own party's coherent unified alternative to what the country has just heard from the president. or at least you used to be. because now republicans have come up with yet another innovation for this most ancient american political ritual. they were the first ones who came up with the rebuttal address in 1966. and now since barack obama has been president, they have come up with a new idea. the idea of doing not just a rebuttal to the president's state of the union address, but also a rebuttal to their own rebuttal. what? yes. for the third year in a row now, republicans are rebutting themselves as well as rebutting the president. what could possibly go wrong? the first year was 2011 when minnesota congresswoman and eventual presidential candidate michele bachmann gave not the republican party response, but the tea party republican response to the republican response to president obama's state of the union while making meaningful eye contact with something other than the camera that was pointed at her.