On Tuesday, President Obama will give his State of the Union address. The Republican response will be from Paul Ryan. And the Tea Party response (?!) will be given by Michele Bachmann.
I've never been a fan of the 'response' regardless of who is president. The whole response thing was, of course, started by the GOP back in the Johnson era. That first one was given by Everett Dirksen and Gerald Ford on January 12, 1966. The irrational fear of 'Big Government' was kicking around even back at that time.
As soon as it started, the whole thing smacked of adolescent gaming...my 12th level Druid is better than your 12th level Wizard...N'yah N'yah!! Moreover, it's the school yard bully 'I must get in the last word' deal as well. This was very apparent during the Clinton years when the GOP (much like they are now) simply could not accept Clinton as president. He won! How dare he? Much of their outrage is centered around their delusion that President Obama is an illegitimate president.
All of this has now gotten really ridiculous as the delusions of the Tea Party have slipped into the mainstream and, thus, we have a third state of the union delivered by Michele Bachmann. None of this would be happening if the economy was in good shape. People have given in to irrational fears and, as is usually the case, it's all the fault of everyone on the left.
I wonder how many state of the union addresses we will have in 2012. Four? Ten? I can just see the communists, skin heads, and the Maple Grove, MN ladies auxiliary getting in their two cents. If things don't get better economically, we might see more. Regardless of where they fall politically, the response to the State of the Union is ridiculous. It reeks of insecurity and is characteristic of an Orwellian drive to control the way people think. If a president that I didn't vote for stands up and says a bunch of crap that is either a lie or wrong (see: George W. Bush), why do I need someone from the Democratic Party to tell me it is? I can think and act for myself.
And that's one big difference between liberals and conservatives. The more I see things like this, the more I become convinced that it really does come down to how our brains are wired. I might not have liked what Bush said but I didn't feel the need to have a response to balance it out.. I knew he was wrong. The GOP (and the ultimate paranoids, the Tea Party) not only dislike what Barack Obama says but they don't want other people to like it.
In other words, they don't want him to win the argument....just like school yard bullies.
8 comments:
Wasn't the State of the Union response started because of the FCC equal television time regulation back in the day? That, of course, has gone completely by the wayside in recent years, with Fox News providing 24/7 Republican propaganda.
And, no, MSNBC isn't the left's answer to Fox. MSNBC is a corporation's answer to Fox, trying to find a competitive niche. I can't speak for liberals, because I'm not really one, but the cynicl cesspool of political vitriol on Fox just don't interest me, nor does a left-slanted Bizarro version of Fox. I tried watching Countdown, and it was slightly better than Fox, but it just gets tiresome after a show or two. The news arm at Fox also takes all its marching orders from the political arm (as several internal emails have shown), and that just isn't the case at NBC. I'd rather have the truth than Roger Ailes spinning every news item with slanted word choices.
No, I'll take my political criticism with a dose of humor and self-deprecation, with something like The Daily Show. The worst thing about Fox News is how seriously they take themselves. If there's one thing you can say about Jon Stewart, he doesn't take himself or anyone too seriously.
In any case, I don't see anything wrong with a SOTU response. I don't watch either of them live anyway; I'll just read the Cliff Notes version later.
Bachmann is living a life of fucking delusion if she thinks she is going to get anywhere in a presidential race.
It's appropriate that Bachmann be given her own rebuttal, as she lives after all in her own universe. She is crazy in the way of the feces of a certain flying, nocturnal, echo-locating mammal.
Somehow it seems to me that Bachman's kind of aggressive extremism is no longer so interesting or relevant. Her moment has passed and this may be her chance to prove it. I am hoping the GOP will regain some of its former dignity. Even if I continue to disagree with them.
The irrational fear of 'Big Government' was kicking around even back at that time.
Okay M - if even Dirksen and Ford are too extreme for you [chortle], at what point does 'Big Government' actually ever exist for you? Or can the govt never be too big or over-reaching? Remember, every power of the govt can and will be used by the people you think least deserving/capable of doing so.
I'll be watching and playing SOTU bingo. Print off your copy here:
http://www.atr.org/state-union-time-play-obama-bingo-a4447#
I didn't feel the need to have a response to balance it out
I think that's because you're completely unbalanced, Mark.
In other words, they don't want him to win the argument....just like school yard bullies.
Um, you mean just like the Democrats after Republican presidents' SOTU addresses? Does that make Nancy "Stretch" Pelosi and "Little Dick" Durbin bullies?
That last statement of yours is no different than the modern school drivel that punishes a kid who stands up to a bully as much as the bully. When it's the governance of the nation at stake, only a moron wouldn't respond to highly politicized claims by the chief of state. But then, we've always known that about you, Mark. You're just a pretty much a Natural Born Loser.
-- Laughing Toad
I respectfully submit that fear of big government is in no way irrational. Any resposible student of history - especially 20th century history - could prove that.
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