Grate of the union: Hecklers highlighted state of political discourse

Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech really highlighted more about the state of the Republican Congress, and that state is decidedly raucous. As Biden delivered his spiel, he sparred verbally with (dis)honorable hecklers, who often interrupted, like Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Biden made some cursory appeals to bipartisanship, even though neither he nor the caucus of new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy really expects the slim Republican majority to find much common cause with the president, highlighted by their insistence on launching into a number of harebrained and nakedly political probes — case in point, yesterday’s House hearing on the ever-present Hunter Biden laptop obsession (see our adjacent editorial).

The notion that yelling at the president during a formal address would be considered shocking to the degree of receiving widespread bipartisan condemnation and requiring an official apology seems quaint, as Greene is proud of her rudeness. Yet it was just 13 years ago in the very same chamber that Rep. Joe Wilson’s “you lie!” exclamation during a Barack Obama address became national news and the most-talked about moment from the night.

Forced decorum isn’t a sacrosanct principle, and it’s fine that lawmakers now feel more inspired not only to clap but to grimace, boo and hiss at the president; doing so is, after all, a marker of a free society, a spontaneous demonstration that you can express dissatisfaction and even anger at the president without having to worry about being hauled off.

Still, that sentiment can go too far, and we’ve gone from horror at outbursts to essentially indifference at the president being shouted down from the cheap seats, including by kooks like Greene, who aren’t just political detractors but insurrection supporters who would just as soon have prevented Biden from taking office in the first place.

At this point, it’s hard to imagine putting the genie back in the bottle, another sign of the sorry state of our political systems and discourse. Let’s hope that in another decade, we don’t think of shouting in the chambers as quixotic.