“Anonymous” Is A Putz

Campaign Desk points out that Joe Klein is pulling things out of the ether:

Finally, there was the boorish and possibly unprecedented hooting of the President by Democrats during the [State of the Union] speech.

“No! No! No!” they shouted, inaccurately, when Bush asserted that the Social Security trust fund would, in a decade or so, start paying out more money than it takes in. If nothing is done, it surely will.

Campaign Desk correctly notes:

Beyond the fact that such “hooting” was far from unprecedented, Klein’s short-term memory must be playing tricks on him. Democrats did not start crying out “No! No! No!” when the president asserted that the trust fund would soon start paying out more money than it takes in. Rather, the Democrats accurately started calling out “No! No! No!” when the president inaccurately asserted that “By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt.” You can hear for yourself on the White House video of the address (Real Media or Windows Media) — the moment in question is about 15 minutes into the speech.

You can also hear the boorish boos of Republicans when Clinton said in the 1997 address that we didn’t need to change the constitution to balance the budget. (Little did we know then that the 90’s GOP balanced budget amendment hobby horse was actually designed to stop themselves from bankrupting the country.)

Here’s a nice little reminder from way back in 1999 of what the country was like in the days when our un-boorish representatives practiced civility and decency:

Reps. Robert Schaffer (R-Colo.) and John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) sent a letter to colleagues last week arguing that they should skip the speech because Clinton “is demonstrating his lack of respect for the Congress and its legitimate role.”

But Schaffer had few illusions that his absence would be noticed: “What happens tonight is Congress and the president coming together to send a message there’s some semblance of normalcy in Washington, and the detestable conduct of the president is somehow tolerated,” he said. “The president doesn’t care and nobody cares. The theatrical production is going to go on unimpeded.”

Klein, no doubt, was sitting in front of a camera somewhere that night, hunched over the desk like a slobbering beast, so intensely focused on Clinton’s manly member that he simply didn’t hear a thing.