Michele Bachmann State Of The Union Response Downplayed By GOP Leadership

GOP leadership reacted coolly Monday to news of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's secondary Tea Party-sponsored State of the Union rebuttal, stating matter-of-factly that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is the Republican who will be speaking for the party.

"Paul Ryan's giving the official Republican response," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters, according to Slate's Dave Weigel. "You know, Michele Bachmann, just as the other 534 members of the House and Senate, [is] going to have opinions as to the State of the Union. And again, this is a process that happens every year, and I look forward to all comments. But it's Paul Ryan that's giving the official response."

Later pressed on why each of those other legislators hadn't made arrangements to televise their own response, complete with press coverage, Cantor appeared to put some of the blame on the media for focusing on Bachmann, saying, "Well, then, maybe I should ask: Why is that the case?"

Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), told the Wall Street Journal that people could expect to see those other statements on a variety of other mediums.

"Whether it is through a press release, Twitter, the internet, on television, radio, via Facebook, or by other means, virtually every Member of Congress will share their thoughts on the President's State of the Union," Steel said.

Bachmann's version is expected to be streamed live on the Tea Party Express website after the actual GOP response ends, WSJ reports, noting that some of the Minnesota congresswoman's remarks will also be carried on network television.

Comments

[HHGodd]

10:45 AM on 01/27/2011

I can't wait to see what Saturday Night Live does with this one. Even though SNL is a comedy show I'm sure what they do won't be funnier than the original. Not that SNL isn't funny but Bachman is just always so easy to laugh at.

[bighat]

09:13 AM on 01/27/2011

The old republican establishment better prepare for the tea partiers to take over.
 
As it stands today the republian old guard and the democratic oid guard are the same with different specehes.  Same things pass but with different speeches.  Tax payers suffers.
 
America is broke but we still giving billions to other countries and wasting our time in Agfhanistan
 
Does Hillary go anywhere without a check to write?

[WiltonDiary]

10:25 AM on 01/27/2011

Hillary doesn't write checks. Get out of home school and turn off FOX!

[Auldskul]

11:00 AM on 01/27/2011

Nice tweet-size bites...cut and paste from Wasilla hot line?

[marka]

04:56 AM on 01/27/2011

Where did this woman learn American History? Just when did the founding fathers attempt to do away with slavery? I must of missed that in class.

[slim1921]

10:50 PM on 01/26/2011

Too bad she left Turner and Overdrive for this!

[Coyote1177]

10:45 PM on 01/26/2011

Has Bachman replaced Palin?--Same madness but she does seem a tad smarter than Palin, just enough to be more worrisome

[Joseph Van Der Putten]

10:21 PM on 01/26/2011

1. The Tea Party is not an organized political party, it is an idea.

2. Chris Matthews had a representative of one of the tea party clusters and he stated that the Tea Party people resent the fact that Bachmann presents herself as a spokesperson for them and that she is not authorized to do so.

3. Megan McCain on another show said, that if anyone should have given the Tea Party rebuttal it should have been someone like Rand Paul, he was elected as a tea party candidate, Bachmann was not, she's just using this whole tea party idea to further her own cause.

[Waltb31]

12:27 AM on 01/27/2011

Yeah right. An "idea" bought and paid for by the Koch brothers.
Bachmann might as well be the representative; there's no one else.
What you all will finally figure out if you're smart at all is how you've all been had.
At that point, Folks like Bachmann, Armey, the Kochs, Palin et al will go laughing all the way to the bank, and you will be trying to figure out what happened.
Pathetic.

[WiltonDiary]

10:28 AM on 01/27/2011

Whether anyone likes it or not Bachmann is the head of the Tea Party Congressional Caucus; therefore she is one of the leaders of that PAC movement. The Tea Party is a wholly funded corporate initiative, with no ideas, solutions or facts.

Their resolve for every issue is tax cuts and less government.

[matthewnsea]

09:52 PM on 01/26/2011

Am I the only one that thinks of Mrs. Oleson from Little House on the Prairie when I see/hear Michelle Bachmann?

[bighat]

09:15 AM on 01/27/2011

yes

[jubes]

09:36 PM on 01/26/2011

This woman continually steps up to the plate and proves over and over again and again that she knows nothing.

[Rick Nesvacil]

09:28 PM on 01/26/2011

What were the people of Minnesota thiking when they elected this brainless individual to the House. I love the state but I wonder what they are putting in the water for them to elect her. WOW!!!!!!!!!

[Talossa]

07:59 AM on 01/27/2011

Jesse Ventura, Al Franken and Michele Bachmann -- you've gotta admire a state that can come up with all three of those... "characters." :-)

[WiltonDiary]

10:29 AM on 01/27/2011

YOU forgot TeePaw too! Al Franken has an education.

[Killer1417]

09:21 PM on 01/26/2011

While it is sad that someone elected to Congress can spout such drivel, perhaps what's worse is that a significant portion of the electorate believes her.

[WiltonDiary]

10:30 AM on 01/27/2011

Since when is less than ten percent (-10%) of the electorate significant?

[Tokie]

09:18 PM on 01/26/2011

Bachmann's rebuttal is just another publicity stunt to further her career. It seems very self serving since there wasn't a shred of realistic based information. I feel this it yet again another embarassment for her district that she represents.

[WiltonDiary]

10:30 AM on 01/27/2011

You mean to ruin her career?

[sus2222]

09:00 PM on 01/26/2011

I watched Bachman to see if she had any references to reality.
She did not.

[ECB]

07:13 PM on 01/26/2011

Come on GOTP you brought this f00l to the party now dance with her !

[Joel Smithis]

06:45 PM on 01/26/2011

Everyone's talking about Bachmann silly response, so I guess that's the GOP's important response.

[MiMiThePokerDiva]

06:15 PM on 01/26/2011

Waste of taxpayers money

[johndtuttle]

10:24 PM on 01/26/2011

waste of Air.

[samuraifrog37]

11:18 PM on 01/26/2011

? What was taxpayers money spent on ?

[Waltb31]

12:28 AM on 01/27/2011

Her salary and health benefits.