On the SOTU

- One of the more puzzling things is why people are so quick to praise President Bush for acknowledging that Nancy Pelosi is, indeed, the first female Speaker of the House. What does it say about the actual speech when the first thing his defenders on the right - a steadily shrinking number - tout in his courtesy?

- The speech itself wasn't terribly bad, and it included lots of interesting ideas regarding energy policy and fuel consumption. In the past, with a Republican Congress, those ideas never saw the light of day. Now, with a Democratic Congress, you might actually see some of these ideas discussed and implemented.

- Regarding Iraq policy, when your best counterargument is 'give it a chance to work' then you're doing a bang-up job of selling this thing. Of course, it's a pretty lousy idea to sell anyway.

- Probably worth noting as well that this is one of those times where the opposition party response is generating more attention than the actual State of the Union speech. Sen. Jim Webb nailed it.