The State of the Union is Strong?

At least according to the president it is.

Even with his approval rating at an all time low and with just 26% of Americans feeling that the country is headed in the right direction, Mr. Bush trudged on tonight in his State of the Union address. The smirk, the bravado, and the style wavered only slightly.

The rhetoric stayed much the same, too. With lines like "we can go forward with confidence... our cause in the world is right" and "out of chaos in Iraq, would emerge an emboldened enemy... with an even greater determination to harm America. To allow this to happen would be to ignore the lessons of September 11^th and invite tragedy. And ladies and gentlemen, nothing is more important at this moment in our history than for America to succeed in the Middle East," he's clearly living in world of denial. What's more, the President's clearly still a fan of fear mongering. The strategy is clear: create sound bites that let Americans know that if we don't get the bad guys, the bad guys are hell bent on coming here and getting us. And the only way to get the bad guys? Of course it's the path we're on right now, no matter what the truth of the matter is.