i'm with roxanne cooper and erik loomis, who gives a shit if marco rubio drank some water? seriously, can anyone explain to me why this matters, or is even funny? i've seen the clip and i simply don't get it.
on the other hand, this stupid hubbub does illustrate the hazards of giving the opposition party response. rubio apparently gave a whole speech last night in which he said stuff. you can google up the text and read it if you want, but i guarantee you that in a few months no one will remember anything about the speech except for the fact that he took a drink of water in the middle of it. it's like bobby jindal's infamous response speech in 2009. all i remember from that one is that jindal sounded just like kenneth from "30 rock" and that there was much morning-after mockery for his reference to "volcano monitoring." don't get me wrong. i don't like jindal or rubio, and i think either would make a disastrous president. i will shed no tears if rubio becomes a joke because of last night's sip. and yet the person who gets to deliver the official SOTU response (or even the unofficial teatard one) is still widely viewed as an indication that the response giver is an up-and-comer in the party.
is there any evidence that giving a SOTU response has ever helped anyone's political career? not to harp on the jindal speech, but it seems pretty clear to me that moment really hurt him. before the 2009 response, jindal was expected to run for president in 2012. but he quickly disappeared from the national stage after the post-speech mockery got going and he never entered the crowded field in the republican primaries. maybe he would not have run anyway, but that speech took away a lot of his shine.
on the other hand, this stupid hubbub does illustrate the hazards of giving the opposition party response. rubio apparently gave a whole speech last night in which he said stuff. you can google up the text and read it if you want, but i guarantee you that in a few months no one will remember anything about the speech except for the fact that he took a drink of water in the middle of it. it's like bobby jindal's infamous response speech in 2009. all i remember from that one is that jindal sounded just like kenneth from "30 rock" and that there was much morning-after mockery for his reference to "volcano monitoring." don't get me wrong. i don't like jindal or rubio, and i think either would make a disastrous president. i will shed no tears if rubio becomes a joke because of last night's sip. and yet the person who gets to deliver the official SOTU response (or even the unofficial teatard one) is still widely viewed as an indication that the response giver is an up-and-comer in the party.
is there any evidence that giving a SOTU response has ever helped anyone's political career? not to harp on the jindal speech, but it seems pretty clear to me that moment really hurt him. before the 2009 response, jindal was expected to run for president in 2012. but he quickly disappeared from the national stage after the post-speech mockery got going and he never entered the crowded field in the republican primaries. maybe he would not have run anyway, but that speech took away a lot of his shine.
