You know it was bad....

when The Metro, the free newspaper available at subway stops in Boston (and other local version available in many cities) decides to run an article about how bad it was. It, in this case, is Bobby Jindal's response to Obama's quasi-State of the Union address the other night. I can count on one finger the number of times the response has been good (Jim Webb in 2007) and I can remember many responses that have been boring or pointless or whatever (Nancy Pelosi and Tim Kaine spring to mind) but I can't remember the last time it as so bad that it became a story in and of itself.

Now, part of what makes this a story is that Jindal has had the aura of 'rising star' in the GOP. We've heard that he is smart and electable and hey, even better for the GOP's image, he is not white. But he is also, apparently, a Muppet. Dooh, Muppetism! I really question the judgement of those who had met Jindal and decided that a goofy looking guy who goes by Bobby is someone that the American people would elect as president.

As for Obama's speech, it was certainly a strong one, with a good pacing for a State of the Union. He got in a few good digs at Republicans, rightly pointing out that it is a bit odd them to all of a sudden start worrying about deficits (he didn't quite put it that way). And closing with the "look at all these inspirational Americans" was well-done, but those are kinda hard to screw up.