On the eve of President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress (scheduled to begin at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Weds. Jan. 27th, on all major broadcast and cable news networks with the Republican response following), all leaks emanating from the White House suggest that a speech of epic nonimportance may await viewers. A flotilla of poorly disguised trial balloons sent aloft by Plouffe, Emanuel, and Co. during the last two days has been lukewarm and misguided, a host of targeted perks programs engineered for presidential campaign politics and not for governing during a legitimate crisis.

Leaks and whispers to the press, however, do not a speech make. When the drafts, negotiations, and last-minute rewrites become a spoken indelible record of the priorities and agenda of this administration America will do what it does best: talk about what all of the words really mean for the country.

Americans don’t like monologues, we like dialogue. This year the GOP and conservative organizations will be taking advantage of the amazing explosion in social media and online conversation by offering a variety of venues for discussion (or just venting) about any and all aspects of the President’s address.

• In that spirit of encouraging dialogue, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is hosting a special text2chat program that opens up a two-way chat room via any Internet-capable mobile phone. Just text “UNION” to 777218 to have a link to the chat room sent to your phone and start texting your reactions, thoughts, and comments.
• After the NRCC’s text2chat program has concluded you can jump over to www.nrcc.org/stateoftheunion for streaming video Q&A to pose questions directly to GOP Congressional members.
• Don’t forget to tune in also for instant feedback and fact-checking on the fly from the Republican National Committee’s research group at net.GOP.com/LiveReponse/.
• The folks at The Heritage Foundation are also opening up a special TweetChat room (http://tweetchat.com/room/heritagesotu) that will undoubtedly feature lively and informed commentary.
• If your taste runs more toward grass roots, SongofTruth.org operates a daily chat between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. The Ning-based site has recently been providing amazing multimedia coverage of the GOP primary race to select who will attempt to unseat Democratic Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), one of the races that many national pundits are already pointing to as one to watch.
• As always, keep your tweet on. I will be tweeting from my individual account(@bryanmyrick), sporadically or frantically, and I highly recommend tuning in to the feed of the überdiva of Republican social media, Nansen Malin (@nansen), who will be tweeting on the GOP side for CBS News.com’s live coverage.

With so many options, there’s no excuse for not getting involved in the conversation. Let’s be sure to talk tomorrow!

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