Ryan and Bachmann did well, but as an antidote to The One’s dissociative psychological break from fiscal reality, this is the best SOTU rebuttal you’ll see. No fireworks this time; what makes it effective is that it’s so matter-of-fact, to the point where I almost gasped at the bluntness of his response to the cop at the beginning. Retail politics that relies on candor isn’t supposed to work, and it’s really not supposed to work when the subject is fiscal catastrophe and what that means for the average public employee. And yet it works. That’s why this guy gets such a wide berth among righties notwithstanding his squishiness on immigration and gun control, etc. Not only is he willing to make politically toxic cuts, he’s remarkably good at selling them. When was the last time you saw a crowd applaud a governor for essentially telling a cop who’s feeling crunched financially, “Tough”?

Incidentally, this isn’t even the most fun Christie clip out there today. See Eyeblast for that. Click the image to watch.