Feb 12, 2013
It's State of the Union day, so everyone's preoccupied with discussing what the President should or shouldn't say, and whether or not it can possibly mean anything, no matter what he ends up saying. Greg Dworkin joined us to remind us that yes, there is polling that can inform us on what should probably be included, and what sort of reaction the President can expect on those issues. And what can he expect? He can expect to be taken to task for not being nice enough to Republicans, who meanwhile have invited Ted Nugent to attend the speech, and give zero indication of any willingness to even cognitively process (much less accept) anything he has to offer. He should also expect that this refusal on the part of Republicans will lead to "reasonable, centrist" calls for him to meet Republicans in the middle. Sigh. How do we know this? In the case of the rank and file, it's what the polling tells us. In the case of the "elites," there's what Jennifer Rubin tells us. Which is that she finds it nauseating and disgusting that President Obama recounted having met the Pope, because that makes his statement on the Pope's decision to step down "all about him." Sure! Why not? Then, we do a procedural fact check on a Politico piece that says Chuck Hagel would be just the third cabinet nominee to have to overcome a filibuster. Is that true? Insert standard answer about Senate rules here: "yes and no." Next, some interesting SOTU meta: aisle-seat-hogging Members of Congress, and how Members get on TV, assembly line-style, after the speech. How about a sports diversion? The International Olympic Committee is set to axe wrestling from the 2020 games, but keep the Modern Pentathlon! Hello? Armando couldn't wait for The 11 Show to get a piece of that conversation! We wrap up with the story of Spring City, Utah's attempt at passing a local ordinance recommending that every home in the community have a firearm, and everyone undergo free, city sponsored gun safety classes. Hey, that's socialism!