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| Name: Ryan Roe Email: prawnrr-rmv@this.com-yahoo.com Position: Movie / Television / Comic Book / Trivia Geek View Ryan's Personal Profile |
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| I've been maintaining this online journal for several years now. Heck, some of you were still wearing diapers when I started this thing. Although I think that turned out to be just some typical college experimenting. In years past, I had an annual tradition involving the president's annual State of the Union annual address, which I would post about annually. Every year the president gives a speech which is largely full of empty promises and things we want to hear. And every year, Congress rewards this dog-and-pony show with so many unnecessary standing ovations, it quickly becomes more comedic than the TV sitcoms the speech is preempting. In this 2003 post and this 2004 post, I predicted how many times the president would receive a standing ovation during the first eight minutes of his speech. I called it SOUP, or State of the Union Prediction, because there's nothing I like better than a CASSA (Catchy and Somewhat Silly Acronym). I think I overshot it both times. I've decided make a tasty little SOUP again this year, but it's a bit trickier this time around. There are more Democrats in Congress now than there have been for past States of the Union, so it's bound to throw things off a little. But will fewer Bush buddies = fewer standing ovations? Will the Republicans exercise restraint, so as not to get beaten up by Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat heavies during recess? ("We knocked smoking out of the capitol, now we're gonna knock your block off!") Or will the Republicans overcompensate, steadfastly standing by their fellow GOPer, and giving him a standing ovation no matter what comes out of his mouth, even if it's a lengthy and prodigious belch? I think the latter is more likely. So here's my prediction: Eight standing ovations in the first eight minutes. That's right, one per minute. But this year expect to see a lot more shots of Hillary Clinton remaining seated and scowling, or possibly ignoring the speech altogether while she plays "Nintendogs." I'll post a follow-up a day or two after the speech. I'm also planning to post the slightly overdue follow-up to my "Ryan on TV: Fall 2006" entry pretty soon, so set your watches for that. And shortly after that, I'll present a post in which I rewrite choice excerpts of Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" in Pig-Latin. Comments on this post are closed. |
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| Very funny! And unfortunately accurate. I don't think there will be any more or less ovations than usual. I just think there will be fewer people standing than usual. When the president first walks in, he'll get a long ovation from everyone. You get that just for being president and walking in a room. When he says his first opening remarks - the generic stuff that everyone can agree with, like "It would be nice to end this war someday" - everyone will continue to stand. When he gets down to brass tacks - "I'm re-instating the draft, but only for Asian women over 50" - expect a lot of scowls, "inadvertent" coughing, and more than a few senators heading out to the lobby to grab a smoke and challenge each other on Street Fighter II Ultra. Meanwhile, the sitting president always has to be supported by his party, so expect knee-jerk ovations from the Republicans even when the president asks, "Do I have gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe?" I used to get mad at pre-emptions, but you know what? I can't imagine anything more entertaining to watch tonight. :) |
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