Live Tweeting Obama's 2011 State of the Union address

I'll be live Tweeting - always beats dead Tweeting - my responses to Barack Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech to Congress tonight.   I'll post them on Twitter, as I think/feel about whatever moment in the speech, and then copy the Tweets over here, so there will be a complete record of these responses in progress, in one place.   I'll start around 9pm Eastern, and continue through the speech and after, with reactions to the pundits (not pundants, which really isn't a word, but I guess could be a dance ... the pun dance ...)

You can follow the Tweets in real time, over on my Twitter account - or you can read them shortly or much after, right here.

In the meantime, before 9, here's my blog post about President Obama's State of the Union last year (2010).

Beginning live Tweets -

8:45pm Eastern: Chris Matthews just said Obama will give separate address about gun control, so SOTU can focus on economics - 2 bad, should be tonight

9:08 Rep Eliot Engel shaking everyone's hand as they walk into SOTU - I knew him in high school (Bronx)

9:19 Boehner: nice lavender tie

9:25 Obama's economic talk: so far, a little boring (but economics almost always are)

9:31 Obama mention of "Google and Facebook" gets a little applause .. progress - new new media!

9:32 Obama's "Sputnik moment" - all right, pretty good phrase!

9:34 Obama - increase "electric vehicles on the road" - yeah! - deserves applause (love my Prius, but I'd trade it for all electric for sure)

9:42 Good about Obama wanting to make college more affordable - a good start would be doing away with usurious student loan re-payment policies

9:45 Obama: we need "high speed rails and high speed Internet" - excellent!

9:52 so far, Obama on need for high speed rail, and the good it will do, is best part of speech

9:54 Good, sensible defense of health care law by Obama

10:03 Good that Obama wants to reign in medical malpractice suit abuses

10:04 Gotta say - still think "earmarks" is one of the all-time stupid words

10:08 Good that Obama wants to start bringing home US troops from Afghan by summer - would be better if more were brought home in Spring

10:15 Obama strong on gays, military, universities

10:16  Good defense by Obama of democracy and freedom of press!

10:17 Good praise by Obama of Boehner, who almost cried

10:23 I give Obama's SOTU a "B" ... excellent on infrastructure, health care ... nothing great on foreign policy ... no mention on gun control