Sixty-Minute Man
Like Matt Thomas, I don’t quite understand the need for the State of the Union Address to be interrupted by clapping scores of times throughout the night. It turns a 15-minute speech into an hour-long Mamet-esque frustration (just…let your characters speak in full sentences, David!!). This has nothing to do with political beliefs, as I was just as sick of it when watching Clinton’s speeches. It’s all just political posturing; the party in power will clap for anything the President says, no matter how nutty or stupid, while the non-presidential party will clap for any innocuous comment that nobody with a conscience could disagree with. (This is why Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms didn’t clap much, by the way.)
“I believe that children need to eat to survive.”
*20 seconds of clapping*
“And furthermore, if they are hungry, someone should feed them.”
*Another 20 seconds of clapping*
“Children are…”
*20 seconds of clapping*
“important to their parents.”
*60 seconds of clapping, standing ovation, and whistles of agreement–possibly a “You go, George”*
The only interesting part about this phenomenon is noticing who doesn’t applaud for what. There were a few shots of Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and other notable Democrats making themselves conspicuous with their absence of clapping. In fact, Teddie K. seemed to be asleep at one point during the Iraq portion of the speech.
And as an aside, has anyone else noticed that the only color in the chamber was from the female attendees’ outfits? In a sea of navy, you could pick out a good number of the females present by the red dresses they wore.