CNN's Dana Bash blames “both sides” for a lack of decorum during State of the Union
Bash: “State of the Union speeches are usually when everybody is on their best behavior”
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From the February 4, 2020, edition of CNN's The State Of The Union Address
DANA BASH: To your point about the whole partisan aspect of it, it really was astonishing when you think about it. State of the Union speeches are usually when everybody is on their best behavior.
I think about this speech -- more than the person who is in the White House, more than the person who is in the speaker chair, but about the institutions of both.
And that was out the window from the beginning, whether or not the president saw her put her hand out or not. He didn't make eye contact with her, there was absolutely no attempt at all -- to the end, when the speaker, who has admonished her caucus on more than one occasion to present themselves with decorum and so on and so forth -- she was just angry.
JAKE TAPPER (HOST): She ripped up the speech.
BASH: She ripped up the speech. I was just texting with a source close to her who said -- I know this is probably a little obvious, but that was not planned. That was an emotional moment. That was a genuine reaction to what she just heard the president --
WOLF BLITZER: Well, she ripped it up and then she threw it -- threw it away.
BASH: Oh, and she threw it down, and there are lots of reasons for that.
...
The fact that both sides, everybody was -- everybody is so on edge, and even in this moment where usually they try to be on their best behavior again, they didn't even try.