Joe Biden's State of the Union speech was more interesting than I expected. This is mainly for two reasons.
First, he was surprisingly tough on Republicans and on Donald Trump in particular—though, as usual, he refused to mention Trump by name. It was a very bristly speech, one that's likely to rouse the liberal political base.
Second, he seemed fine. Better than usual. His speaking style was forceful and he was both clear and easy to follow. There were no serious bumbles, and he responded well to the occasional heckling. My biases aside, I don't see how anyone could have watched this and come away with any issues about Biden's age or stamina.
It was interesting watching Mike Johnson, too. He maintained pursed lips the entire time, but occasionally he nodded in agreement almost unconsciously. In particular, he was nodding the entire time Biden talked about Ukraine. This makes me think that he'd personally really like to pass the Ukraine/Israel aid bill but just doesn't know how to do it with all the lunatics in his caucus.
Biden talked a lot about the "$2 trillion" Republican tax cut, which produced one of his signature moments. Last year he badgered Republicans in the audience into agreeing they wouldn't cut Medicare, and this year he (sort of) badgered them into agreeing they didn't want another big tax cut. This doesn't mean anything in substance, but it was good theater.
The other subject that got a lot of time was immigration, in particular the bipartisan Senate immigration bill that Republicans killed. Biden obviously wanted to bang home the point that partisan Republicans killed the bill for cynical political reasons while virtuous Democrats just want to fix the border. I'm not sure he really got that point across clearly enough, but he gave it a good try.
Overall, it was a pretty good speech and pretty good optics. I don't think it will make a huge impact, but it might be good for a point or two in his approval ratings.
POSTSCRIPT: And the prime minister of Sweden was there!
He covered everything from tax reform to snacks reform.
Never pull the string on the back of the Chatty Katie doll.
I could only stand a minute or two of her reply. She sounded like she was about to break down in tears under the stress of it all, like a shy student asked to give a class presentation.
I was thinking she studied the Sally Struthers method.
I watched the whole thing. During the speech she morphed from Hallmark Channel to War Room Gauleiter. She'd love to pull the switch on your electric chair, Libtrash.
It was both factless and her solution final.
Very gross.
Looked like the start of a Catherine O'Hara SCTV sketch, but alas . . .
Don't dismiss her--it was probably one of the best Republican response in many years
Really low bar
She was sitting in her kitchen wasnt she? OMG
Possibly where she thinks she belongs?
No, that was some weird set, apparently. Everything she said was a lie.
By being completely fabricated, fear-mongering, and bigoted?
well, she was on brand.
😉
Glad to see this from Kevin Drum, especially after following comments on The Washington Post site, & in particular those by Megan McArdle & one guy with whom I wasn't familiar.
MM seemed to think that there was one point at which Biden stumbled badly, one. which would be replayed many times to show him as exhibiting the mental decline of which he has been accused, but which his predecessor (aa he prefers to refer to trump) clearly shows.
Hope he gets that better-than-average polling bump that he did last year.
They're just going to run all the parts where he stuttered into one long loop.
Never the part of the sentence where he realized his stutter and fixed it. Something his predecessor never does.
Remembered why that one dude irritated me - he seemed to think that Biden wasn't going to mention the plight of Palestinians because that issue didn't follow closely after the Ukraine remarks, & he dissed Biden as not having trump's "charisma."
What trump has is not charisma; like Hitler, whose speeches he studied, trump is a rabble-rouser of the most dangerous sort, hideous in every way.
This being the first time I’ve seen the assertion, I’m curious, from what source do/did we learn that Trump studied Hitler’s speeches?
Yeah, I wouldn't be too sure about that. There is a commonality among dictatorial rabble-rousers that has a certain inevitability. But I don't doubt that there are some people in his circle who've watched Hitler's speechmaking quite carefully.
That nugget goes back to a Vanity Fair article from 1990. Here's an excerpt not behind a paywall:
Tack.
If this had been reported only recently, >'d have googled it & included the link, but I have seenbit several places - Ivana's father waa said to have given him the collection of speeches, which he kept next time his bed & was said to have read. Perhaps it was about Ivana's book, in which she admitted c to a marriage of convenience earlier - to become a citizen?
And while more recently, he has denied reading Mein Kampf, he rants in Hitler's style, including the phrasing about racial or blood purity, & has that obsession about crowd size, poor Spicer's reputation for honesty be damned. Others have Bern noting the similarities after his recent nativity rants.
But I see that someone else has morre of the trump relationship to Hitler's literary output.
The WaPo commentary was interesting in that it highlighted what their opinion writers see and hear, vs the rest of the world.
McCardle's commentary was, how shall I put it, typically phase-shifted. I'm sure it made sense in some alternate universe.
Sure, but if Trump were in office it would have been the Swedish Bikini Team instead…
Hah!
But the presence of the Swedish PM and why he was there (to join NATO) illustrates one of Biden's finest actions as President --- his marshalling of the West to oppose Russia after it's invasion of Ukraine. While he has not been PERFECT, it has really been a master class in diplomacy, threading the needle regarding what we could do to help the Ukrainians, and saying the right things. Reminds me of HW Bush' excellence in opposing Saddam in Kuwait, and also winding down the Cold War. And for good reason, both those men had a lifetime of experience, wisdom, and a sound moral compass going into it.
Surprisingly populist speech from Biden, which shows that Trump, by running as a populist but governing as a typical plutocrat GOPer, opened up an opportunity for the Democrats that Biden clearly loves exploiting. Good luck Republicans, you’ve lost already.
"The greatest story never told."
That was the line of the night, the perfect summation of Biden's presidency.
Yes, the speech was great & effective, but the best part of today was:
Trump ordered to pay $382,000 after losing lawsuit over Dossier
The infamous Christopher Steele Dossier case has also come to a conclusion, and Donald Trump has to pay Mr Steele's Attorney's Fees to the tidy sum of $382,000.00!!!!!!!
Nice.
Steele walks free and the Trump has to pay Mr Steele's attorney fees.
God, does life get any better than this?!?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/07/trump-loses-lawsuit-steele-dossier
(I was afraid that some people might miss this fun news!)
Best Wishes, Traveller
Thanks for this, Traveller!
Not bad.
Now he has to keep that up.
I wondering if he and his team were sandbagging the Republicans....Did Fox News cover it??? (oopsies)
And what's this--Truth Social went down so Trump couldn't live tweet it? Who on his team pulled that plug?
I had heard that the Defendant was heavily hyping his planned tweetage for the Speech, to try and increase his "audience." Maybe it worked, and it overwhelmed the server?
Clinton was on to something when she put her server in a basement. Didn't hear of any crashes of that, did you?
I didn't watch but I hope Joe badgered them about a tax cut for the RICH and CORPORATIONS.
Indeed he did. Moreover, Dark Brandon got the Republicans to "agree" that they didn't want any more tax cuts. (heh, heh)
I concur. I spent most of the time watching Mike Johnson nod in agreement with most but the budget and the boarder. It was good. I was concerned with Joe walking off and on the dias as he does look frail. He can pull this off and t-Rump will definitely run out of cash if he doesn't go to jail.
Has any human being ever looked more in over his head than Mike Johnson by the end of that?
No.
You'd wouldn't think that's the best that the Almighty who anointed him as a leader of men could do for a Moses 2.0.
Not only over his head. With his slicked hair and his lidded shooting daggers into the back of POTUS head he looked like a villain in a B movie.
I thought he was trying to perform the reaction he thought the lunatics would think he should be having and sinking miserably into a puddle of failure and grotesque selfconsciousness.
Harold Lloyd on a heavy dose of edibles . . .
Both Biden and Trump are too old. And Trump’s a borderline psychopath to boot. The speech did serve to reassure about Biden and while I’m doubtful of his age I’ll obviously support him, given the craven, incompetent opposition.
Sad that the once strong on defense republicans bow in obeisance to Trump and he in obeisance to…….. Putin.
It was a one sided bar fight, the kind where you almost feel sorry for the guy on the ground.
Nate Silver today:
"Short version: I thought it was a strategically smart speech, unevenly delivered. It boosted morale among Democratic partisans I follow on Twitter, which I don’t think is worth very much, although a poor speech might have renewed calls for Biden to step aside and Biden cleared that hurdle. But the only polling results I’ve seen so far are mediocre for Biden — in fact, the worst of any recent SOTU in CNN’s polling — and that matters more."
CNN polling:
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/state-of-the-union-biden-03-07-24
Ahh, yes, polling results, that's what matters, not examining the widening gap in facts.
Ugh, Nate, retire already.
Hey, if you can't get elected, being the best person in the race doesn't matter at all. Sure, he might win a moral victory, but we need a real victory. Do you agree?
Wonderful of Empty Greene to remind us all of the alternative.
Yes, I know everything is quickly forgotten, and yes, I know my own prejudices, but I think Kevin is selling last night short in a big way for Biden. Also, the State of the Union hs morphed into something quite different than it used to be, and the supposedly creaky President has rolled with these tacky punches like something out of the movies. If we survive all this, he should be looked back on as an amazing figure, glup, and a heroic one.
This makes me think that he'd personally really like to pass the Ukraine/Israel aid bill but just doesn't know how to do it with all the lunatics in his caucus
Then he's really not the "real" Speaker is he? More of a puppet controlled by Margie and the crazies