State of the Union

The story of the State of the Union speech was the countanence of the Glorious Leader's second-in-command, Dick Cheney, and that of the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. Twenty years ago, when Reagan was peaking, I never saw the VP so smug, nor did I see the Speaker (Tip O'Neal, of the opposing party) so unhappy and reluctant to applaud.
Yes, both Cheney and Hastert remained serious and sober throughout. But eyes and mouths tell everything. Hastert is no fan of this President, whereas Cheney controls him. Cheney looked down on Bush with a proud, triumphant air, whereas Hastert looked down on him with an unmistakeable sense of sadness and regret.

Hastert was more or less communicating, "My Republcan Party is the Party of Goldwater, Kemp, and Reagan,not of this disgusting piece of crap of a human being. But this is the bargain I made, and I must deal with it."