The DemocratIC response showed up President Bush's pretty speech tonight for exactly what it was: a verbal performance. The QuickdrawPundits will no doubt have a field day analyzing the show. How he looked, who clapped when, how the performance measured up to years past. But in the end, it was just that. A show. Over when the clapping and the autographing signing ended, when the celebrity guests went home, when folks started to looking around after the party thinking of where to begin to get a handle on cleanup.

It's not just that the President has failed to back up his words so many times before. It's more than that. It's how VP Cheney couldn't even manage a straight face when the President challenged us as a nation, after all this time, to reduce our dependence on oil. It's the arrogance. The belief that saying something -- setting a challenge -- takes you more than halfway to achieving your goal. It's not that easy. Never was. Knowing what you want is no substitute for performance. You have to go get it; it's not like placing an order and you're there.

Senator Webb's response, on behalf of a united Democratic party with all thinking allies welcome, set a tone we haven't seen in a while. Loved that last line. ("If he does not, we will be showing him the way.") Enough with losing, those who make excuses and start jobs without finishing them. You have to spend a lot of time at the beginning of the project, thinking it through and figuring out if you can pay to complete it. If not, you don't start it. Or no excuses for not getting the job done. Today, not tomorrow.

In some of his pre-political dealings, Mr. Bush was a businessman who not so much worked and sweated and made things happen, as he was bailed out. Lucky like that. We won't all continue to put our faith in such luck, however, not after all these years, and Senator Webb's financial talk spoke to that. I suspect we'll be hearing more of those truths in the future too, as we realize that as the middle class is undermined so goes the country.

For all the talk, sure President Bush gave a nice performance. Hollow tonight, forgotten tomorrow, overshadowed by the real speech we'll remember -- the one Senator Webb wrote.
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Related: Reading this today made me kinda sad. The Olympic U.S.A. chant... the memories, the Miracle on Ice? Reducing U.S.A. to a You Suck Ass acronym? Listen kids, it's not about poor sportsmanship. Not about wisely paying more attention to the action on the field/court/ice, than the crazee fun in the stands. It's about pride... and patriotism. Respect. I wish someone, your grandpa maybe, could explain it to you. Someone really should. You don't ban nonsense like that, you educate the kids: explain and embarrass, if necessary. You Suck Ass, indeed.