only three weeks, managed to convey a muscular liberalism—with personal touches—that left President Bush's ordinary address in the dust. In the past, the Democratic response has been anemic—remember Washington Gov. Gary Locke? This time it pointed the way to a revival for national Democrats....

It is clear both ‘Big Box’ parties still don’t get it! America’s Largest “Third Party” Responds to the President’s Address LANCASTER, PA: The president tried to convince Americans last night that “we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border - and that requires a temporary worker program.” To stop the invasion of our country the president proposed giving illegals an “orderly path” and simply doubling the size of the U.S. Border Patrol. He wants you to believe this “will leave border agents free to chase down drug smugglers”, yet two U.S. Border Patrol agents were...

Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo, seated next to first lady Laura Bush and proudly flashing his familiar broad smile, was honored by President George Bush Tuesday at the State of the Union Address in Washington. Mutombo, working almost daily, raised $29 million (donating $15 million himself) for the construction of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mutombo plans to open the hospital — Kinshasa's first new one in 40 years — this summer. It is named for his mother, who died nine years ago when civil unrest and...

'GRACIOUSNESS" is not a word usually used to describe a State of the Union speech, but it's the appropriate one to characterize President Bush's address last night. At the political low point of his presidency, faced with a Democratic Congress alternately hostile toward and exasperated with him, Bush struck a tone that was more than merely conciliatory. It was a genuine effort to seek a middle ground on domestic policy, and to offer a plain-spoken explanation for his new warfighting policy in Iraq that took into account the displeasure of many in the chamber with the idea of expanding the...

Did they really need to drag World News anchor Charles Gibson all the way down from New York just to do a stand-up intro with the Capitol dome over his shoulder? George Stephanopoulos and Martha Raddatz were in separate locations, so it wasn't as though he was joining them in the studio. Having just visited the slushy and dreary capital yesterday, I feel for him. Maybe standing outside in the cold is what led Gibson to fall into what by now should be an eminently avoidable journalistic trap--remarking on the wardrobe of a female newsmaker. As he and his colleagues...

. Poll of 370 adults finds 78 percent of speech viewers reacted positively • 67 percent think Bush's policies will move country in right direction • Positive numbers muted in comparison with previous years • 51 percent confident U.S. will meet goals in Iraq, WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than three-quarters of Americans who watched President Bush's State of the Union address had a positive reaction to it, although the reaction was muted from that in past years, according to a poll released Tuesday. Forty-one percent of 370 adults who watched the speech said they had a "very positive" reaction to...

President Bush proved in his State of the Union Address last night that he has victory in sight. If only those in the chamber shared his goal. The president painted a stark picture of reality on the ground, the consequences of failure, and the betrayal of “an orderly redeployment.” His message fell upon 300 deaf ears, but 250 million listening Americans may prove sufficient to save American prestige from abroad from hitting a post-Carter low. It was a powerful and prophetic message opposed by powerful interests. Foreign Policy President Bush’s terse but powerful exposition on Iraq may one day be...

The key paragraph in the president’s State of the Union speech was this: This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in. Every one of us wishes this war was over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk. Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of the battle. So let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory. It called to mind a...

Dozens of Republican leaders joined Democrats in taking aim at President Bush's State of the Union address Tuesday night. Facing a split within his own party and sagging approval ratings over Iraq, the president faced a major challenge: to win over the American public and to win back the support of prominent Republicans, who oppose his strategy for Iraq.

WASHINGTON - George Bush tried to go home Tuesday night. His goal was what he thought he left behind in Texas when he was a Republican governor with a Democratic legislature. But the mythical bipartisan place he tried to reach out to in his State of the Union address Tuesday was never like the one he romanticized in Texas. It's not what he's built in six years in Washington. And today it's as elusive as Oz. "We can work through our differences," Bush said hopefully Tuesday. He spoke the language of cooperation, singling out four big issues on which he...

..... Though his delivery at times seemed mechanical and flat, Bush was in good spirits at the start of his first appearance before a Congress run by the opposition party. He gave a warm and gracious nod to "Madam Speaker" Nancy Pelosi, the Baltimore-born Democrat who became the first woman to gavel a joint session to order from that perch. And he congratulated Democrats on their rise to power, though he apparently couldn't bring himself to say "Democratic," as written in his text. Instead, he welcomed the "Democrat" majority, a slur favored by Republican politicians. ....Democratic Rep. Elijah E. Cummings...

<p>President George W. Bush will give his 2007 State of the Union address to a Joint Session of Congress.</p>

Bush warns against Iraq failure President Bush's approval ratings are at an all-time low US President George W Bush will warn that failure in Iraq would be "grievous and far-reaching" in his annual State of the Union address in a few hours.Mr Bush will defend his new Iraq plans, urging "America must not fail in Iraq". He is also expected to focus on domestic issues, urging political opponents to join him in tackling the US's most profound problems. Topping the agenda will be energy policy, with Mr Bush calling for a 20% cut in petrol consumption by 2017. In...

A humbler President Bush will reach out tonight to the Democrats, who now control Congress, on issues including immigration, health and energy policy.The first words of his seventh annual State of the Union address will be “Madam Speaker”, a reference to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and embodiment of the Democrats’ midterm election victory, when voters expressed anger over Iraq. She will be seated directly behind the President days after accusing him of playing politics with troops’ lives, a comment that the White House branded “poisonous”. Mr Bush is facing a growing revolt over Iraq from...

WASHINGTON - In his first State of the Union address to a Democratic-controlled Congress, President Bush is calling for Americans to slash gasoline consumption by up to 20 percent by 2017. Bush envisions the goal being achieved primarily through a sharp escalation in the amount of ethanol and other alternative fuels that the federal government mandates must be produced. The rest of the fuel use reduction is to come from raising fuel economy standards for passenger cars, Joel Kaplan, White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters in a briefing before Bush's Tuesday night speech to a joint session of...

All the more reason to tune in to President Bush's State of the Union Address tonight: IraqSlogger's State of the Union Address Word Count Contest. Guess each and every 2007 category precisely, be the first with the correct answer, and win $2,007.

Tuesday would have marked his sixth State of the Union address -- and it might have been his best yet. The nation is in great shape, President Jeb Bush would have reported: record tax cuts propelling the economy to greater heights; a revolutionary school-vouchers program for the first time granting low-income parents real education choices; and, five years after the capture of Osama bin Laden, the final 20,000 U.S. troops returning home from Iraq. The president would break into his fluent Spanish and wave at his Mexican-born wife, Columba, gazing at him from the balcony. The cameras would settle on...

President Bush intends to use his State of the Union address Tuesday to tackle the rising cost of health care with a one-two punch: tax breaks to help low-income people buy health insurance and tax increases for some workers whose health plans cost significantly more... The basic concept is that employer-provided health insurance, now treated as a fringe benefit exempt from taxation, would no longer be entirely tax-free. Workers could be taxed if their coverage exceeded limits set by the government. But the government would also offer a new tax deduction for people buying health insurance... “I will propose a...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday gives him a second chance to defend his new Iraq strategy to a nation soured on the war and a Congress poised to vote against the plan. It will be the president's last major opportunity to shape America's legislative agenda before the fast-moving 2008 presidential campaign begins to drown out his message. Bush is expected to strike a conciliatory tone on some domestic issues where he believes he can work with the first Democratic Congress in 12 years. On Iraq, he is expected to stand firm. The nationally televised...

Michael J. Fox, whose advocacy ads created a stir in last fall's elections, will attend President Bush's State of the Union address next week as a guest of Rhode Island Rep. Jim Langevin. Both are staunch supporters of embryonic stem-cell research. Fox, 45, suffers from Parkinson's disease. As the 2006 elections neared, he appeared in television campaign ads for political candidates who support the research. "Congressman Langevin is a tireless champion for the advancement of medical research, and I am honored to join him next week at the State of the Union," the actor said in a statement. Langevin, who...

National Democratic leaders have chosen Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to deliver their party's nationally broadcast response to President Bush's State of the Union speech next week, Webb's office announced Tuesday. "I am honored to have been selected... " Webb said in a statement. Webb will be the second Virginia Democrat in a row selected for the high-profile assignment; Gov. Timothy M. Kaine delivered the party's response last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, already facing fierce opposition to his decision to send more U.S. troops to Iraq, will confront a tough audience next Tuesday when he delivers his State of the Union address to the first Democratic Congress in 12 years. Reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and supporting alternative fuels are expected to be prominent themes of his speech. Bush also will challenge Congress to fix Social Security's long-term solvency problem, find a way to compromise on immigration and preserve tax cuts. Lawmakers also will be listening for hints of what he might veto. Republicans see the...

In a scene from Star Trek VI, Spock quotes a Vulcan proverb, "Only Nixon Could Go To China." At The Independent Online, Geoffrey Lean is wondering if George W. Bush is preparing to make such a Nixonian move in a dramatic turnaround in his environmental policy. Sources say that the most likely moment is the President's State of the Union address in January. Environmentalists expect the measures to fall far short of what is needed, but say this does not matter. "The very fact that Bush would reverse his position will liberate many Republicans to vote for meaningful pollution cuts,"...

President Bush delivered his fifth State of the Union speech, but he didn't address the issues that matter most to working, middle-class Americans, from substantive health care reform to assuring educational opportunity to combating the outright war on our middle class. President Bush hopes this latest address will lift his poll numbers and set the tone for the midterm congressional and senatorial election campaigns. But the president and the Republican Party face major challenges. The American electorate is dissatisfied with the president's conduct of the war in Iraq and frustrated with the rising cost of health care, unchecked illegal immigration,...

Hi, longtime lurker and firsttime poster. To the point: I'm looking for the editorial or op-ed that Joe Wilson wrote in, I think, the LA Times not long after the 2003 State of the Union address where he supports the administration. If my memory serves me, Wilson was in support of the administration until he was hired by the Kerry campaign (April, 2004, maybe?). For some reason, the whole Wilson-Plame crap is an ongoing argument in my family, and I'm trying to get my facts in line. If anyone can help me, I'd be grateful. To diverse on a brief,...

DUBLIN, Ohio President Bush mixed politics with his prescription for what ails the nation's health care system on a trip Wednesday to Ohio, which was a pivotal state in his re-election and one with key races in this year's midterm elections. The president made his case for health savings accounts at Wendy's International Inc., where 9,000 employees have signed up for the accounts since the hamburger giant began offering them last year. "After more than five years of health care costs going at double-digit rates, Wendy's overall health care costs rose only by 1 percent last year," Bush said.