Applause

By Zamboni

One of the sidebars of last night's speech on jobs is whether and when the Republicans applauded what the President said.

We've seen comments online and heard them on air. Apparently, for example, Congressional Republicans would clap for veterans but not for teachers. (Although they refused to stand for the GI Bill. Which, in retrospect, explains a lot about the Bushies' hypocrisy of cheering vets while simultaneously screwing them for eight years. But, never mind.)

We cats can only assume that the GOP was in shock. Who was this strange man, Barack Obama, whom they thought they'd manipulated so easily in the past? And why was he yelling at them? Perhaps they weren't thinking when they sat on their hands? Perhaps they really do believe that every American child deserves a great school?

Don't bet on it.

We have a little advice for the Republicans: You look petty and small. So take a page from your good buddy Stephen Harper's book. At Jack Layton's funeral, when the crowd went wild for Jack's last "manifesto for social democracy," the Tories in the house looked a little stunned. But then Harper got up and joined the applause. Sure, it was a funeral, not a joint session of Congress — but it didn't hurt Harper, and it was the right thing to do.