So Marco Rubio desperately lurching for his water like beached salmon flapping for the river was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in real life. Yes, it was silly, amateur, and unsightly, and we should revel in the humor.
However, amidst the fun and spectacle, there still lies a foreshadowing of a potentially calamitous and dangerous reality ahead, a point brought up by the ever-analytical mind of Professor Paul Krugman. I'll post up the last paragraph of his latest blog post, Marco Rubio Has Learned Nothing, which really ties the room together:
This strikes me as a bigger deal than whether Rubio slurped his water; he and his party are now committed to the belief that their pre-crisis doctrine was perfect, that there are no lessons from the worst financial crisis in three generations except that we should have even less regulation. And given another shot at power, they’ll test that thesis by giving the bankers a chance to do it all over again.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
I see this as a subtle reminder to not let ourselves become lax in vigilance due to an absurdity of theater. We are a naturally cyclical species; we love to repeat history. The GOP's message and mindset are not up to date. Thus, they still require a history lesson. I'd rather not take the class again.
The venom behind the goofiness of the GOP's SOTU response still has the potential to do vast amounts of harm.