Even in politics, two wrongs still don't make a right

Today U.S. Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.) took the floor of the House of Representatives to condemn the treatment of his wife, Beverly, at last night's State of the Union address. Great job, Bill. Here's why this was a political stunt, pure and simple.

"House rules bar demonstrations in the galleries." This is Rep. Young's 18th term in the House; I'm sure both he and his wife are aware of the rules. This is also George W. Bush's sixth State of the Union address, and he's held office for five years; I think the entire nation knows how his administration feels about letting people do things in their own way. Additionally, it isn't too far-fetched to suggest that Rep. and Mrs. Young knew that anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan had been invited to attend, and would likely attempt to make an unspoken statement of some kind (which she did).

Putting all this together, Mrs. Young showed up to the State of the Union address in a shirt that would undoubtedly be censored, just so her husband could feign outrage the following day to drown out any backlash over Mrs. Sheehan's arrest (although I'm surprised they actually arrested her...it's not like this was the Final Four or anything).

I have no problem with the message on Mrs. Young's shirt -- "Support the Troops Defending Our Freedom" -- but there's a difference between wearing a symbolic ribbon and wearing a shirt with text on it. There are times to make an overt statement, and last night was not one of those times. All attention at the State of the Union should be on the president, and any attempt to draw attention away from the president during the event is inappropriate. I believe the motivation for Mrs. Young to wear her shirt came in part from the desire to cancel out the impact of anything Mrs. Sheehan might do, but that doesn't justify it. Doing something wrong isn't the way to make something else right.