Looking forward to the SOTU

I know I just quoted from Eric Alterman's Altercation blog a few days ago.  But, hey, there's no blogosphere rule against doing it again, is there?

Besides, this time its a guest poster named Siva I'm quoting from the 02/02/05 pre-SOTU edition.  (For the non-poli-sci geeks, SOTU is the State Of The Union address.)  Siva is Siva Vaidhyanathan, who also crossed-posted this here, so it's only 1/4 of an Altercation quote, if you look at it that way.  Or maybe 1/2.  My fractions are a little weak today.  But something in my backup memory tells me that Siva is one of Alterman's students.

Anyway, the pre-SOTU quote is:

I spent the day reflecting on previous W States of the Union.  Hey, Mr. Prez, is that Axis of Evil any less evil now?  Is North Korea any more cooperative?  Is Iran any less belligerent?  How is that battle against AIDS in Africa going?  Did you find all that yellowcake from Niger?  How about all those caches of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq?  Are we still leaving children behind?  Have we nabbed Bin Laden?  Can I start planning my trip to Mars now?

Is there one major plan or goal expressed by Bush in a State of the Union that has worked?  Where are the standards of judgment?  Where is the scorecard?

We should start a pool on which of the big whoppers we are likely to hear tonight will reveal itself to be ridiculous first.  Wait.  That might not work.  Everyone knew that he was not going to do anything about AIDS in Africa as soon as it came out of his mouth.

As long as we're thinking of the golden oldies, let's recall Shrub's 2003 SOTU (my empahsis):

From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

# found after invasion: 0

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

Evidence for program found after invasion: None

The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.

# liters found after invasion: 0

The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hadn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.

# liters found after invasion: 0

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

# tons found after invasion: 0

It's worth remembering those famous passages when Bush talks about the "crisis" of Social Security tonight.