I don't care whether it's Dick Gephardt or Paul Ryan, the people entrusted with the "rebuttal" to the State of the Union come off looking like jackasses. Perhaps the Founding Fathers were smarter than the 20th century politico hacks that cooked up this side show.
In researching the history of the State of the Union speeches for a piece that I just finished writing for t2P questioning the value of the exercise, I was wondering when the practice of the rebuttal speech came into being. It was in the Nixon Administration, in 1966, and Democrats created the monster that now needs a bit of slaying.
Thanks to our friends at Fox News, it went to the ridiculous extreme in 2010 of extending the privilege to Michelle Bachmann, the sort-of main mama of the Tea Party, which is a demi-party full of people who were too white and uptight to protest in the 1960s and 1970s so they're having their senior moment in the shadow of the Scary-Black-Guy-in-Chief.
Maybe we should have a whole slew of rebuttals.
Ron Paul can have a short one: "This isn't the intent of the founding fathers, so I have nothing to say. Good night, and God bless."
The Green Party will top that. They won't take the time because it emits too much carbon dioxide and denigrates the globe with its high carbon footprint.
If we accord a non-party party one, then fair time and equal access should allow Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson a shot. He can talk up legalizing marijuana for twenty minutes. THAT should be good for ratings. MSNBC can run it, and give dealers little stickers for the baggies with the date and time.
If we're chasing the ratings genie, then CURRENT should give Michael Moore a few minutes. He can extol the values of Occupy Wall Street, which seems to garner a lot more support than the Tea Party ever got. Or just let Keith Olbermann take a crack at it from the black hole in which he broadcasts. He can switch beard, no beard, open buttoned shirt, glasses, no glasses, shirt and tie to keep us amused while he spotlights day 539 of the Occupy Protests.
Lifetime can air Martha Stewart's rebuttal. She won't talk politics, but she'll critique the clothes that everyone on the podium were wearing, and come up with six helpful hints for Mr. Obama to deliver a more effective speech. Then she'll sell State of the Union note cards at Target by taking a .99 cent pack of 4x6 index cards and charging $6.99 for it. She'll sell out, too.
If all of this seems particularly silly, is it any worse than the lamentable moments from Gephardt, Bobby Jindal, Nancy Pelosi or Paul Ryan?
Exactly.
The framers wanted a report. Debate is the very little that Congress is good for.
Dump it.
My shiny two.
(If you thought this was suitably snarky, you can find me @theCleverTwit on Twitter)