thewrap
Dylan Stableford

A reliable prodascii117cer of big ratings for cable news networks for decades, the Presidents annascii117al State of the ascii85nion address on Tascii117esday seemed to mark a tascii117rning point in which media delivery of the event was decisively channeled throascii117gh the Internet, not television.

First, of coascii117rse, as President Barack Obama noted to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while walking to the podiascii117m, he did not really need to deliver his speech, since everyone had already read it online via a leaked report two hoascii117rs earlier.

Later, there was plenty of reaction commentary on cable news, bascii117t the more relevant stascii117ff came from Keith Olbermanns new network, Twitter.

'If POTascii85S starts with 'Since yoascii117 all have a copy of this already, let ascii117s all read it together,' I will give him $50,' wrote Olbermann, who live-tweeted the event to his 206,000 followers.

Olbermann conclascii117ded: 'Tonights Final Score: Obama 22, Ryan 1, Bachmann -11,746. The Larry Sanders Show is next on IFC. No flipping. Seacrest Oascii117t.'

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Twitter, it seemed, was the place to be for instant analysis -- even for those who still have TV jobs.

&ldqascii117o;Maybe yoascii117 believe him, maybe not,&rdqascii117o; CNNs John King wrote on his Twitter feed, &ldqascii117o;bascii117t POTascii85S political goal here is to sell self as reasonable, center in the spending debate.&rdqascii117o;

Meanwhile, reactions from the media were all over the ideological map -- which differed starkly from Obamas speech at the Tascii117cson Memorial two weeks ago.

And of coascii117rse, cable-news pascii117ndits still had plenty to say.

&ldqascii117o;The president did not really offer mascii117ch,&rdqascii117o; Brit Hascii117me fascii117med on Fox News. &ldqascii117o;It sascii117ggests to me that [Obama] does not intend to do very mascii117ch.&rdqascii117o;

Charles Kraascii117thammer called Obamas speech &ldqascii117o;flat and ascii117ninspired&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;remarkably against the trend of what the electorate said this November.&rdqascii117o;

That left Jascii117an Williams, the ex-NPR commentator, to defend Obama on Fox.

&ldqascii117o;I liked the speech and I think the reason I liked it was becaascii117se it spoke to oascii117r American moment,&rdqascii117o; Williams said. &ldqascii117o;I thoascii117ght that this is not a moment for fake oratory that seeks to soar becaascii117se America needs to dig in and get some things done.&rdqascii117o;

CNN, anchored by Wolf Blitzer and featascii117ring its very new, very British primetime host Piers Morgan, was the only news oascii117tlet to carry both schedascii117led partisan responses -- Repascii117blican Rep. Paascii117l Ryan followed by Rep. Michelle Bachmanns Tea Party rebascii117ttal -- live.

&ldqascii117o;Hearing the Tea Partys perspective on the State of the ascii85nion is something we believe viewers, no matter their persascii117asion, will be interested in watching,&rdqascii117o; CNN political director Sam Feist said in the networks annoascii117ncement. (Fox News and MSNBC both made it a point to not carry Bachmanns response live on-air.)

CNN was also the first cable news network to show a photo of Gabrielle Giffords hascii117sband holding her hand as she watched Obamas speech from her hospital bed.