From Jonathan Bernstein:
Any televised response to a prime-time address will be flawed.
But surely they can do better than this.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a predictably bad response to President Donald Trump’s immigration speech on Tuesday night. Well, maybe even worse than most people would’ve predicted; at least on my television, the staging and lighting looked awkward, and Pelosi in particular was unimpressive. That’s not really a problem: Few people stay tuned for these responses, so bad ones aren’t that costly. And if presidential addresses aren’t very effective at changing public opinion, it’s no surprise that the responses aren’t either.
Yet the out-party feels obligated to offer such responses all the same. In fact, it will soon be time to give the traditional out-party rejoinder to the president’s State of the Union speech, scheduled for Jan. 29. So allow me to trot out my annual plea…