It won’t just be the Republican choice taking care of the business of a rebuttal to the SOTU. This year the response is being delivered by Rep. Paul Ryan. There will be a rival retort to be aired, online at least.

 Rep. Bachmann, who spent the last weekend in Iowa clearly eyeing a Presidential run, is planning to give the “tea party response.”  Or as she explained her reasoning for being in Iowa to the Minneapolis Post.

 ““But I’m here to be a part of that conversation for 2012. I certainly am a part of the conversation — there’s been no decision about a candidacy but I certainly want to be a part of that conversation, most definitely.””

 In fact what she is doing is an online video for Tea Party Express, the Republican lobbyist run machine that has done so many tours across the country promoting candidates they support. The press release gushes.

 “Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has confirmed with us that she will broadcast her response to Barack Obama's State Of The Union address this Tuesday.  You'll be able to watch her rebut Obama via her address which will be broadcast on our website: www.TeaPartyExpress.org”

 The problem for Bachmann, of course, is that she does not “speak” for the tea party movement in any official capacity. Tea party activists take great pride in being able to do that for themselves without a leader.  She is merely the self-appointed leader of the ineffectual tea party caucus in the Congress.

 Responding to the move by Tea Party Express and Bachmann, Tea Party Patriots co-founder/national coordinator Mark Meckler has this to say.

 "Our membership has been clear that no politician speaks for the tea party movement."

Never mind the fact that Tea Party Express recently annoyed many in the movement but rushing out a fundraiser email in reaction to the Arizona shooting.

Allahpundit at Hotair has more concerns about the alternative speech on SOTU.

 “As such, having Bachmann deliver some sort of “shadow” conservative response to Obama will achieve one of two things. Either it’ll be redundant by duplicating most of the same points that Ryan makes or, if she says something incendiary that the media ends up slobbering over the next day, it’ll overshadow his speech entirely.”

 The rumblings of discontent in tea party ranks are audible if Bachmann or TPE were listening. You don’t have to be too cynical to realize this is more about Bachmann’s presidential ambitions that anything to do with the tea party movement.  Clearly Bachmann wishes to over-shadow her potential Republican primary rival Paul Ryan.  She is letting her colleagues know they ain’t seen nothing yet.