The State Of The State, Part Seven

So, I thought I'd offer some comments on tonight's State of the State Address. Why? Who knows.

The best thing -- or in this case, worse thing -- about my new TV service from AT&T is that I can record the speech while at the same time watching a couple episodes of "Bob the Builder" and "Thomas the Tank Engine." Certainly, those options will provide better TV.

Here we go, as the governor has entered the House chambers and taken the rostrum.

1. As we go through the routine "thank you's," on a personal note I like to say that I hate this event. It's so over-hyped and always under-delivered. And oh yeah, two years ago I had my leg set in a full cast four hours before having to manage the GOP response operations for this spectacle.
2. The governor, like the president, opens with a good shot at Bush.
   
3. There's something very funny about watching the governor talk firm about spending, veto pens and small government. It's like watching a SNL skit and just waiting for the actor to burst out laughing.
4. That said, a good message and one worth supporting. Imagine if she'd said it seven years ago.
   
5. Pay cuts for lawmakers. Not much applause there. Hmmmmm?
6. State Fair - gone. History, Arts and Libraries - gone.
7. Ah, frozen pizza is done. It's all up from here.
8. I think her prompter went out. She's looking down A LOT.
9. Gov. proclaims the jobs coming from all her movie production tax credits. Of course, tax cuts don't matter and certainly don't work... unless they're for cool things like movie stars.
10. So here's a bit of a disconnect. At the same time we will become home to the electric car, we'll also abandon the methods that produce virtually all our electricity.
11. Michigan: America's cloudy solar state. Three Michigan cities rank in the top 32 on the list of the nation's cloudiest cities. Bring on the solar panels.
    
12. Something strikes me as strange. She's not talking to the viewers. She's talking to the people in the room. I guess this kind of makes sense, but you'd also think she'd pay at least a little attention to the people watching at home. Maybe it's just the camera angle.
    
13. The governor is so very cheerful and upbeat in her condescension.
14. A theme to this speech has emerged. Things are bad, very bad, and it's all somebody else's fault.
    
15. It's over, thankfully. It started ok, but ended in the kind of populist buck-passing that gives all politicians a bad name. The frozen pizza was without question the highlight of the night.