TPM Reader HW says the more Michele Bachmann the better:
Your point is well-taken about CNN airing Michelle Bachman’s independent State of the Union, treatment that no splinter wing of any party has gotten before. But don’t you think from the perspective of Democrats, a second Michelle Bachmann response is a wonderful thing, especially with CNN’s news people taking the liberty to call her an ignoramus?
Excerpts from tonight’s … Michele Bachmann Tea Party SOTU rebuttal.
Our reporters on the Hill and in our newsroom will be bringing us up-to-the-second updates on DC’s biggest midwinter event at the TPM State of the Union Wire.
We’ve obtained a copy of Sen. Rand Paul’s own budget proposal that he’s set to unveil soon which would cut $500 billion from the federal budget between now and September. We’ve got the document here.
The text of President Obama’s State of the Union address, as prepared for delivery.
Getting word from our reporters on the Hill that journalists will be allowed to bring laptops into the House chamber to cover the State of the Union address tonight. That would be a first. Reporters are barred from bringing any electronic devices into the House and Senate chambers.
The media covering Congress are divided into different camps — TV, dailies, periodicals — each overseen by its own separate press gallery (distinctions that are getting ever harder to make). The gallery staffs are very professional and abide by the rules. So this would be a giant step for digital media types seeking to escape the surly bonds of pen and pad.
I was just watching CNN’s pre-game show. And the anchor was practically flabbergasted reading the results of their own poll which showed that people overwhelmingly think protecting Social Security is a bigger priority than the deficit. Like by 3 to 1. Shocking. Shocking. Only not shocking at all if you follow public opinion data as opposed to Sunday morning TV.
9:01 PM: Lapping up the collegiality commentary.
9:08 PM: Feel like the mics are picking up more chatter this year. President Obama was just joking with Secy. Clinton about how he doesn’t even need to give the speech now, everybody’s read it. (One of the DC pubs broke the rules — by any reasonable standard — and released it while the embargo was still in effect.)
9:17 PM: What is that silver tray in front of Speaker Boehner with like glasses in it?
9:21 PM: Obama showing solid readings on MoJometer.
9:22 PM: With Obama talking about winning the future, I bet folks at Politico feel sheepish and embarrassed only trying to win the morning.
9:27 PM: Who will be first pol to call on Obama to apologize for calling oil “yesterday’s energy”?
9:37 PM: For sake of clarity, I will from now on abbreviate ‘win the future’ as WTF.
9:51 PM: Obama’s line on Social Security strikes me as somewhat ambiguous.
9:57 PM: Best laugh line of the evening, Politico’s write up of National Journal’s decision to break the White House speech embargo …
National Journal editor in chief Ron Fournier told POLITICO he didn’t reach out to the White House before posting the text, and was only concerned about the draft’s accuracy. “I think that my only concern was that this was an accurate draft of the speech — were the sources credible? I talked to our reporter, and was assured that it was a credible and accurate draft, and we moved it out.”
“As a courtesy, I do wish I had given the White House a heads-up. Normally, anytime I’m part of a breaking news story, I do that,” Fournier said.
I had the timing of this a bit off. I guess it would only have been checking it against the advance release excerpts.
So there it is. Let us know what you made of the speech.
CNN talking heads saying president didn’t come through on deficits. I guess they may have already forgotten about their poll?
Late Update: Just realizing CNN seems to have been the only network get punk’d by Michele Bachmann’s ‘official’ Tea Party SOTU response. Is that right?
Late Late Update: Someone please tell Wolf to stop vamping about CNN being the only network to run the Bachmann ‘response’.