with color coded repartee from the Washington Post, excerpted
“Seven birdies, five bogeys,” Boehner reported to Biden. “You’re kidding me!” the vice president said. “I missed a four-foot, straight-on birdie on the last hole,” Boehner said of another round. Whoa!” the vice president said. “So, the next day,” Boehner went on, “I shoot an 86! Ha, ha, ha!” “That’s incredible,” the vice president said. Boehner went on about other memorable golf moments before an aide let the men know that their microphones were live.
“This isn’t class warfare,… Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary — an outrage he has asked us to fix,” Obama went on. Widespread laughter broke out on the GOP side of the aisle.
Republican leaders, having forced Obama to postpone the speech because of the GOP debate, decided they wouldn’t dignify the event by offering a formal, televised “response.” And the White House, well aware of Obama’s declining popularity, moved up the speech time to 7 p.m. so it didn’t conflict with the Packers-Saints NFL opener at 8:30.
“This isn’t political grandstanding,” Obama said.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) guffawed.
“We’ve identified over 500 [regulatory] reforms, which will save billions of dollars,” .
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) giggle
“I thought it was a great speech,” said Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) But the odds of Obama getting his plan through Congress “are probably as good as the Nationals winning the league this year.”The empty seats were on the Democratic side. Democrats lumbered to their feet to give the president several standing ovations, but they struggled at times to demonstrate enthusiasm. When Obama proposed payroll tax cuts for small businesses, three Democrats stood to applaud. Summer jobs for disadvantaged youth brought six Democrats to their feet, and a tax credit for hiring the long-term unemployed produced 11 standees.
Obama spoke quickly, urgently, even angrily. Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.) stared at the ceiling. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) scanned the gallery. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) was seen reading a newspaper. And Republicans, when they weren’t giggling, were mostly silent.
Even a mention of Abraham Lincoln, “a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcontinental railroad,” brought no applause from the GOP side. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) yawned. One Republican backbencher, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, chose this moment to hold up a sign demanding “Drilling = Jobs.”