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Speech is at 7 p.m., but "pre-buttals" will come first
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Activists of all stripes in the nation's bitter health care debate aren't even waiting for President Obama's prime time address to spin and weigh in on it.
The speech, at 7 p.m., will be broadcast on all the major broadcast and cable networks -- with the exception of the Fox Broadcast Network, which is opting to air the season premiere of "So You Think You Can Dance."
Before U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., offers the GOP's response to Obama's speech, the party will be rebutting it in cyberspace as he delivers it.
The Republican National Committee announced that it will be live-blogging the speech, "fact-checking" what it called "his proposed government-run health care experiment."
More traditionally, the party ripped the speech in a news release today, calling it a "rehash" of arguments he's already made 27 times.
And House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., delivered a "pre-buttal" of the speech at midday today.
"The status quo is unacceptable. But if August showed us anything, it's that so are the alternatives that the administration and Democrats in Congress have proposed," McConnell said in prepared remarks. "That means sensible, step-by-step reforms, not more trillion-dollar grand schemes."
For its part, the Democratic National Committee is airing a TV ad in the Twin Cities and nine other television markets accusing House Republicans of trying to gut Medicare.
Minnesota Republican Reps. Erik Paulsen and Michele Bachmann are among the House members the Democrats are targeting.
At the same time, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is sending out blast e-mails to reporters targeting GOP representatives for opposing Obama; among the targets are Bachmann and Rep. John Kline.
And Obama's presidential campaign organization, rebranded as Organizing for America, has been conducting a bus tour of several cities, trying to build support for Obama's plan.
In addition, the group is holding TV-watching parties in private homes, including one in Minneapolis, during the speech.
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