Rare Response To State Of The Union Address

MIAMI (CBS4) - Immediately following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address every major network aired Republican Congressman Paul Ryan's response.

"We believe a renewed commitment to limited government will unshackle our economy," said Congressman Ryan.

CNN then aired Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's even more critical response to the speech. Here's the thing, she's a Republican too...but she spoke on behalf of the Tea Party movement.

"The Tea Party is a dynamic source for good in our national conversation," said Congresswoman Bachmann.

Political analyst Fernand Amandi says even one network allowing a second response to a presidential address is a brand new concept.

"I think it's unprecedented but I think it speaks to the force of the Tea Party in American politics," he told CBS4's Natalia Zea.

But he believes the second message shows the divisions within the Republican Party, though Bachmann tried to address that in her speech.

"I want to thank the Tea Party Express and Tea Party HD for asking me to speak this evening. I'm here at their request and not to compete with official Republican remarks," Bachmann said.

"I think last night was also an indicator of the potential consequences for the future when you have 2 messages that are competing against one another in a sense, the official Republican response versus the Tea Party response….It certainly makes for a schizophrenic agenda and plan going forward," said Amandi.

Marcos Sendon, President of Tea Party group South Florida Conservative disagrees.

"I don't think so. I think right now what you're seeing is a growing pain of one movement beckoning the return of everybody else," he told Zea.

Sendon believes CNN airing Bachmann's response shows his movement is powerful.

"It's a milestone for us and I think in future broadcasts you'll see better coverage."

And he believes this conservative movement is the future of the Republican party.

"We always hope and our purpose is to bring the party back to its roots, enrich it and make it successful again in the sense where we can support it completely."

Zea spoke with Democrats about the Tea Party response to the speech. They said they were fine with the Tea Party getting to speak its mind, but they expressed a desire for all political groups to have a voice on national television, including the Green Party and Libertarians.