Ohio Democrats React to State of the Union

[UPDATE - post expanded and edited slightly.]
Excellent live blogging/commentary by Pho and Redhorse. Pho's best line:

Listening to Bush talk about "principles of hope and decency" is like listening to Britney Spears talk about personal responsibility.

Dave of Ohio Valley Politics also live-blogged the speech using a new technology that I had not yet seen, and reprinted four good text messages sent out by the DCCC during the speech, including these:

Bush: We share a common goal- making health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans.
Reality: He vetoed healthcare for 10 million kids, twice.

Bush: 116 million American taxpayers would see their taxes rise by an avg of $1,800.
Reality: Middle income Americans will receive less than half that.

Dave also publishes reactions from Rep. Zack Space (D-Dover) here and Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-St. Clairsville) here. Both Blue Dog Democrats have plenty to complain about. Space slams Bush on immigration (not doing enough about enforcement) and trade. Wilson criticizes him on Iraq, SCHIP, and making tax cuts for millionaires permanent while the country is at war and in hock. Both represent Ohio's coal country and make a point of praising "clean coal" technology, about which I am deeply skeptical.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Avon) sent out a statement, calling for investment in the middle class. Here are some excerpts:

“The president’s state of the union was more of the same. But we need change. ...

“In Ohio, [middle class Ohioans would tell Bush that] tax cuts helped the wealthiest people at the expense of the middle class. ... In Ohio, the president would hear that this country’s trade policy has shipped good-paying middle class jobs overseas. We need a moratorium on all trade agreements. ... I want trade – and more of it – but under different rules. In Ohio, the president would hear that it is time to pull the troops out of the civil war in Iraq. ...

“Instead of more of the same, it’s time we invest in our middle class workforce. We need a Marshall Plan for alternative energy. Ohio is ripe to lead the way in manufacturing component parts for alternative energy. ... We need to invest in rebuilding our nation’s deteriorating infrastructure. As the nation plows through the foreclosure crisis, we need to provide communities with help to maintain some properties, demolish others, and combat the crime and other problems stemming from the housing crisis.

And I also received a response from Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Copley Township):

“Tonight we heard President Bush speak a lot about the ‘security and prosperity’ of our nation. Unfortunately, his proposals offer us little of either. ... As has been said, ‘Don’t tell me what you believe, show me what you do and I’ll tell you what you believe’.

[W]hen we hear the President call for more bipartisanship, I wonder why he continues to block our bipartisan efforts to insure our nation’s children. Twice now, we have brought strong bipartisan legislation to the President that would help insure 10 million American children, and we have received two vetoes in return. ...

He argues for passage of more so-called Free Trade Agreements to ‘level the playing field’ in the global marketplace. This sounds nice and he can package it as he wants, but the American people know free trade has been anything but free. The costs have been seen with a soaring trade deficit, millions of American jobs lost, a surge in unsafe toys and food imports, and a decline in our national security interest with a growing inability to produce here at home. If the President really wanted to level the playing field, he would work with us to develop a new trade policy that fixes the broken global trading system, rather than pursuing his chosen path which will continue to leave our workers and businesses at an unfair disadvantage.

The American people understand the reality of the difficulties our nation faces. Tonight the President had a chance to address their concerns, but we only heard some nice rhetoric. This means nothing to Ohio’s families without action to back it up. ...”

UPDATE: Just found this pithy comment from Rep. Tim Ryan:

“As expected, the President didn’t say anything new and didn’t offer any constructive solutions. The President should be focused much more on domestic programs which will actually help the American middle class rather than trying to make his tax cuts to the richest 1% permanent. If he’s really concerned with empowering the American people, then he’d be protecting them from losing their homes in this mortgage crisis, losing their jobs to workers abroad and would sign the bi-partisan S-CHIP legislation which would cover 10 million children with healthcare.”