POTUS' SOTU: The drinking game played once a year

Tonight, on the 1,050th day of the Iraq war (George Will points out the 912th day of American participation in World War II was D-Day), our POTUS will make the State of the Union (SOTU) address he is constitutionally bound to deliver. In response, many Americans will make the gagging-dry-heave noises they are morally bound to deliver.


The Democrats' responses (filmed before a live, non-studio audience) will be given by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, in English, followed by a Spanish response from L.A. Mayor Antonia Villaraigosa. Neither of the leaders are expected to deviate from the core message of the Democrats rebuttal, which is to make clear that John Kerry is not the guy giving the response.

For those seeking some appetizers prior to tonight's main course, here are some highlights from today's news:

The NY Times and Washington Post's prep pieces, the NY Daily News on Bush's body language, two updates (one from the top, one from the bottom) on the role of religion in both Parties, and the Daily News again on Sen. Hillary's guest for tonight's speech.

All of the above links can be found in today's The Note, the immensely praiseworthy and free daily digest of news and analysis provided by ABC News. Nowhere is there a greater quality or quantity of coverage to be found in a single source. Beware though, it's more addictive than crackrocks.

An example of The Note's SOTU analysis from ABC News' Polling Director Gary Langer in today's Note:

"Partisans watch these things; rather than torturing themselves, people who don't like the guy can just turn to another of their 100 channels. When we polled on the SOTU in 2003, we found that the president's approval rating among speech watchers was 70 percent, versus 47 percent among those who didn't watch. As we put it at the time: 'Simply put, people who don't like a particular president are considerably less apt to tune him in.'"

"These speeches tend to be composed of poll-tested applause lines, so the people who watch are already predisposed to like what they hear."

People predisposed to like what they hear, eh? Hmmm...well, I can think of only one way to guarantee my predisposed enjoyment of tonight's latest truth-massacre, and that's to turn it into a drinking game. Here are the rules.

So gather your buddies and get down on Bush's special brand of truthiness. Because remember: If you watch the speech, you're gonna feel like shit tomorrow morning anyway.