Yes, There Will Also Be a Tea Party Response to SOTU

If anyone is still wondering, yes, there will be an official tea party response to the State of the Union. This is in spite of the official GOP response being delivered by tea party favorite Joni Ernst. In fact, the Tea Party Express (the group that always organizes the tea party responses, proudly endorsed Ernst in her Senate race last year.

This year, the honor of giving the official tea party response goes to Florida Congressman Curt Clawson. The Tea Party Express website praises Clawson as someone who “brings new ideas and solutions to Washington and the President’s failing policies.”

Clawson isn’t that well-known on the national stage, save for one really, really unfortunate moment. Last year, in the middle of a televised House hearing, Clawson actually mistook U.S. government officials for government officials from India and said, “Anything I can do to make the relationship with India better, I’m willing and enthusiastic about doing so.”

Clawson’s response won’t be the only unofficial one tonight. Rand Paul said he’ll issue a response on YouTube later tonight, and Florida Congressman Carlos Curbelo will deliver the Spanish-language version of Ernst’s response.

[image via Andrew F. Kazmierski/Shutterstock]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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