Weigel

At his weekly briefing today, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor fielded a question about whether Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.) Tea Party Express-hosted response to the State of the Union would "muddy" the rest of the Republican response.

"Paul Ryan's giving the official Republican response," said Cantor, "and, you know, Michele Bachmann, just as the other 534 members of the House and Senate, [is] going to have opinions as to the State of the Union. And again, this is a process that happens every year, and I look forward to all comments. But it's Paul Ryan that's giving the official response."

The follow-up: Those other 534 members were not going to get their speeches televised that night, with reporters on deck to cover them.

"All right," said Cantor. "Well, then, maybe I should ask: Why is that the case?"