Following President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight there’ll be the spectacle of three rebuttal speeches delivered by elements of the Republican Party.
The actual Republican response will come from Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She serves from Oregon in the US House of Representatives. Had the other two “speechifiers” held back, Representative McMorris Rodgers’ response could have served as visual “evidence” that Republicans actually think women can handle responsibilities without a man behind them. The Congresswoman is known to be competent and conservative.
The Tea Party response comes from Utah Senator Mike Lee. You remember him for his part in the Federal Government shutdown in October 2013, as an ally of Texas Senator Ted Cruz. I presume he didn’t cause the shutdown either since Senator Cruz recently made the claim he had nothing to do with it. Maybe it was the Grinch who stole Christmas.
Tennessee Senator Rand Paul will offer up a third response from his Libertarian point of view. Of the three responses, Senator Paul’s seems more an opportunity to promote the Senator’s personal ambitions to be President than a necessity.
I’m trying to find the horns. He doesn’t seem to have any horns. Is the Right lying about the horns? Where are the horns???
Three responses. Doesn’t say “one party” to me, though the reality of the Republican Party these days is that it isn’t one diverse party working toward a common goal. It’s three parties within one, all trying to beat out the others, a dysfunctional marriage verging on a divorce.
If the leadership of the Republican Party were capable, they’d work to consolidate these three responses into one. My probably simplistic point of view is one consolidated message would come across as equivalent, just different from that of the Democratic Party’s as delivered by the President. Three individual responses just shows how divided that party is.
Of course, I’m not sympathetic to any of the three, so let them fall on their faces for all I care. I’ll listen, try to hear the messages tonight, but can they top the infamous outburst of Republican Congressman Addison Graves “Joe” Wilson, Sr. of South Carolina, who, in a fit of passion, called President Obama a liar twice during the 2009 State of the Union Address!?
Joe Wilson’s outburst is the most outrageous behavior I’ve every seen during one of these speeches, though the way clapping always follows party lines is a clown joke, grade school posturing.
For that matter, having Republicans sit on one side and Democrats on the other reminds me of how grade schoolers tend to self-segregate into boys on one side and girls on the other of a classroom unless the teacher assigns seats alphabetically. Would America have better government if we arranged the House and the Senate alphabetically? LOL! Couldn’t be worse than what we have.
Civility isn’t that hard. Nor is it too hypocritical to give the President a little polite applause even though you intend to obstruct every damn thing he tries to get done during his term of office: applaud politely but put on a “whiney-face”! Watch Speaker of the House John Boehner if you think that can’t be done.
Oh man as always they make no sense.
I am hoping the people remember what the repubs. and the tea partiers caused with the shut down of 2013.
What I saw (both parties) were generic “feel good” speeches. That’s OK. My thought while watching them was , “OK, now work together like good little boys and girls. You are too old and your work too important to play in the sandbox. Don’t forget how cats use them!”
I’m sick of hearing the President is the worst President since Washington, is a dictator, blah-blah-blah. I agree with Ethel and Everett Go RVing’s comment about disrespect shown the Presidents. President Bush wasn’t my cup of tea (love his wife and mother! His dad, too!), but he did do a stand up job right after the 9-11 horror in speaking for a country in shock. Medicare Plan D, while implemented without funding, did save my elderly parents thousands of dollars toward the ends of their lives (something I appreciate since I handled their affairs).
Enough of that.
Agreed wholeheartedly. Presidency is the highest office in our land – respect it!
If not the person, then the office.
While I respect your opinions, I question why you see the 3 planned responses evidence of a broken Republican party? While the Tea Party may be a split from the main Republican party, I know some Libertarians who converted from Democrat. Both (Tea Party & Libertarians) seem to be fighting the concept of a purely two-party system, NOT trying to simply break up one party. Personally, I’m fiscally conservative (based on observations from a working life) and socially liberal (based on personal preferences and the idea that we ALL count), so NONE of the party lines make me happy. Totally agree with you that CIVILITY is what’s needed and it shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish. I didn’t like the Bush-Bashing by my leftist Democrat friends during George’s tenure, and I protest the demonization of Obama by my extreme right Republican friends now. Are there any other moderates out there?!?!?!
I think the divisions within the Republican Party are clear when you see how one small element of ideologues wags the larger dog of responsible conservatives, which I think most Republicans are. I hope the TPers and Libertarians DO break away so the Republican message isn’t muddied with these extremist elements. (I am more centrist-left.) I don’t see that much difference in Democrats, which seem more unified (if not particularly effective) now than the Republicans.
I was too tired to watch all of the speeches (next post), but felt the response by Congresswoman Rodgers was just the right tone for an opposition party. It gives me some hope civility is rearing its head in a broken Congress.
Paul and Lee’s speeches were the ones I wanted to see, but… next post.
The fourth speech in Spanish was a nice gesture, though I see it as pandering. Just my opinion. The only people who matter are Hispanics. At least it was the speech I thought was the most civil and reasonable, Congresswoman Rodgers’.
I need to associate with more of your type politicos! Yes, the Republican speech gave hope of civility if nothing else. Eagerly awaiting your take on other speeches – I enjoy your thought process!
I still haven’t seen the other speeches, including the President’s except in parts. (I fell asleep when he was speaking….)
I’ve heard so many comments on the news, both pro and con for all of these speeches. My opinion doubtlessly would add little more. For that matter, it probably would reflect the selective editing of those who commented on specific sections more than the actual intent of the speakers.
You know how that goes. Both sides, all sides do it: cut out the pertinent part to make the selected part seem more scurrilous and debased, the speaker becomes some sort of monster.
I’m no fan of former Governor Huckabee, but his recent speech was clear enough to me, and the point of view (while not mine) unmistakable. “Uncle Sugar” seem to confused the panel on “Morning Joe”, yet the context was so clear I actually yelled at the television, “Uncle SAM, you idiots!”. If I overlooked his unfortunate choice of words, it was clear what he was trying to say.
In the spirit of fairness, former Secretary of State Clinton’s remark about “what does it matter” was taken out of context in a way that makes her look heartless and mean spirited. You never see the complete remark on right-leaning programs, and the left-leaning programs rarely emphasize the missing part.
I find turning of f the television tends to be helpful to my physical and mental health.