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Last week I wrote that everyone fails when it comes to delivering a reply to the State of the Union address. “I would run, not walk, if party leaders asked me to give the SOTU response,” I said. “My kid has a piano recital that night. It’s my anniversary. Anything. I think you’d have to be nuts to agree to do this.”
Nonetheless, it never occurred to me that Marco Rubio would take a big swig of water right in the middle of his response. That’s a failure mode that I never anticipated. Still, the rule remains unbroken: don’t give a SOTU response. Period. It’s only slightly less dangerous than agreeing to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.
