Totally off the wall aside about nothing much, but the platypus of love…
Article found searching for the pompatus, interesting discussion with lots of snidely knowledgeable comments PLUS! a glowing review of Straight Dope and an appropriately adoring tribute to The Cecil…
Joe Bob 'luc says check it out!
http://testpattern.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/11/349955.aspx
I’ve heard several times that the Dems booed and hissed at Bush during one State of Union. Is that true?
As far as I know, it is true. There were Republicans booing Clinton, booing Obama. Do you see me urging action against any of them?
In my opinion, they (they of either party) shouldn’t boo either; they can just sit on their hands during the pre-planned applause parts. Booing is quite a bit lower on the Richter Scale of rudeness though, and I do not condemn nor do I urge action against the booers.
I’m not sure of the point of your question. Is it to expose me as a hypocrite or to move the goalposts?
Calling the president a liar or supporting the guy who does it bothers me less than the epistemological stance by much of our governing body that there is no such thing as a fact, that a lie is just an utterance you don’t like (in this case, because it compromises one of your own lies). I mean, doesn’t it come into play whether or not what you’re calling a lie is actually a lie or not?
Democrats booed Bush when he claimed that Social Security would be bankrupt in 2042: the media called this unprecedented. Republicans routinely booed Clinton’s State of the Union addresses, starting in 2003 – and sometimes he improvised a response. Cite: http://mediamatters.org/research/200502040014
I personally have no problem with rolling of the eyes, shifting in seats, standing up to applaud, sitting on one’s hands, murmurs and other general crowd reactions. But individual catcalls and heckles are a separate category. And when an apology is clearly called for, it should be delivered to all relevant parties.
The British Parliament’s Q&A sessions are a disgrace, or so it seems to this American. But this exchange was memorable:
Rowdy MP: “What about Vietnam?”
PM Harold Wilson: “The government has no plans to increase public expenditure in Vietnam.”
MP: “Rubbish!”
PM: “I’ll come to your special interest in a minute, sir.”