SOTU 2005: Touching scene
Update (2/3/05): Fox News reported that the purple fingers belonged to freshman Republican Representatives, which would explain Bush's slightly exasperated dismissal. It was the same expression you might see on the senior football team captain's face, upon viewing a row of underclassmen in the stands with their hairless chests painted in the school colors. "Freshmen. Sheesh. But what are you gonna do?" I do wonder if Midland's Mike Conaway was part of the Purple Gang.
The most emotional part of tonight's SOTU was when the mother of the slain Marine, killed during the assault on Fallujah, was embraced by the Iraqi woman whose father was killed by Saddam Hussein a few years ago. The unspoken gesture of gratitude and empathy was moving beyond words.
[The spell was broken a bit when the dogtags the mom was holding got tangled up in the Iraqi woman's coat sleeve button and they had a tough time extricating themselves. One of the Fox News commentators later said that the mother gave the dogtags to the woman; I don't believe that was the case.]
Question for someone more perceptive than me: who held up the purple-stained finger in front of the President during his entrance before the speech? I thought it was one of the members of Congress, but I couldn't tell for sure. Bush had a funny reaction...he did a very slight doubletake and immediately turned away, almost like he wasn't sure if it was a joke. Anyone else catch that?
Actually, this is a long-standing, er, -sitting tradition in which the oppressed minority gives the Prez a stern rebuke in the form of stern repose. As you point out, the sternescence doesn't extend to certain areas where they disagree with the Prez but don't dare say so in front of the cameras...things like supporting the troops and advancement of equal rights through non-discriminatory policies. Such lack of backbone facilitates maintenance of the sitting position.
Posted by: Eric at February 2, 2005 10:54 PMAbout the publisher
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Yep.
Didn't recognize the person, though.
I caught something else. The Democrats made a point of sitting and not standing/ applauding along with the rest of the audience during the President's speech.
Sure, they had to once or twice when the subject of America's troops came up, to do otherwise would have been bad form, even for them.
But the rest of the time, they just sat there pointedly being schmucks throughout the whole event. It gives a real sense of how "obstructionist" they truly are.
Posted by: Mr. Freen at February 2, 2005 10:48 PM