SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

RIGHT DOWN THERE WITH THE OLYMPICS – OVERNIGHT:  President Biden's State of the Union message was a ratings bust.  From Daily Mail:  President Joe Biden had the lowest viewership for his State of the Union than any of his four predecessors' first addresses with less than 40 million tuning in, according to Nielsen ratings.  In a tracking of the 16 networks that aired live coverage of the address on Tuesday evening, 38,197,000 individuals were watching from 27,408,000 different households in the U.S.  The figures from Biden's speech come amid an ongoing war in Ukraine and increasingly dire approval rating numbers for the president and Democratic lawmakers going into the 2022 midterm elections.  Donald Trump's first State of the Union address in 2018 had 45.5 million viewers from 32.1 million households.  Barack Obama's first State of the Union garnered 48 million viewers, George W. Bush's 51.7 million and Bill Clinton 45.8 million.  Bush garnered a big boost for his first official address because it came just four months after the Twin Towers fell in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.   And the speech didn't do Biden much good.  There was nothing to suggest change from his current, failing policies.  The midterm elections are eight months away.

March 3, 2022