During CNN's live coverage preceding President Bush's January 31 State of the Union address, co-host Paula Zahn claimed “a lot of people out there” are saying that “if you vote for a Democrat, that basically you want to be bombed.” Zahn also purported to identify a “perception” that Democrats are “reactive, not proactive, that they have no agenda of their own, and ... that basically the only thing they're good at is blasting the president.”

From Zahn's exchange with Democratic strategist Paul Begala during a special edition of The Situation Room:

ZAHN: Paul, let's talk about some of the challenges Democrats have to challenge tonight. And one is the perception that they're reactive, not proactive, that they have no agenda of their own, and we heard it in a briefing today, that basically the only thing they're good at is blasting the president.

BEGALA: Well, I wish they were better at that. I'd be happy if that's all that they did. But -- well, they're getting better. I think they're doing a smart thing, though. [CNN congressional correspondent] Ed Henry just said that they had a whole week of what they call “pre-buttals,” and I was talking to them up on the Hill, and they understand that they can't beat the president on the night of the State of the Union. They said “We're going to win the State of the Union before he ever gets up on the podium.” So now they've had a week where they've said, “Here's our plan on energy independence, here's our plan on cleaning up corruption.” And they know that the president will command the stage tonight. But I suspect after the speech, in addition to [Virginia Gov.] Tim Kaine doing his -- whatever he's going to say [in the Democratic response], they're going to go at the president's credibility. The new Washington Post poll says 53 percent of Americans say the president is not honest and trustworthy. OK, last midterm election, 71 [percent] said he was. Now, the majority of country doesn't think he tells the truth. That could be deadly.

ZAHN: But security is still going to be a huge issue in this country, and whether you like it or not, you've got a lot of people out there saying, if you're Republican, we're going to keep the country safe, you know, if you vote for a Democrat, that basically you want to be bombed.