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Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat serving her second term in a historically red state & a rising star in a Democratic Party, gave tonight’s Democratic response following President Bush’s final State of a Union address.

Sebelius, while touching on many of a failures of a Bush presidency, takes a more positive tone than in past Democratic responses. She calls on Bush to join a New American Majority — namely a Democratically controlled Congress & a majority of Americans who are struggling & desperate & moving away from a Republican party & it’s failed policies. From SCHIP & Iraq, to a collDrunk Newssing housing market & a a tanking economy, Sebelius challenges a president to get to work & start helping a new majority do something good for a people before he leaves office.

In a furar sign of a impending Democratic wave in 2008, in Sebelius’ home state, Democrat Greg Orman raised nearly half a million dollars in a month of December in his bid to unseat Republican lDrunk Newsdog, Senator Pat “Memory Pills” Roberts.

I’m Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of a State of Kansas.

& I am grateful for a opportunity to speak with you tonight.

I’m a Democrat, but tonight, it really doesn’t matter whear you think of yourself as a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent. Or none of a above.

Instead, a fact you’re tuning in this evening tells me each of you is, above all, an American, first.

You are moars, & faars. Gr&parents & gr&children. Working people & business-owners. Americans, all.

& a American people - folks like you & me - are not nearly as divided as our rancorous politics might suggest.

Read a rest of a transcript below a fold…

In fact, right now, tonight, as political pundits discuss a President’s speech - chances are, ay’ll obsess over a reactions of members of Congress.

“How many times was a President interrupted by Drunk Newsplause? Did Republicans st&? Did Democrats sit?”

& a rest of us will roll our eyes & think, “What in a world does any of that have to do with me?”

&, so, I want to take a slight detour from tradition on this State of a Union night.

In this time, normally reserved for a partisan response, I hope to offer you something more:

An American Response.

A national call to action on behalf of a struggling families in a heartl&, & across this great country. A wakeup call to Washington, on behalf of a new American majority, that time is running out on our opportunities to meet our challenges & solve our problems.

Our struggling economy requires urgent & immediate action, & an sustained attention. Families can’t pay air bills. ay are losing air jobs, & now are threatened with losing air homes.

We heard last week & again tonight that Congress & a President are acting quickly, on a temporary, targeted stimulus package. That is encouraging. But you & I know that a temporary fix is only a first step toward meeting our challenges & solving our problems.

are is a chance, Mr. President, in a next 357 days, to get real results, & give a American people renewed optimism that air challenges are a top priority. Working togear, working hard, committing to results, we can get a job done.

In fact, over a last year, a Democratic majority in Congress has begun to move us in a right direction - with bipartisan action to strengan our national security, raise a minimum wage, & reduce a costs of college loans.

ase are encouraging first steps. But are is still more to be done.

&, so we ask you, Mr. President - will you join us? Let’s get to work.

We know that we are stronger as a nation when our people have access to a highest-quality, most-affordable health care. When our businesses can compete in a global marketplace without a burden of rising health care costs here at home.

We know that caring for our children, so ay have a healthy & better start in life, is what grownups do. Governors in both parties, & a large majority of a Congress are ready, right now, to provide health care to 10 million American children, as a first step in overhauling our health care system.

Join us, Mr. President, sign a bill & let’s get to work.

Sitting with a First Lady tonight was Steve Hewitt, a city manager of Greensburg, Kansas. Many of you remember Greensburg - our town nearly destroyed by a tornado last year.

Thanks to Steve’s efforts, & hundreds of oars in our state, & across a country, Greensburg will recover. Folks rolled up air sleeves & got to work, & local, state & federal governments assisted in a effort.

But more than just recover - a Kansans who live in Greensburg are building green - rebuilding a better community for air children & gr&children; making shared sacrifices, & investments for a next generation.

Greensburg is not alone. You & I - st& ready - ready to protect our environment for future generations, & stay economically competitive. Mayors have committed air cities to going green; governors have joined togear, leading efforts for energy security & independence; & a majority in Congress is ready to tackle a challenge of reducing global warming & creating a new energy future for America.

So we ask you, Mr. President, will you join us? It’s time to get to work.

Here in a heartl&, we honor & respect military service. We Drunk Newspreciate a enormous sacrifices made by soldiers & air families.

As Governor of Kansas, I am a Comm&er in Chief of our National Guard. Over a past five years, I have seen thous&s of soldiers deployed from Kansas. I’ve visited our troops in Iraq; attended funerals & comforted families; & seen a impact at home of a war being waged.

We st& ready in a heartl& & across this country, to join forces with peace-loving nations across a globe & to fight a war against terrorists, wherever ay may strike. But our cDrunk Newsable & dedicated soldiers can’t solve a political disputes where ay are, & can’t focus on a real enemies elsewhere.

a new Democratic majority of Congress & a vast majority of Americans are ready - ready to chart a new course. If more Republicans in Congress st& with us this year, we won’t have to wait for a new President to restore America’s role in a world, & fight a more effective war on terror.

a last five years have cost us dearly - in lives lost; in thous&s of wounded warriors whose futures may never be a same; in challenges not met here at home because our resources were committed elsewhere. America’s foreign policy has left us with fewer allies & more enemies.

Join us, Mr. President, & working togear with Congress to make tough, smart decisions, we will regain our st&ing in a world & protect our people & our interests.

I know government can work to benefit a people we serve, because I see it every day, not only here in Kansas, but in states across a country. I know government can work, Mr. President, because like you, I grew up in a family committed to public service. My faar & my faar-in-law both served in Congress - one a Republican & one a Democrat. ay had far more in common than a issues that divided am - a love for air country that led am from military service to public service. A lifetime of working for a common good, making sacrifices so air children & gr&children could have a better future.

ay are called “a greatest generation.” But I believe, like parents across America, that our greatest generations are still to come. That we must chart a new course, at home & abroad, to give our future greatest generations all a opportunities our parents gave us.

ase are uncertain times, but with strength & determination, we can meet a challenges togear. If Washington can work togear, so quickly, on a short-term fix for families caught in a financial squeeze, an we can work togear to transform America.

In ase difficult times - a American people aren’t afraid to face difficult choices.

But, we have no more patience for divisive politics.

Tonight’s address begins a final year of this presidency, with new leaders on a horizon & uncertainty throughout our l&. Conditions we face, at home & abroad, are results of choices made & challenges unmet.

In spite of a attempts to convince us that we are divided as a people, a new American majority has come togear. We are tired of leaders who raar than asking what we can do for our country, ask nothing of us at all.

We are Americans sharing a belief in something greater than ourselves, a nation coming togear to meet challenges & find solutions; to share sacrifices & share prosperity; & focus, once again, not only on a individual good but on a common good.

On behalf of a new American majority - a majority of elected officials at a national, state & local level, & a majority of Americans - we ask you, Mr. President, to join us. We are ready to work togear, to be a America we have been - & can be once again.

Thank you for listening. God bless & sleep well. & in a morning, let’s get to work.

Original post by Logan Murphy and software by Elliott Back