Comments on: Obama and Alito

By: Tin Man

Tin Man — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:18:28 +0000

I actually didn’t watch it. But I don’t think it’s the first time there’s been an audience. I think I remember J.C. Watts giving the Republican response in front of a supportive audience sometime in the 90s. The whole response thing is kind of stupid, I think, because there’s really no way to look good after the president has just given a big pomp-filled speech to Congress. And I think many people have probably changed the channel by then anyway.

By: Jeff T

Jeff T — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:26:06 +0000

Tangent: What’s your take on the Republican response, not so much the content but the style, i.e., delivered before a (supportive, even boisterous) audience? At first I thought it was a politically clever, shrewd move for any opposition party to make, but then it sort of struck me as inappropriate. Then again, the very fact that we have a televised opposition response shows how much the SOTU is directed to the American people rather than Congress itself.