Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) invited one of the women who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in the elevator with her story of sexual assault to be her guest to the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, The Intercept reported.
The woman, Ana Maria Archila, is one of AOC’s constituents.
On the Road and In Your Backyard
Baud
Lots of Dems are inviting meaningful people. They’ve been doing it for years.
Nicole
(insert that image of Grumpy Cat with “GOOD” on it here) Well done, AOC.
Not that any GOP’er will care, but it’s really excellent optics for the rest of the nation. Democrats believe women.
khead
When I woke up this morning, Brandin Cooks was still the goat. And I don’t mean G.O.A.T.
Betty Cracker
Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) invited Victorina Morales, an undocumented immigrant who used to work as a housekeeper at Trump’s NJ golf course, to attend the SOTU. Morales has applied for asylum, according to the article. I hope that protects her if Trump decides to send ICE into the Capitol to round people up, which I would not put past the creep.
You know what I’m looking forward to the most? Not seeing Paul Ryan’s smug-ass mug behind Trump. The vile Senatortoise will be there, as will Trump. But at least Ryan is gone. Progress!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: It’ll be interesting to see what manner Pelosi uses as she sits behind the imbecile.
O. Felix Culpa
I question the value of the dueling-guests-to-make-a-point aspect of the SOTU. Not AOC’s fault, this started long before she arrived in DC, but it smells of manipulation to me.
ETA: In other words, I think that those present should be limited to elected officials and the Supremes. And I’m still waiting for my pony.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I kinda hope Pelosi channels Plaid Shirt Guy at the MAGA rally. But she’s too classy for that. :)
Wapiti
@O. Felix Culpa: Agreed. If the SOTU is an official event, then it should be work, not play; not theater. On the other hand, if it’s just a disgorgement of talking points from the President, to a Congress that has to stay silent, then what’s the point of the gathering? Switch to a written format or to question time, where the lawmakers and President have a discourse.
eta: or have the President swear before his statement that everything therein is true.
geg6
Eric Swalwell has invited Cameron Kasky. Lots of good guests on the Dem side.
Immanentize
Will Putin be there? Roger Stone? Roy Moore?
Cheryl Rofer
@O. Felix Culpa: I agree on all points. One of the reasons that we should rethink or eliminate the SOTU.
PPCLI
Inviting as many as possible of the 20 or so women who have credibly accused President PussyGrabber of sexual assault would be worth doing too.
Immanentize
@Cheryl Rofer:
The SOTU is required by the Constitution. I assume you mean the televised version? Never going to happen.
Immanentize
@PPCLI:
They did that to Hillary. I thought it was gross.
PPCLI
@Immanentize: I agree. That is why they should do it to Trump.
Immanentize
@PPCLI:
Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Catherine D.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Bunny ears!
satby
@Immanentize: especially since Hillary never grabbed anyone. Blaming her for Bill’s actions was just one of the bazillion ways the right wing noise machine slimed her. To our everlasting regret.
raven
@O. Felix Culpa: Yea I think it’s bullshit too. Just like taking a still photo and trying to make some big point about it.
PIGL
@Wapiti: Audience only has to stay silent if it’s a white guy talking. This rule of civility to which you refer did not owe apply to President Obama. So fuck all the norms, it’s Theatre all the way down.
Cheryl Rofer
@Immanentize: A report to Congress is required by the Constitution. It doesn’t have to be delivered as a speech, certainly not the kind of speech that currently passes as the SOTU. It could be further argued that what has gone into recent SOTUs isn’t even what is required by the Constitution.
Immanentize
@Cheryl Rofer: I agree completely. But no President — Republic or Democrat — will ever give up such a direct communication to the nation
Yutsano
@raven: I think it would matter if it actually made Dolt45 squirm. All he sees is another person in the audience to adore him. He probably only has a vague recollection of anyone who isn’t in his current line of vision or who hasn’t crossed him in some way. But it’s been this silly tit for tat for awhile.
WaterGirl
From Steve Benen this morning, I bring you this sentence, which is a thing of beauty. (In terms of how the information is conveyed; what he is describing is appalling.) bolding mine.
Dog Mom
Question for great Jackal minds – If the content of the SOTU does not fulfill the the constitutional requirements or is (let’s say) not factually correct – what recourse does congress have to demand fulfillment and /or correction?
Immanentize
@Dog Mom: Congress probably does not have any right to ask the president to change or correct. The text of the Constitution makes this a responsibility of the President alone. It is not described as a give and take between branches. Of course, Congress can reject all of the President’s priorities and often does.
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize:
Thank goodness, in the case of the current squatter in the WH. So glad Nancy SMASH! overcame the sexist/ageist objections to her speakership. It’s great to have a true leader in the House again.
Jerzy Russian
@Immanentize:
As long as we are wishing for ponies, the Constitution can be amended to remove this requirement. It can also be amended to require full financial disclosures for all candidates in Federal elections, to make the presidential election by popular vote, to make the House Speaker and the Senate leader be chosen from the party with the highest popular vote total, to make each House district have (roughly) the same number of people, etc.
Dog Mom
@Immanentize: Thanks, I guess I was hoping that Nancy could have a buzzer and a flashing neon sign with ‘LIAR, LIAR!” on it and make him retract it on the spot.
Immanentize
@Dog Mom: Well, nothing in the Constitution precludes a liar button….
eldorado
imma need an AOC tshirt for the next brunch with the very olds
But her emails!!!
@Dog Mom: Trump’s orange and gives a verbal cue every time he lies. If his supporters haven’t figured it out yet, a flashing neon sign is going to be too subtle.
Gravenstone
@Immanentize: In spirit, all of them.
catclub
@But her emails!!!:
believe me…
lots of people are saying…
What else?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
put me down with those who wish we could do away with the whole spectacle– I’ll be checking twitter to catch Stacey Abrams, but the commentary is unwatchable. I’d like to place bets on who the worst commentator on MSNBC will be. They’ve been sparing in using Peggy Noonan, but I wonder if they’ll bring her on to mug and emote with BriWi and Tweety (she sends thrills all the way up his leg), while kindly Doc Maddow looks on with her frozen polite grin. I saw Kayleigh Frickin’ MacInerney (sp?) on there yesterday. I hope they’re not going to give that angry dryer lint a regular gig
eemom
The Constitution doesn’t require the SOTU to be verbal at all. Prezes from Jefferson up to Wilson gave it in writing. We have Wilson to thank for the ridiculous bullshit spectacle that it is today. I couldn’t stand to watch it even when Obama was prez.
eemom
Also too, you know the AOC worship is really off the rails when everybody stands up and claps when she does something that yes, BOTH SIDES have been doing for decades. ?
NotMax
@O. Felix Culpa
Another thing which can be laid directly at the feet of Reagan.
Mandalay
@O. Felix Culpa:
Right. Both sides do it, and it sucks.
Even here on BJ the focus of the story is framed as “Hey! Look what AOC has gone and done now!!!…” rather than “Ana Maria Archila has been invited to attend the SOTU!…”.
NotMax
@eemom
IIRC, Nixon delivered it one time only in writing as well.
Also too, there is no requirement as to time of year, nor that it be given annually
ruemara
*eyeroll* I hate fanboi-ism.
Multiple Dems are inviting key people. Multiple. Can we let AOC mature as a States person?
Immanentize
@NotMax: The text says “from time to time.”
The whole of the clause — which is in Article II which deals with Presidential powers and obligations reads”
NotMax
@NotMax
For that matter, the crew of Challenger might not have died had Reagan not been so adamant about exploiting the sending of Crista McAuliffe into space as P.R. for his SOTU that year.
Speaking of Challenger, the conspiracy nuts continue to swarmi over that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ruemara: Hear, hear. She’s a lot of fun on social media, but she represents one of 435 districts, one that is less representative of voters as a whole than say, Joe Neguse’s, Conor Lamb’s or Sharice Davids’.
tobie
I’m with you, @ruemara. The swooning’s embarrassing. Meanwhile there’s been movement on the climate front with 7 Dems, including freshman SC Rep Cunningham, drafting a bill banning offshore drilling and Ted Deutch reintroducing his carbon fee bill but you hear crickets about it on the left.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Yup. Indeed, with the sole exception of Washington’s first address, the tradition of delivering the SOTU early in the year rather than near its end began with FDR.
Coolidge (except one time) and Hoover also delivered written SOTUs.
WaterGirl
@ruemara: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I like her and I think that her ideas are getting attention, but she gets credit for a lot of stuff that is just doing her job.
Hearing talk of AOC as a future president? She’s great on twitter, and she’s doing fine, but that does not a president make. Not saying she couldn’t be, but one month in her term is a bit early for that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@tobie: Oy. I’ll admit I didn’t know about either. And so much of the purity left, like a certain famous millionaire actress, justified their inability— they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it!– to vote for HRC by vocal grinding “fraaaacking”. (sorry, but I hear her voice in my head when purity left comes up)
@WaterGirl: I’ll say this: This not-quite-cult-of-personality is a step up from the bonfires lit for White Guys Who Shout Things (Grayson and Weiner) of previous fan-boi-ism fits of the internet left.
chopper
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
bbut…she’s the messiah we need now! every time she takes a runny dump it’s on the rec list at GOS.
tobie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: No worries. It’s impossible to keep up with everything. But House committees are working and bills are being introduced and you wouldn’t know shit about it because the right and the purity left are obsessed with the young rep from the Bronx.
J R in WV
Come on, folks. We all know who will be the “senior analyst” for NBC/MSNBC after the SOTU speech. It will be the ever-spiteful Andrea M Greenspan, she who finally lost me forever during the Demicratic National Convention which nominated Sec. Clinton.
I watched as much of that event as possible, and every time I watched a speech, I then watched Ms Greenspan tell me what I had just seen.er analysis was mostly lies about what I had just seen, as if she was totally unaware that I had watched the same speech she watched, and knew when she lied about what we saw.
In other words, she didn’t care that she was shown to be either lying or completely unaware of what was happening around her in real time. The arrogance of that person to do what she did those few days of summer was horrible to witness. I can no longer bear to witness such a terrible mockery of actual reporting, which, you know, is kinda supposed to be based upon the TRUTH, not made up propaganda!!
Mandalay
Just now the host on CNN said this: “But it wasn’t that long ago that Democrats were the party opposed to civil rights!….“, and a guest backed her up: “Absolutely!“.
CNN: proudly taking both sides to new levels of absurdity.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: The first tech comm article I published was about miscommunication and the Challenger. Someone has it online as a pdf, though they misspell my name in the link.
Uncle Cosmo
@But her emails!!!: It’s like the story that LBJ’s aides had a foolproof method for detecting when he was lying. I paraphrase from memory, as I can’t find it on the Net:
goblue72
@WaterGirl: @WaterGirl:
How many nitwits were talking Beto for VP (or still talking Beto for VP) – a backbench centrist Congressman who lost his statewide race? Probably could find a few of them in the BJ comments section.
WaterGirl
@goblue72: You could even find my comments along those lines. He has held elected office for a long time, and acquitted himself extremely well in the statewide race, as a truth telling Democrat in Texas. She has been in office for about a month. Not at all the same.