You can read the entire transcript of President Bush's State of the Union address here. On MSNBC.com, we'll also post video of the speech here as soon as we can. "Hardblogger" will take you through the rest of the evening. You can find their blog here.

Thanks for reading... I'm going to run back out to be part of our NBC News coverage after the speech. Check it out and MSNBC's coverage later.

The President paying tribute to his Justices Roberts and Alito. This is a big accomplishment. The President has moved the Court to the right and he did so without the protracted battles many expected. The bottom line is that elections matter.

Editor's note: You can follow the latest in the Cindy Sheehan arrest story here.

This is from Sgt. Kimberly Schneider with the U.S. Capitol Police.

Cindy Sheehan was arrested in the gallery of the house floor tonight and charged with demonstrating in the Capitol--a misdemeanor. Sgt. Schneider says she was wearing a T-shirt with a slogan on it and was asked to cover it up. Sheehan did not cover it up and she was arrested. Capitol Police would not say what the slogan on the T-shirt said. She is being processed at Capitol Police HQ and is expected to be released at some point tonight. The misdemeanor charge carries one year in jail.

OK, I don't mean to be irreverent, but don't you think Jon Stewart is going to do something with the alternative fuel proposal? I can see the bumper stickers: "Switch grass is the answer!"

Very interesting...did you notice that our NBC News/Wall St. Journal poll found health care the top concern of Americans? Health care is also a better issue for Republicans to run on than Iraq.

It's like the British House of Commons! You don't often see this kind of interactivity in the Congress. The President noted his biggest political defeat last year -- Social Security -- pointing out that Congress did not act. Democrats rose to their feet cheering!!! Pretty in your face. But he got them back, earning their cheers when he called for a commission that will examine the triple threat of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Entitlement spending -- is it out of control?

The network cameras are not surprisingly fixated on Senator Hillary Clinton. Well, the President joked about baby boomers reaching retirement including two of his dad's favorite boomers - "me and President Clinton." Senator Clinton did not appear amused.

I saw anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan outside the White House today. Well, she's been arrested tonight inside the Capitol. She was supposed to be a guest of California Congresswoman Lynne Woolsey. Don't yet have details on why she was arrested.

Some of you are asking about the Democratic response tonight. It will be delivered by Virginia's new Governor, Tim Kaine. What does that say about the party's confidence in their inside the beltway A-team? Howard Dean called Kaine a model for how the Democratic party can expand its reach among voters of faith. He made his Catholic faith a part of his campaign.

Our polling shows that Americans are not outraged by the President ordering this program. The President has told people repeatedly that he feels exposed by the leaking of the NSA program. "We will not sit back and wait to be hit again." It's pretty clear the White House is prepared to use this as an attack line throughout the election year.

Iran was part of the "Axis of Evil" in 2002, yet now notice how the President is stressing diplomacy. "America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats." The President has noted before that America lacks leverage against the Iranian regime. Pursuing sanctions is also problematic because of Iran's potential to affect our oil markets. Diplomacy with a capital D is the only answer for now. Conservatives, I've been told, are looking for a harder line. The President is again encouraging revolt in Iran as he did last year. A similar tactic was pursued against Iraq.

The President talking now about a fallen Marine. Mr. Bush meets with family members of soldiers killed in Iraq frequently. But he's also been criticized for not attending funeral services. But watching the family of Marine Staff Sgt. Dan Clay, it helps the President make the argument that no matter how you feel about the war ,it's important to stand by our troops. Staring into the eyes of parents of a fallen soldier has got to be hard for any President.

Again the President isn't specific, but it's expected that levels will dip below 100,000 by the end of the year. Also tonight, I've noticed that, for the first time really, he's acknowledging that war critics have influenced policy. But he's also confrontational using strong language... "second guessing is not a strategy." Stony silence from the Democratic side.

Just noticed Senator John Kerry stand up to applaud the President when he said "we will not retreat from the world, and we will never surrender to evil." Kerry, however, has argued that American troops in Iraq are fueling the insurgency.

You already see the major theme of the speech. Advisers told me earlier today that the President wants to explain, argue really, why America alone can change the course of the world. "The only way to control our destiny is by our leadership..." He also has raised the spectre of radical Islam. The argument seems to be that it's bigger than Iraq and we've come too far in the struggle to turn back now. This goes beyond linking Iraq to 9/11.

We learned just before the President began tonight that VA Secretary Jim Nicholson is the cabinet member in a secure location tonight, just in case.

Right off the bat we hear from the President about changing the tone in Washington. "Our differences cannot be allowed to harden into anger." It's one of the most conciliatory gestures he's made to Democrats, but it seems late in his presidency for such talk. The truth is that positions have hardened. I wonder whether the White House really thinks there is anything left in the Deomocratic well from which to draw.

As David posted earlier in the day, he'll be "live" blogging tonight's speech. As soon as he clears NBC News air, around 9:02 p.m. ET, he'll head back inside the White House and watch the speech. While watching, he'll file dispatches to me. He says to expect a "stream of consciousness" approach and encourages you to use the "Discuss" link below each post to share comments. If you have relevant questions, I'll certainly pass them along.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that our friends at MSNBC-TV's "Hardball" are doing something similar. You can read dispatches from Tucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough and MSNBC.com's Tom Curry in "Hardblogger." Just click here.

In Brian's post today he talked about the White House State of the Union briefing, and mentioned that Democrats held one of their own today. I attended that briefing -- and make no mistake about it: the Democratic leaders in Congress don't like ANYTHING about this President. They've relentlessly pounded him all week, in advance of his big speech tonight -- they call it the "pre-buttal."

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and House Leader Nancy Pelosi didn't let up at all today, painting a picture of a Republican Party, led by President Bush, completely mired in cronyism and corruption (the Abramoff scandal), a party that answers only to corporate lobbyists and favors policies that benefit only the super-rich. Not only that, Democrats argue, but Republicans are solely responsible for the bitter, partisan tone of Washington debate.

Some reporters in the room questioned that assertion -- after all, the Republicans contend it's the Democrats who already poisoned this session of Congress by lambasting the President's speech days before he uttered a word. The back and forth over who set the bitter tone reminds me a bit of a mother breaking up a fight among children only to be treated to a chorus of, "He started it!!" Now, I'm not comparing Congress to children. But let's just say it's going to be a long, bitter and noisy election year. Get your earplugs out.

In recent years House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has seen fit to send a member of his GOP leadership team off campus during the State of the Union speech, a la the president and a member of his cabinet. As with the administrative branch, the idea is that if the unthinkable were to happen and the Capitol and all of us in it were obliterated, then the nation would be afforded some kind of political continuity, led by those who survived. In recent years the Democrats have also followed this practice.

Anywho, this year the Republican individual charged with carrying on should Congress be wiped out is Rep. Eric Cantor, a Republican from Richmond, Va. Cantor is currently the chief deputy majority whip. If that doesn't impress you, he is expected to move up to majority whip when the House GOP holds its leadership elections on Thursday.

The missing Democrat will be Rep. George Miller, Calif., perhaps Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's closest confidant in the House Democratic caucus.

It must be Washington. The broadcast will originate tonight from our studios on Capitol Hill, as will our coverage later in the evening (beginning at 9 p.m ET) of what has always been known in journalism shorthand as "the SOTU." Today was also the day for the traditional background briefing lunch at the White House, where the President and his senior staff host the anchors and commentators of the broadcast and cable networks. Needless to say, our ABC colleague Elizabeth Vargas was inundated by questions from all of us, including the President, about the well-being of Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt, both of whom were in the air en route to the United States at the time when we sat down for lunch.

Today's gathering adheres to some long-understood rules of Washington journalism... common to both print and broadcast. And yes, the Democrats have a similar gathering on the Hill to present the other side (full disclosure: because it conflicted with our afternoon editorial meeting and the planning of tonight's broadcast, I could not attend the latter but a colleague did). The understanding is that we are let in on the thinking behind the speech (including the President's mood and demeanor) and the political effort going forward. The information is embargoed for the start of the speech, and there may be no direct quotes. Thus endeth today's journalism tutorial.

To the broadcast tonight: We will of course have a speech preview and a report on the victory on the Hill today that the Alito confirmation vote represented for the Administration.

Prominently on the broadcast tonight, we'll take a look back at the extraordinary life that ended today: Coretta Scott King. For those of us who watched her via the televised images of the 1960s, she always seemed the picture of dignity and a tower of strength. We may never see another American like her. She was so emblematic of her times. While she never asked for the public role she was forced to take on in life, she did it with grace and moral force, just like her late husband. It is hard to believe she survived him by 38 years. We will remember her tonight.

We have health news, a look back at the career of "The Chairman" Alan Greenspan (put it this way... American college freshmen have known no other Fed Chairman in their lives on earth!) who is known to many of us as Andrea Mitchell's devoted husband who just HAPPENS to have had a hand in the monetary policy of an entire generation.

There's no good way to segue into the following, but once we promise on the air that we will "keep you posted" on an ongoing story, it's a promise we are duty-bound not to break. Having said that, Rex the Military Dog was on Capitol Hill today, and we'll close the broadcast with that. Think of it as sections of a newspaper. At least I do.

We hope you'll join us for tonight's broadcast from Washington, and Tim Russert and I hope you'll join us for our coverage of the SOTU Address tonight... as they say: on your local NBC Station.

There used to be a joke around this White House that every speech was the most important of the President's political career. He's given many of them that matter. Tonight's ranks right up there for different reasons.

In a way, President Bush must hit the reset button on his presidency tonight. Last year's speech came on the heels of a strong reelection victory. The President felt he'd amassed political capital and swung for the fences. Well, 2005 ended up being a humbling experience for him. Social Security, last year's big idea, flopped. So did the President's version of immigration reform. A gay marriage ban? Nope. Another big idea - tax reform - has been put off for later, if ever. What about spending restraint, the hallmark of conservative government? Bush's budget will reflect a $400 billion deficit, a number certain to rise as post-Katrina spending spikes and if the President successfully fights to make his tax cuts permanent.

More importantly, the war in Iraq has emerged as a liability. One of NBC's pollsters, Republican Bill McInturff, noted during an interview that when people say they think the country is headed in the wrong direction or when they say they oppose the President, it always comes back to the war. When high profile figures like ABC co-anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt are severely injured in an IED attack while out with Iraqi forces, it's a chilling reminder that the President's goal of Iraqi troops securing the country is a long way off.

So tonight the President has many goals. He's trying to restore the public's faith in his leadership; he hopes to outline an agenda that promises to help the Republican party maintain control of Congress in this midterm election year; he'll also try to explain why he's taken such a tough stand in the war on terror and why it requires controversial steps such as warrant-less eavesdropping on Americans.

We'll cover all aspects of this tonight on Nightly News. And during the speech itself, starting at 9 p.m. ET, I will be live, right here, posting my thoughts and answering your comments as we go. Hope you will join me!

When he goes to Capitol Hill tonight, the President will have to deal with foreign policy challenges in almost every part of the world. A year after declaring that "democracy is on the march," Mr. Bush is  learning that it can sometimes be dangerous to get what you ask for. In the Palestinian territories, the stunning Hamas victory is a disaster for the U.S. peace plan -- a legislative majority dedicated to the destruction of Israel. And four years after calling Iraq, Iran and North Korea the "axis of evil" in his 2002 State of the Union address, Bush is still battling insurgents in Iraq. A radical leader is defying the world and continuing nuclear research in Iran. And America and its allies are no closer to a solution in North Korea.

Former Senator Sam Nunn, now co-leader of the Nuclear Threat Initiative -- a global effort to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials -- told me the President would have been wiser not to categorize those three nations as "the axis of evil." 

No matter how much danger they pose individually, Nunn says: "When you basically have all sort of challenges in the world, and when you specifically identify enemies in a State of the Union speech, instead of lining up your allies with you, you begin to split alliances with that kind of rhetoric."

Still, the President can point to some progress: in the last year, a new secretary of state has repaired damaged relations with Europe and helped pressure Syria to withdraw from Lebanon.

So what should the President tell the nation tonight about the state of the world?

"I think one of the things I would like for him to convey, maybe not in these words, but at least implicitly, is that we recognize that to lead, which America must do, you also have to listen," says Nunn. "That you cannot simply command the world."

In fact, the best example that America cannot simply command the rest of the world is the continuing threat posed by terrorists. That is reinforced by the recent message from Osama bin Laden and, on the eve of tonight's speech, the video from his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. But as the President and his top advisors have discovered in the past, whenever al-Qaida releases a new tape, Americans tend to rally around the Commander-in-Chief. The war on terror will -- for many reasons -- surely be a key rallying cry for the President tonight.

This is a big "game day" at the White House. Tonight's address sets the President's agenda for the year and triggers reaction from all corners. With hours to go before the speech, his advisors give reporters bits and pieces of what's happening behind the scenes.

For example, the President's remarks have reached draft #31 and if even a few words are changed today that number will go higher. Chunks of the speech that the White House considers important are released at 5 p.m. ET, but not the best stuff. Advisors will hold back to a degree to allow the President full effect tonight. Then at 6 p.m. ET, the White House will provide a list of the guests who will join Mrs. Bush in her box. Since President Reagan first acknowledged a special citizen, other Presidents have followed suit, weaving comments about that guest or guests in the address. The early guidance is helpful to the networks since this is the President's largest TV audience of the year. Commentators can provide a back story and take a shot of those guests. One face to expect, Samuel Alito, the newly confirmed and soon to be sworn-in associate justice of the Supreme Court. Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts are successes the President can claim and having them in the Chamber reinforces that.

On content, the president is expect talk about four domestic policy areas: Competitiveness, energy, health care and budget -- which aides refer to as "spending taxpayer money wisely." But the address will begin with foreign policy, the subject area that casts such a long shadow over the President and all he does.