The president’s 5,086 word State of the Union address offered almost endless possibilities for this year’s sixteen-word phrase that will ultimately come back to haunt the White House. ThinkProgress readers sent in so many great possibilities for our contest that it was hard to choose just one. So we picked two.

The winning sixteen words? “The principle here is clear: a taxpayer dollar must be spent wisely, or not at all.”

Many of you agreed that, with President Bush’s penchant for expensive tax cuts and pricey legislation like his $2 trillion social security proposal combined with an inability to keep track of billions of dollars in Iraq, this was the obvious choice. Congratulations to del999 for being the first to submit these sixteen words – we’ll be in touch to find out where to send your brand-new Center For American Progress fleece vest.

Also, congratulations to Dave S. for pointing out the 16 words President Bush should have said but didn’t: “We have finally created a comprehensive and clear exit strategy for leaving the country of Iraq.” Hope you enjoy your new vest, Dave.

Thanks to everyone who submitted entries.

[Read Part I]

So how about the second sentence: “…[W]e must focus our efforts on fellow citizens with the highest rates of new cases, African American men and women.” Now that really isn’t anything to work with. In fact, the statement is about as concrete as what the Bush administration has done for the rampant spread of HIV in the Black community.

Wait, that’s not true. It has had some effect. Because HIV/AIDS is disproportionately affecting the Black community, the Bush administration’s ill-fated policies with regard to the illness are disproportionately affecting the Black community. Here are two examples:

One in every four new HIV infections occurs in young people under the age of 25 and “African Americans account for 56 percent of those infections.” Studies have time and again proven that “comprehensive sex education” in schools has a direct and steady improvement on the sexual health of our youth. Yet the Bush administration insists on funneling hundreds of millions of dollars into ineffective abstinence-only programs, which “teach adolescents false and misleading information about reproductive health.”

“Over half of all people with AIDS and 90 percent of children with AIDS are covered by Medicaid.” While 8 percent of white Americans are on Medicaid, it is estimated that “22 percent of Black Americans” get their health care through Medicaid. The White House’s recent proposals for changes to the Medicaid system, which would give more “flexibility” to states in their decisions about Medicaid coverage programs, has AIDS activists up in arms as it “could result in the states offering fewer services to people with AIDS.”

(We’re guessing Vice President Cheney, who only recently found out that HIV is ravaging the African-American female community, didn’t feed this second sentence to President Bush either.) Read more

President Bush did not use the word “veterans” a single time in his 2005 State of the Union. This should come as no surprise given that the last time he mentioned veterans in a SOTU was in 2002 – before we went to war. Since then, over 10,000 troops have come home wounded from Iraq, and now there are “painful” changes to staff rotations in Iraq due to a lack of new recruits. One would think that the president would have something encouraging to say to the men and women who have served our country.

The president’s inattention to veterans is more than just rhetorical; it’s having an impact.

Though the Veterans Administration’s enrolled population has grown 134 percent since 1996, appropriations have only risen 44 percent.

Because of this lack of funding, and with troops coming home injured from Iraq every week, the waiting lists are growing for medical services — leading to what seems to be the current strategy for saving money: hiding available veterans services from them.

Those who speak out on behalf of veterans suffer the consequences. At the opening of the new Congress, Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) was removed by Republican leaders as chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee for being too strong an advocate for veterans.

And things may get worse quickly. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Defense Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness David Chu says benefits for veterans have “gotten to the point where they are hurtful. They are taking away from the nation’s ability to defend itself.” (You decide: a tax cut in a time of war for the top 1 percent, or health care for those who serve the nation?)

Although the pro-tax cut “Club for Growth” is often confused with the more popular “Hair Club for Men,” the group’s radical goals are much less benign than covering up a few bald spots. Since Stephen Moore started the Club in 1999, it has been known for being to the far right of the far right. In his time as President, Moore pursued an agenda so radical that even conservatives were appalled (Representative Jim Greenwood [R-PA] called the group “cannibals”). But don’t take their word for it–Stephen Moore’s quotes in last week’s Washington Post speak for themselves:

• On his family: “Sometimes we call our 3-year old Osama. That’s our pet name for him. He’ll probably be emotionally scarred for life.”

• On who he would sleep with if he could: (17-year old) “Maria Sharapova. Those legs!”

• On his relationship with his wife: “She isn’t wild about [our bedroom decorations], but I’m the king of my castle. The hero of my life is Ralph Kramden, who used to say, ‘I’m the kind of the castle, and you’re just a lowly knave, Alice.’”

Moore’s quotes about the American economy are just as bizarre:

• On the elderly: “The most selfish group in America today is senior citizens. Their demands on Washington are, ‘Give us more and more and more’. . . One of the biggest myths in politics today is this idea that grandparents care about their grandkids.”

• On recent stock market scandals: “Insider trading should not be a crime.”

• On America’s needs: “We do not need more money for Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, education…”

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) pocketed “more than $450,000 from Fox subsidiary News America, which owns newspapers, including the New York Post, and the book publisher HarperCollins.”

It’s pretty clear, as the Mercury News notes, that despite his promises to rid California of special interests, Schwarzenegger’s administration is being “fueled by six- and seven-figure special-interest donations.” What’ s news here is that Fox is now in the business of financially supporting economically conservative political candidates for high office. Sure, General Electric may own NBC and it makes political donations. But that is a far cry from a major news organization giving directly to candidates. Granted, it’s the right-wing cabal of Fox/NY Post/HarperCollins, so we all knew where their ideology was anyway. But this sure does put a fork in the whole “fair and balanced,” “We report, you decide” mantra.

President Bush’s State of the Union on Wednesday:

Fixing Social Security permanently will require an open, candid review of the options.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s Press Gaggle on Thursday (about that day’s event featuring Bush in Fargo, ND):

Q Is every single person, both in the audience and on the panel, are they all supporters of the President’s plan?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don’t know.

Update: Salon reports Fargo residents suspected of being liberals were blacklisted from the event.