9:56 PM: For running updates out of the speech, check out the latest on TPMLiveWire.
9:58 PM: Here’s the passage on counter-terrorism policy and transparency …
As we do, we must enlist our values in the fight. That is why my Administration has worked tirelessly to forge a durable legal and policy framework to guide our counterterrorism operations. Throughout, we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts. I recognize that in our democracy, no one should just take my word that we’re doing things the right way. So, in the months ahead, I will continue to engage with Congress to ensure not only that our targeting, detention, and prosecution of terrorists remains consistent with our laws and system of checks and balances, but that our efforts are even more transparent to the American people and to the world.
10:02 PM: And here’s the picture of Ted Nugent at the SOTU.
10:04 PM: Okay, just look at this picture of McCain, Schumer and Graham.
10:07 PM: Basic decision White House made after the election was that voting rights was critical agenda item but that Voter ID was almost hopeless from a political standpoint. The focus had to be on lines, that you shouldn’t have to wait hours in line to exercise your core right as an American.
10:11 PM: Interesting pivot making it about getting a vote. A pretty hard request to snub. Here’s the passage …
Hadiya’s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote.
Gabby Giffords deserves a vote.
The families of Newtown deserve a vote.
The families of Aurora deserve a vote.
The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence – they deserve a simple vote.
9:33 PM: I wouldn’t say President Obama is shouting this speech. But it’s not just the words that make it a fighting speech.
9:35 PM: For a second I thought Biden was lighting up a cigarette.
9:38 PM: I was sort of surprised to see Boehner clap for the energy waste line.
9:42 PM: The White House thinks there’s potential traction with this pre-school idea because they’ve identified some of the most innovative efforts in deep red states. No accident that Oklahoma and Georgia got the name check.
9:47 PM: Still sort of amazes me that Al Franken is a senator. And he’s pretty well positioned to get a second term.
9:49 PM: The pattern of members standing just there on immigration reform confirms me in being an immigration reform skeptic. I think it’ll happen eventually. But I think it’s going to be a much tougher grind than people imagine.
