State of the Union

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Fred Barnes, hosted by Michael Graham:

In response to the outrage over Marco Rubio's decision to drink water during his response to the State of the Union Address, his PAC, Reclaim America, has begun selling water bottles.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Bill Kristol, hosted by Michael Graham:

There wasn’t much in the way of substance to distinguish Marco Rubio’s official Republican response to the State of the Union Address from the Tea Party response by Rubio’s Senate colleague, Rand Paul. Both were delivered by potential 2016 presidential nominees who entered the Senate on a wave of grassroots support in 2010. Both senators offered conservative rebuttals to President Obama’s stridently pro-government address.

Did I miss something? Or was the State of the Union Address delivered by President Obama last night unusually pedestrian, packed to the gills with clichés, promises, gimmicks, and endless talk of partnerships, goals, challenges, and commissions for which Washington is famous?

The AP put out this photo on the wire:

In tonight's State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama calls for minimum wage to be raised to $9 per hour.

In his State of the Union Address this evening, President Barack Obama will encourage Congress to adapt a cap and trade plan to deal with climate change. Energy, climate, and taxes are a sizable portion of Obama's speech.

At tonight's State of the Union Address, President Obama will announce that he has signed a cyber security executive order.

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, as prepared for delivery:

President Barack Obama will use tonight's State of the Union Address to announce a group that will explore ways to improve "the Election Day experience." The Huffington Post, which broke the news, calls the group "a bipartisan presidential voting commission." 

The following are excerpts of the Republican response to the State of the Union Address, which will be delivered by Marco Rubio: