President Bush gave a good but not a great speech tonight. Under the circumstances, I think he did as well as he could. As I have mentioned previously, I don't like Senator Webb. Senator Webb claimed he would not give a "partisan speech" tonight. He has an odd definition of partisanship as his speech was as a partisan as one could imagine.

He blamed Bush for Iraq while simultaneously continually praising himself. He emphasized economic inequality and "robber barrons" (notwithstanding the fact that many of those "robber barrons" donate quite generously to his party). That said, unfortunately a good portion of Americans can't see past this empty rhetoric and I suspect his speech will be well-received.

Republicans did quite well when they attacked people like Teresa Heinz Kerry who complained about tax cuts for the "wealthy" while they simultaneously and hypocritcally avoided paying taxes themselves. Republicans should defend themselves through ad hominem attacks if need be. I have no problem with any ultra-wealthy person voluntarily paying more in taxes and would actually encourage it. I do have a problem when they seem to believe that upper-middle class professionals should bare the brunt of the taxes, while they setup tax loopholes to avoid doing so.

Despite Democratic rhetoric, many of the billionaires in this country are partisan Democrats (Eli Broad, George Soros, Ted Turner, Haim Saban, to name a few) or very non-partisan. There is a reason Republicans win amongst middle class voters, they actually represent their interests. Republicans should not let themselves get tagged the party of the rich, while the Democrats are going to fundraisers on Park Avenue and Beverly Hills.