I’ll be watching President Bush’s final State of the Union speech tonight and PowerBlog readers are invited to react and respond in the comments section below.

I’ll be updating this post throughout the night (below the break) for those of you interested in the (running) commentary. For now, let me just add this spoiler: the State of our Union is strong!

And for those of you who subscribe to SIRIUS Satellite Radio, I’m scheduled to discuss the speech at 10:40 PM Eastern on The Catholic Channel, channel 159. The conversation will focus especially on the proposed tax rebates, the federal budget, and tax cuts. Update: The audio of the interview is streaming here (download MP3 here). Read more on PowerBlogging the State of the Union…

The NYT editorializes today that Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is, at worst perhaps, a necessary evil given the current political climate: “if it takes Mr. Chávez’s demagogy to spur Washington toward more enlightened policies in the Americas, so be it.”

Read more on NYT Editorial on Chávez: Necessary Not-So-Evil…

The amount of media attention over the past week’s devoted to President Bush’s utterance of a “naughty” word has been incredible. Maureen Dowd uses it as just one more bit of proof supporting her depiction of the president as a frat-boy, who “has enshrined his immaturity and insularity, turning every environment he inhabits — no matter how decorous or serious — into a comfortable frat house.”

Read more on Potty-Mouthed President…

Touting the success of his faith-based initiative last week, President Bush noted that faith-based charities received more than $2 billion last year from the federal government. But even as Bush announced that the Department of Homeland Security would be the 11th agency to establish an office for the faith-based initiative, some groups are finding the money to be a mixed blessing.

Read more on A Golden Opportunity for ‘The Silver Ring Thing’…