Irrelevance
I did not pay much attention…quite little, actually…to Tuesday’s State of the Union message and the resultant GOP response. Someone called me out for that, but I pointed out that I do have a life.
And as such, one has to prioritize…and things like the State of the Union address for me are now in the category of general election candidate debates—they’re worthless and a waste of my time.
Certainly the State of the Union falls in that category, regardless of who the president is…predictable partisan talking points, with predictable staged reactions both for and against. Then predictable analysis from members of the party in power that it was the greatest speech in memory, with the guest having seen a lot of them…and predictable analysis from members of the party out of power that it was the worst speech in memory, with the guest having seen a lot of them.
The post-speech response by the other party is nothing more than a red meat stump speech, written without any knowledge of what the president would say and making no reference to it, other than guessing at how outlandish certain proposals would be.
Again, it’s a dance, or a scripted play, or whatever analogy you wish to use…but it’s completely devoid of news value, it’s completely staged, and it’s completely a waste of time.
So yes, we did air it because you should have the chance to listen if you wish. That’s part of the public service function of a radio station like this one.
But I’ll also be honest about my views on the topic. And for me, I’m glad I used the time for other purposes.
