disgusting

it's not unusual these days to hear how irrelevant george bush is. now that he's really on his way out, voices are speaking up more than ever about what a true disaster this administration has been. after the state of the union last night, senators were happy to run their mouths off about how excited they are to have him out of the white house next year...

so WHY DID GEORGE BUSH GET TO DELIVER HIS STATE OF THE UNION TO THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE?

although i know that applause after every point is a bizarre little tradition (it should be done away with)*, it's particularly disgusting now that members of the government continue to willfully pad the president's sense of reality with this support. our federal political forum is an atmosphere where verbal dissent is totally stifled! it's probably the best symbol of how dysfunctional the american government is. if you don't believe me, check out some proceedings of the british parliament. a shocking contrast, truly.

* what i'd really like to know is when it started, b/c i'm pretty confident it hasn't always been this way. has Slate done a piece on this? dammit, last night would've been a fabulous peg...