What’s with all these Republicans telling the truth? Rick Perry says Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, and now Speaker of the House John Boehner notes Americans’ obvious and sensible television preferences tonight.
“Listen, this is not a State of the Union address,” said Boehner during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol. ”The American people shouldn’t be forced to watch some politician they don’t want to listen to and frankly, most of them would rather watch a football game.”
“Now we have opened up Statuary Hall so that all of our members can respond individually, and I think it’s a more appropriate and respectful way to go forward.”
Nothing to argue with there. The nation is dealing with Biblical-scale disasters — wildfires, floods, a pathetic economy and a president totally out of his depth. A clash of two of the NFL’s strongest teams is a welcome diversion for a few hours.
Rep. Michele Bachmann will be among those responding to the president’s address. That strikes me as a wasted effort; few Americans are likely to tune into the president’s speech, and fewer still are likely to tune into her response (or anyone else’s) with the game going on. It would be better to start the response tomorrow morning before a crowd of supporters, and really hit the president’s lack of new ideas hard. Generate some laugh lines at his expense, with a crowd on hand to feed off of and respond to, and get some good sound bites and YouTube hits out of it. By responding to the president’s speech tonight, in what’s likely to be an empty room, Bachmann is giving the president the initiative and diminishing her strengths.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member