Posted on 01/18/2011 12:24:16 PM PST by markomalley
When did members start sitting by party during the State of the Union?
As with most everything concerning the State of the Union, the congressional seating chart has a lot to do with tradition.
Political parties have been sitting separately in Congress since the 1840s, according to the Congressional Research Service. The custom held during presidential speeches as well.
Back then, Whigs sat to the left of the speaker and Democrats to the right. Swap Republicans for Whigs and you have the current seating tradition.
Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) plan to break with the norm by sitting together during this year's speech, an effort on their part to promote bipartisanship in the wake of the deadly shooting in Arizona.
We don't know yet where they will sit.
Aside from seats reserved for the Senate in the front of the House chamber and those for leadership, seating remains first come, first serve — as it has been for most of Congress' history.
In the past, members living around D.C. often got the best spots by arriving early to stake out.
And that is yet another tradition that remains alive and well today.
Are you sure Coburn will be sitting?
That is the sad part. And if he is, will anyone notice?
Strike this deal...All Tea Party patriot congress critters can sit together, GOP, DIM or IND...and everyone else can sing Kumbaya together.
What happened to “I won”?
Really stupid idea, Republicans are locked out of debate by the dims and NOW we have to get along?
Political stupidity rears its uly head.....AGAIN!
If you are sitting close, you can twist the knife once it is between the ribs
Sen. Coburn, his nose almost constantly up Sen. Schumer’s butt, will sit beside him and hold hands during the SOTU speech.
Again, never again will I vote for someone just because there’s an “R” after their name.
It wasn’t that long ago that Dems physically locked Republicans out of a committee room.
Here's how to kill this stupid idea...Get someone high profile (A congressman) to state on the record that "the DIMs want this because they feel guilty about Arizona". It will end immediately.
How about democrats up front, and Republicans in the back (of the bus). That would be civil right?
If I had to listen to that windbag talk I’d break tradition and go bowling or to a movie or almost anything else.
Another Rodney King moment. “Why can’t we all just get along”?/sarc
I happened upon Congresswoman Gillibrand of NY on the view the other day while surfing....not sure what made me stop....anyway, she said the Dems are just going to split up themselves and infiltrate the seating...it didn’t matter what the R’s do. They plan on playing a little kiddies game and take seats all over. She was so proud and giddy over it.
What else would you expect from the Stupid Party?
The Bolshevik communists used a technique called “the diamond formation” to conceal the fact that their numbers were few, and to make it appear that the crowd as a whole supported communist speakers.
They would very intentionally sit in a diamond pattern within a crowd, then when the communist spoke, they would leap to their feet, applauding and cheering. And no matter where someone outside of the crowd looked, it would appear that the crowd was enthusiastically backing the communist speaker.
Don’t think for a moment that the Democrats don’t know about this, and aren’t thinking about this, either.
Their numbers are much diminished, and the national audience should see this, but by intermingling with Republicans they can try to create the illusion that they are numerous.
Likewise, remember what happened at the last SOTU? A Republican yelled out “YOU LIE!” at Obama, and the cameras turned on him. And no other Republican was doing anything to argue with him, or disagree with him. Imagine how different that would have been if there were Democrats seated next to him?
And you can bet your bottom dollar that this time, there will be.
You are not going to see pictures showing the Democrats standing on their feet and applauding, while the Republicans just sit there. Instead, with intermingling, it will look like at least some of the Republicans agree with what he is saying.
Any Republican who joins in this farce should be shunned for being a dummy, and the Republican leadership that permitted this should be challenged in their future leadership.
Idiots - stupid party.
You have it precisely right.
Is it a distraction from ...
Justice Alito Will Not Attend Obama's State Of The Union The question is will the rest of the court follow suit!
Schumer is the most belligerent, sneering, two-faced partisan operative in the Senate. Coburn is making a huge mistake. When will Republicans stop falling for this crap. They get out maneuvered every time. Man, it’s frustrating watching these BOZOS.
When D's were in total power, we were told to sit in the back of the bus and keep our mouths shut!
Now R's have the house back and the D's all of a sudden want to sit together, all pals and friends, distort the 2010 shellacking.
...and of course our side just goes along and does what they're told, just like always, regardless if they have real power or not.
Don’t forget the Alito incident either.
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