Edwards Responds to Bush: Something New?

Thu, 09/13/2007 - 10:30am

I got an email this morning from the Edwards campaign that really surprised me: apparently, they've purchased the airtime on MSNBC immediately following President Bush's address to the nation on Iraq tonight, and Edwards will be responding directly to Bush's speech.

From the email:

Tonight, after President Bush makes yet another argument for continuing the war in Iraq, John Edwards will speak directly to the American people in a nationwide address on MSNBC.

-snip-

Each of us has a responsibility to make sure that President Bush and Congress understand that the time for excuses has run out. John Edwards will deliver a strong message tonight on our behalf. It's time to end this war and bring our troops home.

I say that I was surprised because I'm not sure this sort of thing has been done in the past. Has a candidate ever addressed the nation and offered a response to a Presidential address before? I know this is MSNBC and not a triple network buy, but it is national, and it is a direct response, as well a significant commitment by the Edwards camp. In the office we've been wracking our brains trying to figure out if this has ever happened in previous cycles.

Certainly, Democratic candidates haven't been at a loss for responses to Bush's policies, and many in the field have robust plans about health care and Iraq and the economy. And they have all at times responded to things coming out of the administration and the Republican field of candidates.

Edwards will no doubt do his thing — he's going to reiterate his call for the war to end now and for the troops to come home. This doesn't come from the standard playbook, and I think it might be unprecedented: a primary candidate in the opposition party responding directly to an address from the President.

partial credit

By George Nassar

Thu, 09/13/2007 - 11:32am

I can't think of a case offhand where a current candidate immediately responded to a presidential address on national television; part of that, I imagine, is that I can't recall when responses started being televised in the first place, but I imagine it was relatively recently compared to when those addresses started being televised in the first place. Not a lot of examples to go through.

But given that, there's an interesting coincidence in all that. I remember '94 pretty vividly from a political perspective, and in late '94 (after the elections) Clinton gave a televised address on his new tax plan. The Republican response was done by a pretty popular guy at the time. He was a newly elected Tennessee senator. I hear he may be running for president one of these days. In a big red truck.