Are politicians really as driven by personal slights and perceived indignities as journalists portray them to be?
TPM Reader BS writes:
I never got what the problem was with this episode, and still don’t get what it is now.
Was something wrong with the President giving a semi-forceful speech? Why does it matter one bit that Paul Ryan was in the room? Are we saying somehow the president should have been intimidated out of giving this speech if he had known Ryan was there? This seems silly. What are we in, middle school? Ryan and Cantor et al would criticize the speech no matter what; doesn’t really matter one way or other if Ryan was there.IF the White House would have weakened the speech if they had realized Ryan was there (hypothetical), then I’m glad they didn’t realize he was there!
David Kurtz
David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.