Bloglander

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After the president's State of the Union Address last night, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers gave the opposition party’s traditional response. She spoke about her kids and growing up in Kettle Falls, and reiterated the standard Republican criticisms of the Afforable Care Act. She mentioned Sgt. Jacob Hess of Spokane, a marine who died last month in Afghanistan. While speaking about health care, she also said she’d received a letter from “Bette in Spokane” about her insurance premium going up $700.

In total, she mentioned Spokane twice — and the Internet blew up with people confused about why she was talking about Spokane so much.

It's not clear which ones are meant to be funny. Short answer for the rest of you: This is her district. But at least a few people learned how to pronounce Spokane correctly. Here’s her full response text and video.