The Republican Party now belongs to Trump. On the heels of his wins on Super Tuesday, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, his last serious rival for the Republican presidential nomination, suspended her campaign Wednesday morning. That afternoon, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who enabled Trump during his administration but apparently hoped to see him replaced at the top of the party, endorsed him.
President Biden's speech was far from tone deaf as MAGA would like it received; it was in perfect pitch with the ideals of democracy. He outlined a vision that starkly contrasts with opposition stances, emphasizing the preservation of democracy, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring decency and respect. Biden's identification of domestic challenges, particularly the January 6 insurrection, as significant threats to democracy, alongside his calls for unity against external threats like Russia's actions in Ukraine, mark critical areas of concern for Americans. His call for bipartisan action on domestic issues, economic fairness, environmental responsibility, and social justice encapsulates the broader challenges and paths forward for reinforcing democratic values in the United States.
Michael, Uncle Joe (my junior) absolutely nailed it in the SOU speech. I played golf with two of my MAGA friends yesterday. I lost $15 on the golf course but when I got home I discovered that I had made $10,052 in the stock market, and most of my investments are not in stocks but in tax-free muni bonds. So, Bidenomics is working for me. I will send in some very generous donations today to Pres. Biden and other Democrats in tight races. In fact, it would be irresponsible for me not to participate in this manner and I would consider myself to be an ingrate.
Richard, you go man. So what about losing a few dollars hitting a small white dimpled ball? Whatever you’re doing, you’re winning as you didn’t fyesterday.
I thought my face might break as I smiled my way through Biden’s SOTU speech; woke up happy & energized feeling strongly he scored ‘a hole in one’, an Ace.
Samm, my thought now is that what I'm doing is simply spending free dollars, also known as BIDEN DOLLARS. I love it. They're free, a reinvestment in my portfolio. Makes it so much easier to hit that Act Blue button.
I assume he wouldn't think of cheating in either activity, too.
Back when I was a Republican, all those I admired and respected were honest and fair, no matter what their views were on policies and platforms of parties were. Too many of us thought most were like us in that regard, and we seemed to be as willing as modern Democrats are to show the door to what seemed the few who broke major or even relatively minor rules (when the "minor" rules violations revealed more serious character flaws), Nixon as the top example.
Way back then, in the pre-Southern Strategy days, It was the "Conservative" southern Democrats that were the stubborn roadblocks to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Guess where they are now, and why I would call them the real hypocritical RINOs (as for what the party used to represent).
Michele, in terms of increasing substantially my contributions to Democratic candidates and causes, I now look on it as though I am spending BIDEN DOLLARS. They're "free," virtually. Why not, for heaven's sake. We've got a republic to keep.
Yes!!! This is the way Biden will win. Any extra money you get between now and November donate to the Democrats! It's worth the investment for the future of democracy for your kids and grandchildren.
Perfect moment for dark humor, Hoyt. Emperor Tang would put our collective ass in a permanent sling. Let's not play doctor with him. (He'd probably cheat anyway).
There must be a lot of Star Trek fans here, for I am certain that folks would have been thousands of times more likely to have remembered those words coming from Captain Kirk in Season 1, episode 22, "Space Seed" after a prompt from Kahn Noonien Singh (Racardo Montealban), as opposed to having actually read and remembered them from Milton's "Paradise Lost" which nobody in the boomer generation was reading.
Well Lauren, I think that makes you one in a million, which is pretty special. Everyone on this forum is a reader, but Milton? Now THAT'S a reader. Now I should talk since I'm working my way through Marshal Sahlins' "Stone Age Economics" and rereading Peter Drucker's "Concept of the Corporation" at the moment.
Axually, I recall hearing that line in a Grateful Dead song, "Cosmic Charlie", a take-off on the song, "Revolution", by the Beatles (at least by my reckoning). EDIT: about thirty seconds into the tuney loon; never fails to make me giggle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7TjA53JSxs OOOps. more like forty-to-forty-five seconds in. "Revolution" mocked the pseudo-intellectualism of many political radicals while "Cosmic Charlie" mocked the pseudo-hippiness of many cultural radicals.
I appreciate the link. It reminded me that my copy of AOXOMOXOA on vinyl was accidentally left in my old VW Beetle on a hot summer day, many years ago, and it got warped. I managed to flatten it with an iron (nothing to lose at that point), and so I could still play it, but it was never quite the same. I think I still have it. After listening to "Cosmic Charlie", I went on a little nostalgia trip, looking at all the album covers. It reminded me that I don't have all of them. I no longer have a turntable either. Music restoreth my soul, so considering tone and tenor of the times we're living in, maybe a good antidote would be to stock up on the music I will always love.
Hmmm. Envisioning the geometry of it, I think all they have to do is sit down on the wheel. Though how that will make it go anywhere, I'm at a loss....
Just as Biden nailed it with his principled assertions, so did the GOP choice of a woman in the kitchen responding to Biden "nail" the underlying prejudices the GOP policies express about women. The image was perfect for a party that takes away women's health care and agency, trashes mothers who travel hundreds of miles on foot with little children in tow to survive, does not applaud education for children, does not work toward a healthy environment, and ... you know the rest. Thank you, Heather, for reminding us that Katie was in the kitchen.
I live in Alabama. No pity please, the scenery is nice and (most of) the people are too, if you stay away from politics. A little loony on that score.
Katie Britt, bless her heart, seemed to actually believe what she was saying. Passionate performative rage. Give her a golden statue award for Drama Princess at least, if not Drama Queen. Over the top emotional based on lies.
Doesn’t she know the “worst inflation in our lifetime” was not caused by Biden? Doesn’t she know Biden cannot “fix” the border situation on his authority alone? They’ve been told that over and over until some of them actually believe it. It would be pitiable if it wasn’t so mean-spirited.
I had to stop watching before I burst into tears. /s
Ouch! Didn't think such was possible. Glad I missed it. I guess I owe a debt of thanks to Rubio and Jindal for convincing me not to waste my time. Was Marco's speech the one where he needed the water bottle but it was out of reach, so he ducked down and snatched it as if nobody would notice? All he needed to do was excuse himself for a sec to get a sip of water. Classic error of taking yourself too seriously. Thanks for reminding me of that. It's the only thing I remember from the speech.
Katie Britt was quite the ham actress. She missed her calling. I bet she can even cry on cue. It was all just a little too faked, though she certainly flashed between simmering outrage and simpering false "concern" in the blink of an eye. Bless her little heart sittin' there in the kitchen where women [obviously] belong in the Republican Party!
Stan, I changed the channel after her first sentence, describing Biden as "clueless." An earlier post pointing out that she fit the Right's mold while "rebutting" from her kitchen says it all.
She was on the Senate committee that wrote the immigration bill, then voted against it at trump’s behest. Did she watch the SOTU? Her response was full of lies. I couldn’t listen to the whole thing either.
Chin up young person. Britt was like a SNL skit to my ears and eyes... so over the top she seemed a parody of herself. On the eternal edge of tears over fictional woes?! Puh-lease!
Interesting this religious right Tik Toc “Trad Wife” influencer is supposed to be the goal for suburban moms while she is working and married to a lobbyist. Highly doubt she spends much time in the kitchen. Selling a bag of goods which will only hurt most women.
Your reply highlights the Republican position: “hamstring” the President, then blame him for not controlling the border issue. No one seems to state clearly what (to me) is obvious: how hideous must conditions be/seem in your home that you feel the only possibility is a horrible expensive journey just for the *possibility* of making a life better and safer for your children and you…even when we know there will be *some* bad actors in the flood. And it is certainly true that we cannot simply throw open the borders. But I also admit, for things happening yesterday, I wasn’t able to watch the speech or the rebuttal last night; I will today.
I recommend listening to the SOTU. But unless you have a lot of extra time to kill don't waste a minute listening to her rebuttal. Just take everything Joe said and make it the opposite.
She's an Jr. Senator. Republicans made an huge mistake having her represent them. She voted yes on the Immigration bill and then she goes on live television and lies about it.
True, but Biden was focusing on the Immigration bill that included funding for Ukraine and other funding for this country. Republicans have a goal to make Biden fail. Immigration is their weapon to used against Biden for the presidency.
Stan, you know that miss Katie knows perfectly well that Biden did not cause inflation at all, and that a President cannot "fix" the border issues by executive order. She knows, but is happy to spread MAGAt disinformation - just another of Trampler's flunkies.
“A propped up puppet!”. Loved the comment that “Yes indeed, alien life has been found on earth”. I read so many biting comments in the news this morning that unfortunately, I cannot remember the source…but it was rich!
The Nazis did the exact same thing. Then they had every fertile Aryan female have as many babies as possible. Kinder Kuchen Kirche. Katie Britt, fertile mother for Jesus and Trump.
Before I flipped channels to a basketball game, I texted a friend of mine that same description, Patricia, "Stepford Wife".
I kept waiting to see a few,,non union, underpaid workers from countries whose immigrants she so coldly bashed appear behind her and start working on her kitchen counters🤣
President Joseph Robinette Biden is definitely large and in charge!
I’ll never forget the 2016 election when I knew that something really deeply disreputable had occurred. There was nothing to be done but fight TFFG all the way. In the 2020 election I was hopeful again. Then 6/24/22 happened and a deeply a corrupt SCOTUS overturned Roe vs Wade. That was the end of the Republican Party.
Then;
A WOMAN IN THE KITCHEN?? Giving the rebuttal? That was just down right hilarious!
Ah! ha! ha! ha! ha! (snort).
You Republican a-holes! Believe them when they tell you who they are the first time!! Is
Truer words were never spoken!
(showcased)
Why not an African American wearing MAGA hat, picking cotton, nodding and smiling “Yessir, Massa Graham, yessir.”
Or 20 police officers dressed in full riot gear chasing a 3 year old African American baby down the street, or going after a teenage girl demanding her menstrual cycle “papers”, or Republicans high fiving each other as another young mother is buried along with her non viable fetus? Not only did President Biden meet and went clearly beyond all expectations and delivered a message that outlined all our strengths as Americans but has a clear vision path to dealing with our weaknesses,our sworn enemies, NATO and Global Security, the American dream that Republicans are bound and determined to destroy for all but the most morbidly wealthy tax scofflaws. Excellent!
They have COMPLETELY forgotten Margaret Chase Smith, haven't they? Can you imagine her making any kind of speech from her kitchen? Honestly, one doesn't even need to listen to her disinformation to get the message - "I'm a working woman first, a mother second, but am happy to tell you women to get back in the kitchen and have babies; don't vote to support your interests as a woman, but let your man take care of all that for you. Here's my recipe for rice krispie treats".
Here is the Wikipedia article about Margaret Chase Smith.
She was elected to the US Senate, from the State of Maine, in 1948 and served until 1972.
I lived in Maine for a few years, beginning early in 1972. My impression at the time was that almost everybody in Maine liked MCS, even if they did not vote for her. I think she was a very dignified, no nonsense US Senator.
I am quite certain that if Senator Margaret Chase Smith had delivered the Republican response to President Biden's SOTU address, it would have been very different, more dignified, and her criticism would have been more respectful of the President.
This proves to me how tone deaf Rs are and I confess that I am smiling about them having her respond in a kitchen. She should have shared a few recipes and a couple stories about her kids and then shut up.
She might be a decent person but she let herself be used. She worked with Lankford on the immigration bill which Biden would have signed until trump told them not to do so. Who is in charge? She has ruined her future.
Lord, can you image her giving a response. She would probably wave a gun around for starters and be in a saloon. Or maybe visiting her son in jail or just groping someone in public while blowing smoke.
Melinda, could not agree more, “a woman in the kitchen”. Do they really think the Handmaiden’s Tale would resonate with the women of America in a positive way….NOT!!!!!
Michael, Biden not only identified challenges, he proposed solutions. It’s easy to criticize, godawful hard to fix.
BTW, Biden’s treatment of 45 as Voldemort in the Harry Potter books (“he who must not be named”) by calling him his predecessor was genius—kudos to whoever came up with that idea.
Mike Johnson squirmed and looked like he was waiting for instructions from tfg or god if he should clap or not, He looked truly uncomfortable... as to the majority of the repubs, shame on you!
Probably pissing his pants entertaining sinful thoughts about what he'd like to be doing to her. These people are such hypo-crits. I wonder if Tammy Faye is listening from her post in "hells kitchen" or wherever. The (R)'s certainly have a big bag of marbles. Regarding Ms Britt, 'cross' another one off.
Sure-nuff.., god and our televangelisto Jesse Duplantis, were having a meeting in his newest Falcon jet at 38,000fee t (near'er god) at the time. According to the MARS ROVER Team they were concerned with SpaceX encroaching god's kingdom outside of the Earth Orbit. Holy creamolas. The MARS ROVER Team is not an affiliate of Faux News or the (R)s RNC.
Good morning, Jeri. Fox did broadcast it along with Sen. Katie Britt's response. I watched her speak. She made a big deal of the border problem, which is hollow given that the Republicans refused to take up in the House the bill negotiated by Senator Lankford of Oklahoma. During Biden's speech, when the border was mentioned the cameras turned to Senator Lankford, an absolute conservative, who is royally pissed at the House Republicans because they listened to TFFG to not go forward on protecting the border, to make it a campaign issue. It now is, but it's now their hot potato.
I 💯💯LOVED that the camera (on MSNBC at least) caught Lankford’s head nod and mouthing of “that’s true” to Biden’s numbers on the border while the MAGA’s were screeching the opposite. Lankford worked hard on the border bill and was absolutely invested in getting it over the finish line.
Not only that, but I heard him tell a reporter that some media guy told him that if that bill passed, he would "destroy" Sen. Lankford's life, and that it had already started. I'm thinking this might be Heather's next book - heroes of the 21st century American revolution.
Liz Cheney said on "The View" that: "We need a new party". No one on the panel noticed or followed up with a question, which astounds me. She also said that she would leave the Republican Party if Trump is the nominee. From what I have observed, the woman does what she says she is going to do. I expect a major announcement from her soon.
Coming after Biden’s rousing speech, Senator Britt’s wailing fear of migrants seemed to come from another world. She cried about the woman who was killed by an”illegal.” She didn’t seem to care about the 20 people who have been shot dead in Birmingham this year. As Dr. R pointed out, she is an attractive white woman speaking from her kitchen. The MAGA Party had no response to Biden’s vision. They are the party of rich, white, faux-Christian, men. They are the White Supremacy Party. It would have been more honest if Senator Britt had just said. “You want greed, racism, misogyny, and violence? That’s what we’re offering.
I have to credit someone named "Pogo" who posted this a few weeks ago elsewhere but what Senator Britt should have just come out and said:
VOTE Republican - What Have You Got to Lose???
Pregnancy Health Care & IVF, Marriage Equality, Child Protection, Birth Control, LGBTQ Protections, Education, Healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Common Sense Gun Control, Drug Pricing Relief, Price Gouging Control, Student Debt Relief, Climate & Environment Protection, Freedom of Religion, NATO & Foreign Allies, Global Leadership & Respect and,....Your Inalienable Right to Vote
Agree with all the foregoing, but Pogo missed Freedom of Speech - because what is banning books but interfering with both the authors' freedom to speak and readers' right to hear that speech. Otherwise, perfectly spot on (I realize that this particular freedom may be comprised within "education", but I think it's worth making the distinction).
Oldandintheway: Your wrote: " It would have been more honest if Senator Britt had just said. “You want greed, racism, misogyny, and violence? That’s what we’re offering." And, you nailed it. Isn't English an amazing language?
Richard, I had to wonder, as I saw Langford nod and say “That’s true”, how he felt about Katie Britt’s working with him on the bill that she pretended didn’t exist on national television.
I think Fox and the other conservative pretend news outlets will have a difficult time choosing clips from Biden's speech that shows him to be sleepy, old or doddering. That was a powerful performance.
Thank you for this. I have never been able to watch Fox since I had a daily dose when I spent a lot of time at a friends house in the late 90's. That cured me, but I know the strategy is the same. Rupert could solve the chump problem in a flash. Just show him like he is. Of course, his audiences would fade away. Money still makes Rupert tick. And he's not the only one...
Jeri, it isn't always easy to stomach, but as Hsun Tzu noted in 250 B.C., "Know your enemy and in 100 battles you will win 100 victories." It's useful to understand the opposition's state of mind and information at their disposal. My MAGA kin in Texas only get their "info" from Fox, OAS, Newsmax and Alex Jones. There is no "cross-pollination" at work. Some still are satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt that TFFG won the 2020 election.
I set it to record on C-Span (and use ff to get thru the riffraff) I really dont care to watch CNN,MSNBC etc & listen to them tell what Biden WILL say- then inform us of what he DID say after we watch it ourselves. My patience has shrunk a great deal these days.
Richard Sutherland -- Thanks for your Hsün Tsu reference! One of the greats. Along with Chuang Tzu, Mo Tzu and Han Fei Tzu. I've had their 'Basic Writings' books (translated by Burton Watson) since about 1965. You've inspired me to go back and review.
Cool, Judith. I fell in love with Chinese when the U.S. Army sent me to the Army Language School in Monterey, CA to learn Chinese Mandarin. I spent an extra year there and the later got an M.A. and a Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Language before getting my J.D. Chinese history, art, language can be very, very seductive. What the Chinese have done since 1911 is nothing but extraordinary. They're smart, very smart.
In this instance, Richard, you give the opposition too much credit. What mind(s)? What information? If it wasn't for regurgitated effluvia from their master's cakehole they wouldn't have no thoughts at all.
Ouch. You drive the dagger deep into the heart, Lauren: "regurgitated effluvia from their master's cakehole . . . ." The mind begins to imagine strange things.
Me too ! Stuck up in snowy Vermont with friends and Fox on 24/7 in the run up to the Iraq war . With the same friends in Costa Rica later that year when we were bombing Iran and having to live with “Shock and Awe”, “Shock and Awe” from Fox as my friends high fived each other at cocktail hour. And we all know how that went ! I thought that was poisonous enough but I was too naive to know how low Fox, Donald Trump and his MAGA base could go.
Good Lord, you had the same horrible experience with the shock and awe crap. I was so embarrassed and mortified that all this was done in my name. And Abu Ghraib - how horrible. And one wonders how our rep in the area went from sympathy after 9/11 to hatred. They were ecstatic when W went to China and were dancing around cheering. And when Obama was elected, they were so morose. I had moved so not in touch like that anymore. Last I heard, kids about split. Parents not so much. And all educated, well off, and indoctrinated. Fox just spouted what the dad wanted to hear. Sad. Yep, I thought that was as low as they would go. Silly me…
One of my high school class mates was a reporter at the WSJ when Rupert bought the paper. Occasionally Rupert would stop by. She was so turned off by him that she had to leave the building until he was gone.
Her and her husband found jobs in the Baltimore area and left NYC after 30 years.
He’s been a slimy snake from the git go. The UK figured that out. A clue was with an article in the Post on this subject in early 1981. “At a dinner last month honoring Mr. Murdoch for his work on behalf of MR. Reagan, Representative Jack Kemp, a New York Republican said ‘Mr. Murdoch used the editorial page, the front page, and every other page necessary to elect Ronald Reagan president.” Well, by design I think. To do what Rupert still does best. Skew the happenings, or make things happen to reshape the world to his liking. He may not like chump, but he knows a useful fool when he sees one. As chump reportedly said (don’t remember where), Rupert calls me way more than Roger (Ailes) ever did.
According to Jerome Powell, much of the big contribution to our economy is from migrant labor, Just thought that interesting. In fact, every recovery, every wave of economic growth for more than 200 years has been by large influxes of population, whether from births ( baby boomers) and/or from waves of migration, first from Europe, west, then east, and now from South America. We have a two hundred plus history of this. We give too much credit, and too much blame on one office, one man, versus the thousands that actually move the needle of our GDP. Tax free muni bonds are a great investment, they fund the infrastructure necessary to keep building the things necessary to keep up with a growing population. Sometimes I wonder if R’s understand economics at all.
Of course they understand economics. Tax me less, issue more muni bonds and treasuries. That way I get to keep my money, lend it to the governments, and get PAID for my trouble. Win-Win. Yep, they know economics all right.
trying not to be a nit picker, I think it's important to point out that Mexico is in North America and while Venezuela and Colombia are in South America, much of the immigration coming through Mexico is from Central America. And that ignores the many immigrants who are coming from Northern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
It's really pointless to dig through the manure that the manu(R)e spreader is loaded with, because it "is what it is" ..., a load of crap. I prefer grits myself... with a light dash of salt to wake things up. Leave the MAGAtts to live in that - Plow em under. Concentrate on how we can grow crops from what this administration has planted. If we Pull the weeds, soda-speak, they'll dry up and blow away. Be a good farmer. Remember, No farms.. NO food.
Her report of someone trafficked for sex by someone was a bit confusing. I thought she was referring to a migrant being the victim. Katie Britt had fun with the details of rape “over and over and over.”
I was confused by that sex trafficking bit. Frankly it was like the Republicans who wrote that part of the speech were gleefully bringing up some salacious gossip. And Britt kept harping on it. Then she tries to pin it on Biden and Democrats when they are the only people actually trying to prevent sex trafficking. My senator Jon Ossoff from GA has been working on that issue since before he got elected. I've never seen Republicans do anything except partake of it. I'm Lookin' at you, Matt Gaetz and Roy Moore and Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein and that senator from the massage parlor sting. At least Bill Clinton’s sexapades were with adult and willing women.
I have now heard that this whole story was taken from a horrific thing that happened 20 years ago, in Mexico (not the US), when Bush was President. Remember all those republican amnesty programs to boost big farmers with migration crop workers?
I'm sorry that Ms Britt appears not to have had some real fun in a hayloft while some ofd her friends had a bad experience. Why is it always 'men' who get front-paged? Is it like Blacks..? We're easier to spot? Or is it because the media just grabs the "low hanging fruit", as the saying goes? There's a ton of "Karens" out there, they're just harder to spot and pin down.
Good morning, Aly. I hope you can catch a tape of the speech, it was INCREDIBLE!
Your pun about the directors: we became good friends with our kids hs band director. (great guy) Sometime in the first couple of weeks, he'd get upset with the kids and very dramatically shove a music stand over. It always got their attention! I later found out he'd do this every year. (LOL)
I am SO PLEASED at the absence of our troll this morning! It is such a pleasure to scroll through and see the thoughts of the many good people here, like a walk through the park without spotting trash on the trial! :-D
O'com Miselle... this is a big field we're playing in. Pretty unusual we get comments which don't 'fact-check' agreeably. I'm sure some of my own remarks can be construed by readers here as being sacrilegious, though I often use them for levity. We are fortunate that others will step forth onto this turf which allows us to skewer what they post or even benefit from it. What we don't want to do is skewer the person. Taking issue with the "post" does the job. JMHO
I watched it on YouTube after the fact, as I was also rehearsing when it aired live. I have no idea which channel's broadcast I saw, as I assumed it would be the same speech no matter which media outlet recorded it.
I guess "praying" is okay, but not very realistic in this case. I would suggest "pay" instead of "pray"...donate as much money as you can to the Biden campaign as well as to important down ballot candidates in important state contests (even if it's not the state you currently live in). Money will be more effective than prayer.
I am just wondering...where Uncle Joe will have Israel put this Palestinian state??? Will the Palestinians get a voice in this new state??? Don't the "Ps" need a little more room than just GAZA??? Will Bibi have a freeway connecting it to Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, etc.??? Who will educate the settlers about being good neighbors??? Will the Palestinians be allowed into Israel to do the grunt jobs???
Once this too has passed (become 'past') will there be millions in the streets demanding it doesn't get put back under the rug? Huh? HUH? Will you and I be in that crowd? Well..., if not.., how in hell do we expect our President to do anything.? He/she, has laws to abide by. Of course, that's where dictators can be so effective... they just "git er done" or really "F" things up! Like, that 's where #45 gets his MAGAatts support. Those bosos are willing to get out in the street (Jan 6)..w/guns if needed..., cuz "they" want to "git er done". So, how bad do you and I want to? That's the problem. It's called 'all talk and no action' . Label that "libtard behavior"... typical. History proves that. An exception being in the 60's when 'Blacks' had had enough. And to their credit, did so non-violently. The "burn baby burn" was the option that was fueled. And we.... most of us, just sat home and watched. Lyndon Johnson, did the best he could, in the face of
the "fuelers". so..., just WHAT are we gonna do? Put up more "Jesus Saves" signs? hahahahaa.. STOP // LOOK // LISTEN.., as the freight train rolls on by, is what I see.
That smarmy little weasel Alfred e Neuman lookalike house speaker was like a bobble head doll unable to decide whether to bobble side to side or up and down. He looked as uncomfortable as hell. I loved it.
Yes! Johnson and Rs forced themselves into distorted positions where they had to shake their heads, NO to better education, NO to a fairer tax code, NO to defending Ukraine and defeating Putin, NO to lower drug costs, NO to affordable healthcare,…., and YELLING NO to another tax cut for corporations and the wealthy! Trump couldn’t talk coherently or on-topic (especially not on policy) for 70 minutes.
My God, you would think they hate America and all Americans. They are pitiful. President Biden absolutely knocked it out of the park tonight. Dark Brandon is kicking ass. Joe needs to have a monthly SOTU, if for no other reason, than the opportunity for America to see marge three toes do her clown act.
I would like to see each candidate give two 15 minute speeches on Prime Time TV. First Trump, then Biden, then Trump then Biden. Or they could flip a coin on who goes first. And no audience. Of course, Trump would never agree to that format since, like his good little mentees in Congress, he wouldn't be able to heckle Biden. And he would look like a moron.
Ah, yes, the tax code, begun by Reagan in 1986, doling out trillions of tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporations, the primary reason that we have a $34 trillion national debt when it was less than $1 trillion when Reagan took office. Our children and grandchildren deserve our correcting the course of state and start clawing back these ill-begotten gains.
Roughly 25% of our total national debt incurred over the last 230 years occurred during the 4 years of the trump. That's right. 25% of our entire national debt, all due to trump. Since 1933, the economy has grown at an annual average rate of 4.6 percent under Democratic presidents and 2.4 percent under Republicans. In more concrete terms: The average income of Americans would be more than double its current level if the economy had somehow grown at the Democratic rate the past nine decades. And that does not include the portion of the Great Depression that happened on Herbert Hoover’s watch.
Great points. And why do ordinary Americans vote against their own best social and economic interests? It's the wedge issues (abortion, race, women's rights, gay rights, etc.) that the oligarchs dispense through Fox, OAN, Newsmax, Boston Herald, Alex Jones, and before him, Rush Limbaugh. [Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" 2004]
Yes, it’s been pointed out many times that the entire function of the Republican Party — entirely — is to transfer wealth from the poor and middle class to the ultra-wealthy. That’s it. All the rest — militarism, racist dog whistles, balanced budget, small government, national security, immigration, crime, anti-abortion, family values rhetoric — is a ruse to get the “low information” voters to go along.
We have been conditioned to vote against our own interests. spectacle, distraction, shiny object, outrage, grievance, single issue voter. 1.7 seconds is all it takes. And its gotten worse with the phone/SM. Delusion vs reality. Manipulation vs Leadership.
I have a question. To what extent was Trampler's horrific increase of the national debt due to his and his flunkies' mismanagement of the Covid-19 disaster? Would the debt be as high if he and his maladministration had handled the pandemic effectively (to the extent it could have been)? (To say nothing of that monster's direct personal responsibility for the suffering and premature deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans from Covid due, again, to that dreadful mishandling of the pandemic in the US.)
“Of the $8.4 trillion President Trump added to the debt, $3.6 trillion came from COVID relief laws and executive orders, $2.5 trillion from tax cut laws, and $2.3 trillion from spending increases, with the remaining executive orders having costs and savings that largely offset each other,” budget experts with the CRFB wrote in a summary of the report.
Hoyt, I think our politics are similar, but it’s worth noting that growth of the economy is not the same as income growth. So 4.6% growth in GDP or GNP does not mean wages went up 4.6%. That connects with one of our national problems for a long time: even though the economy has grown, real wages have fallen.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Johnson. I’ve never witnessed discomfort like he expressed. Sometimes he nodded in agreement with Biden…then looked terrified…like a naughty school child who got caught. Occasionally he looked to the left as though he was being coached…or scolded. What a terrified little man. He’ll never be a leader.
No, little Mikey will never be a leader. Vice President Harris, however, was comfortable and seemed to enjoy every opportunity to stand and clap for parts of Biden's speech she supported.
My evil twin came out while I watched him, I texted a friend and said that he squirmed like a teenager who REALLY wanted to be on his phone scrolling for porn instead of sitting there. Or perhaps he needed a booster seat as he kept twisting around and trying to sit up.
hahahaahhaaaaa....WHATTTT? ME(???) WORRY (!!!). As a thirteen year-old in Rumson, NJ that was my favorite magazine on the lower shelves in the corner drugstore. I loved the humor. It influenced my behavior. It was genius, and not dirty/toilet associated humor. or drawings of girls with big tits. Damn sure not "Captain Underpants" books like I found in our 2nd & 3rd grade classrooms yesterday. Whewww. Alfred E. Neuman , rock on!
The GOP simply acted like the comrades they are! Led by the Orange narcissist & Putin protege, they acted in obedience last night like good little puppets!
MAGA only has loyalty to Trump. Even though the border legislation was good, the Orange Narcissist said no. It would be a disadvantage to his political strategy if passed. So, the little minions followed his lead & basically said to hell with Langford!
Agreed. And in my 47 years of being eligible to vote, I’ve taken great pride in looking at the facts, policies and record before choosing who gets my vote. And over the years, that vote has been widely varied among both democrats and republicans. (Yes, I’m a proud independent for 47 years) But in these dangerous times, I wouldn’t vote for anyone with an “R” preceding their name, even if they were running for local dog-catcher!! Straight ticket blue is how I’m voting!!!!!
Our Heather's key point came early in hers tonight.
And hers -- "Biden continued to broaden the Democrats’ tent" -- was only underlined by cameras scanning the hall.
Dems looked energized, not just by their leader, President Biden, but by him as their friend, and obviously as the friend of all Americans. He animated them. They all up standing again and again at his decency and common sense. And this delight in public service, this rapport among so many so diverse, only now redounds unto a campaign for which millions long.
Compare this all with the dour, unsmiling, petulant faces of Republicans. This contempt for America, this lack of life, amply also shows their spinelessness both in having no programs for America, and in having fawning, cult servility to their leader in hatreds, leader in racism, leader in rancor. Hostages all are to the worst in theocratic bullying. Hostages to the most murderous dictators in the world. Hostages to the most cynical of U.S. billionaires. Hostages to the heckling white trash among them.
We have much to look forward to now. So correctly Heather has got it in our best now well broadening their tent, ours.
I think that since trump came along, I have become more patriotic each passing year. And that's because the America I envision, the America I want to fight for, is the America that was on display on the Democratic side of the aisle last night.
Love this comment. 🤩 losers versus winners. How can you not want to be on the team that’s winning? Hopefully many fence sitters were finally hearing truth instead of propaganda from the MSM
I recall she had extended her hand politely to shake DT's hand at the beginning when he passed the copy of the speech to her, and he refused. She waited calmly for the end and then calmly conveyed her opinion by slowing, deliberately tearing her copy of the speech slowly, neatly and deliberately.
Regardless of party, one would LIKE to believe that these people represent US, the American voters, and many of the TRUTHS Biden stated should make EVERY ONE OF THEM stand and applaud. The fact that they did not is very, very telling.
And once again, MTG practicing her "performative politics" by donning a MAGA hat that was three sizes too big. In all seriousness, can anyone cite a single thing that she has done to directly improve the lives of the people in her district?
As Beau of the Fifth Column always says about the GOP: they don't want to REPRESENT you, they want to RULE you.
I came away from last night both heartened and amazed by Democrats’ show of animation, diversity, and colorful display of passion, and gobsmacked by their contrast with the wooden, white and dour Republican showing. What a sad commentary on what must be a bleak, pessimistic and unhappy existence.
Truth be told: I swiped the 'pestimist' from the Treasurer of The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company when I was calling on that company thirty years ago. 😳 My only decent portmanteau was in Mexico: estadostupidense. 😱
Thank you, Professor. President Joe was strong, honest and correct. What I loved most was saying how his age allowed him to understand the past, and to know what to do for the future. I never worried about his age. Personally, I know people have, but we have to remember he is a good man and maybe he’s not the best orator or speaker,(he did a pretty good job), but he goes to work every day for the American people. I believe he does his job. I don’t think our other person believes in hard work, or cares about the country as a whole. Only about his view of himself. I believe it’s time that we take Joe’s words and share them amongst ourselves, and to any naysayers, talk to people about his common sense, and the love of his country, the country we love too. His goal has always been I believe, as the constitution says life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We are a diverse people, and I go out among them and everyone is good and that’s what makes us great. Stay kind, considerate, compassionate, and resolute thank you Joe for doing your job we voted you to do. I will vote for you again. Sorry everybody it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and I tend to ramble ha ha ha ha have a great Friday and weekend and know that the path ahead is blue.
YES! Our current and future President..."BUILDS BACK BETTER"!!!! He is for all of us...he is for freedom . He does not need to be anyone's "retribution" he is focused on working for all the people of the USA!!! He is working for the ideal of freedom for all....even those who foolishly want to destroy our freedoms. He knows, we are better together when we work to solve problems that will benefit our entire population.
Those who want to focus on hate and disruptions have no ideas for building up our country. Their words are not filled with ways to improve our education systems for all including those who live miles away from cities.
They do not want to improve the situation at our borders but only to use it to disrupt and separate our citizens when there is so much good we could be accomplishing.
President Joe Biden does care.
And as far as my confused Christian friends go....Joe Biden actually lives like a person of faith....not as a robot...not like a mindless follower but as a real human being with heart, soul and mind promoting goodness, building friendships.....working hard to keep this country and world together. It will never be perfect but it will not be because Joe and his hardworking team are being slack. Thank you President Joe Biden and all persons everywhere who are giving their lives everyday to "Build Back Better"!!!! not only physically but with good will!!!
Emily-well said. Did you notice how Joe was kissing, hugging, engaging with people and smiling? He cares about everyone, our nation and the world.
I couldn’t even imagine his “predecessor” even getting that close to people. He only cares about himself. People that love America will vote for Biden-those who don’t will vote for the other guy.
The R response by Britt was cringeworthy-what a dishonest performance-having a woman in the kitchen feigning emotion was just too much. I’m more optimistic now that democracy might be perfected in America.
This is why Haley says Biden is "dangerous"! Republicans are against fairness for everyone. "Dangerous" because someone they consider undeserving might have a better life and future. 💙💙💙
It is interesting how much weight is placed upon the State of the Union address. Many media outlets were stating that this was "President Biden's moment" to dispel thoughts about his being too old to govern. During his predecessor's time in office, the press clamored, describing the SOTU as a time in which he could appear "Presidential".
I started to reflect about the Presidency. During my lifetime I've seen great orators like John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Ronald Reagan, in spite of being one of the worst Presidents in modern history was excellent behind the microphone (providing he wasn't joking about missiles flying).
President Biden and VP Harris have assembled an excellent Cabinet and team. He's established a vision for the United States which is to lead through strength, stability, and compassion. His approach to the economy, strengthening Unions and the middle class -growth from the middle out (the complete opposite of the Reagan/GOP trickle-down fraud) is excellent.
While his SOTU was good -that's not my primary focus on governance and never will be. An excellent orator can be inspiring. Ultimately, a solid, experienced team leading for the good of all Americans and the world is my key consideration for the office.
By comparison, Trump Cabinet was more of a criminal organization -and that has set the bar for today's Putin/Trump/MAGA GOP -they are no longer a political party. An opposing party would still be defending the Constitution and the laws and principles of America while offering policy alternatives under the framework of democracy. The Putin/Trump/MAGA GOP vision is to destroy the system and replace it with massive wealth concentration, hate, fear, isolationism and retribution.
So while the speech was a good one, I am grateful for the sane governance offered by the Biden/Harris administration and would support and vote for them if the SOTU had simply been President Biden reading the nation a bedtime story, putting false teeth into a jar, and saying "goodnight America."
Trump's cabinet was a gang of crooks and saboteurs. I'd vote for a sack of potatoes over an autocrat, but Biden is in most respects far more "presidential" than I had hoped for.
The media insisted on crowning Ronald Reagan as "The Great Communicator"and clearly his Nielsen ratings were high, but he never ever impressed me in terms of substance or style. He seemed more like a game show host. And his smearing of government of, by and for the people was unforgivable. It sent us in a tailspin toward Trump. Compare the rhetoric and poetry of Lincoln's salient utterances to any of Reagan's patter. Or Trump's diatribes compared to Yesterday's SOTU. The office of president appears to me to be best served by a wise and capable administrator who is also an inspiring speaker.
So true. Reagan's hilarious "I'm with the government and I'm here to help" and one of Reagan's elves -Grover Norquist said "I want a government so small I can drown it in a bathtub." As disgusting as these two utterances are, today's extremist GOP through their actions now want a government vast enough to regulate books and women's bodies (presumably when they aren't in the kitchen like Senator Katie Britt), but small enough so they are ineffective on matters of public health, public safety, and the obscenely wealthy evading taxes.
Working in civil service during the Reagan administration was painful. I wish I had saved the memo with the rules for women to wear pants to work. His phony concern about the budget while having countless state dinners to play dress up. Don the Con added nastiness and a revolving door making himself supreme among all the “actings” in a new version of Alice in Wonderland. Who will take the vp offer and wonder when he (or she) will hear OFF WITH HIS (or her) HEAD on the campaign trail ?
Authoritarians are apt to use pomp and circuses to reinforce their illusion of supremacy. Halfwit Hitler wanted grand military spectacles, but the military was resistant. Republican's say "let them eat austerity while Trump spent a large fortune on golf escapades. I have no doubt the Don the Con would scream "Off with their heads" if he thought he could get away with it.
Remind folks, smaller govt doesn't mean better, just weaker in every sense which leads to regular people get screwed over by their govt due to the powerful controlling it. FASCISM 101.
Yes, and opens the door to privatization. Too many people generalize that business can be more efficient than public sector. They forget that the goal is to provide services to society, and not simply generate dividends and profit for institutional and wealthy investors.
For all of the people who carry signs to rallies "I want government out of healthcare (except for regulating women's bodies)" -they are saying they would much rather have Wall Street decide which child gets the life-saving operation and which doesn't -because have to hit our quarterly profit numbers for executive bonuses.
Spot on. And why I keep railing against all the insurance companies offering Medicare Advantage (their advantage, not ours). Criminal activity, in my book.
It really is. I hit Medicare age last year, and beginning about 15 months before, I was inundated with at least 2 or 3 Medicare "Advantage" pamphlets a week. I found a trusted insurance agent (she came highly recommended by several friends) and my wife and I went. She presented both "advantage" plans and Medicare "Plan B" supplemental. At one point, my wife asked "If Advantage is such a great deal, why are they pushing it so hard?"
She gave a completely professional answer and said, essentially, they are in it for profit. We both said "oh, hell no" at the same time. We made our Plan B and prescription coverage selections. The agent then said this (and I paraphrase, since that was so last year) "Those plans work great until they don't."
I want us to tackle some time in the near future Isurance companies that have taken over healthcare. They have the power to deny or approve much needed healthcare issues such as surgery, medicines etc. Enough. Also paying so very little to the actual Doctors and therapists. It truly is a crime. They take in billions of dollars and supposedly are non-profit my A__
The problem with running government like a business is that they are completely different functions. Business needs to make a profit. Government needs to run the country and all that entails.
My sister-in-law was on a jury for a civil trial where the assistant HR director was fired. He was suing the largest hospital group in ME for wrongful dismissal.
During the trial the hospital group disclosed that the top 9 executives bring in a minimum of $3 million a year -- each. Their compensation with bonus was about $33 million.
The fired HR assistant director won the case because the hospital didn't follow their own procedures when they terminated him. My sister-in-law pushed through a $1.5 million settlement for him.
But government can be "business" run if the CONservatives would stop forcing Zero Based Budgeting on business. That means any and all profit must be dispensed at the end of a year. Either by tax reduction or reducing the budget to the lower end of expenses. This was done to prevent government growth. Rather than allowing government agencies to bank a surplus and build a fund like Norway has with their sovereignty fund, CONservative in America demand that tax money be returned to tax payers. SO in that aspect, they fail business 101. Non-profits do not operate in that manner so why does government? Because as COnservatives see government as a nuisance. Smaller govt does not mean better. It means weaker which allows those at the top of the economic food chain to exploit others. Remember that it is a very rare thing where someone achieves uber wealth without exploiting people, ethics, or the law - or all three.
"Freedom is not the absence of the state"- Dr. Tim Snyder
Less to No Government worldview is very privileged thinking. Its comes from the Libertarian Playbook. It is an error only those in functional states can make. "Political Adolescence". Try living in a non functioning state without police, in lawlessness. Is that freedom? Evangelical's love this though, bring about the "end of days" and Jesus's return. Libertarians think they have the money and guns to protect themselves in a non regulated economy, behind high walls with no law enforcement. R's are delusional, cult like in their beliefs.
No, the Libertarians are not anarchists; they like plenty police, as "the one legitimate function of the state is the protection of private property." And that is *by definition* "very privileged thinking."
Sounds like they are emulating Haiti. The idiots actually want to defund the DOJ, the FBI, the CIA, etc. While calling for complete immunity for police officers. Haiti.
By "small government" their intent is for the same 5 or 6 people to be in charge of everything, with their Big Man at the top. Feudalism, in other words.
There's still time Jeri for Biden to get in many more digs.
One thing that struck me was Morning Joe said this was Biden's best speech by far.
Morning Joe hasn't been listening because I have been absolutely blown away by a couple of other Biden speeches. If I'm not mistaken Biden and his speechwriters have reached out to HCR for ideas and comment.
Reagan was a puppet for Charles Koch to usher in Libertarianism—a government raping and plundering the national wealth, destroying infrastructure, education and environmental protection; Malignant capitalism that has resulted, today, in an Oligarchy of fascist billionaires seeking to overthrow democracies worldwide. Reagan showed signs of Alzheimer’s in his FIRST term, but no one wanted to look. In the second term, Nancy and Dick Cheney propped him up like the dummy he was.
Biden had to pull this economy out of an abyss after tRump botched the Covid epidemic. People brainlessly complaining that “they don’t feel” economic improvement have NO IDEA how close we came to crashing and burning. The Trumpanzees , acting like the Deplorable People they are, most certainly TOOK THE MONEY when Biden relief was issued to keep people in their homes and employed. HOW DARE tRump make claims about the economy! HOW DARE HE—-he tanked the good economy he INHERITED from Obama, who also had to rescue this country from the unbridled greed of the banking and real estate sectors. If you don’t remember that—watch the movie, The Big Short.
As interest rates have risen, the debt Trump added through tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy will limit economic growth in the United States for a generation. The fact that President Biden's policies -to grow from the middle out, have provided some stability and improvement is nothing short of heroic.
Read “Democracy in Chains” by Nancy MacLean for the roots and ideology of Libertarianism. They used the writings of Lenin and Nazis for how to apply policies to a populations that otherwise would not find acceptable. How do you make people embrace methods that ultimately rob them, starve them, reduce their standard of living?
Well, Divide and Conquer is a major tool. Religion is a major tool. Set up a false choice of Us vs Them. Fear tactics. False Patriotism. Immigrants are an easy target; Antisemitism is practically a cliche; LGBQ are a perennial target. Women have ALWAYS been suppressed.
“Democracy in Chains” is heavy reading, even by my daughter’s standards, and she has a ph.D in an applied science 🤣. But it is worth it.
Another good book is “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein. Libertarianism is unbridled capitalism—frank theft, decimating the Middle Class and moving wealth to the elite Corporate oligarchs. That’s why the tax system has been so skewed by the RNC—and why we are seeing wealth concentrated among tyrants today, including the Koch Gang of Fascist Billionaires who use the RNC to install puppets.
The unstated problems with immigrants have to do with Global Climate Change—50 years of RNC denial has brought us to a tipping point. With Global Climate Change comes mass migrations and refugees as resources run out. For EXAMPLE: Right NOw—22 MILLION people in Mexico City face a dire water shortage. 22 Million, desperate people could make the southern borders look like the Alamo. . .
And while the RNC wants women pregnant and barefoot, the truth is, the world has a severe overpopulation problem.
Dawna: I’ve been thinking about the climate refugees we will see at our borders for years to come. Because our two parties will never be able to deal with the crisis of the moment, there is certainly no planning for the future. I foresee walls and barbed/razor wire around the borders of every northern hemisphere nation..
Great juxtaposition, comparing Grover's stated aims with the reality of Reagan destroying trust in a government that had made great advances for us.
Look at his first campaign stops, especially the Neshoba County Fair a few miles from the County Seat, Philadelphia, Mississippi. (I was born in the Nashoba Valley 22 miles from Lexington Green, so the spelling was close enough to interest me, as was the County seat being Philadelphia.)
The similarity in names suckered me in a bit, but the discovery that the Philadelphia he campaigned in so early was far from the areas I associated with patriotism, especially finding out that was where the 3 Civil Rights workers, Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were murdered. I remember thinking the location of the bodies was given up relatively soon since they started looking for their bodies and found so many others that they wanted them to stop looking as soon as possible.
"...But no matter how much the candidates talk about Reagan, you can be sure that none of these extremely important things about him will come up. And maybe that’s appropriate — since if Reagan stood for anything as president, it was creating a completely fictionalized version of the past..."
I look at one tid bit more attentively (to me a bit reflective now on money in politics)
"...In an incident that has become legendary in American political history, the moderator of the second debate ordered Reagan's microphone turned off as the candidates and their advisers argued about the debate's format. Reagan, paraphrasing a line from an old Spencer Tracy movie, defiantly responded, "I paid for this microphone..."
Indeed he did PAY for the microphone, I just wish we had campaign rules that made it possible for all reasonably supported candidates to have fair access to the microphones that can reach all the people. Remember the Fairness Doctrine?
Thank you for sharing -important background and detail. If Putin/Trump/MAGA is the manifestation of the falling-down house, Reagan most certainly poured the foundation. Attacks on public service, higher education, Unions, the societal safety net, mental health, the Fairness Doctrine, and economic policy that led to the extreme wealth inequality that is antithetical to any form of meaningful democracy today.
Adding an old thought of mine to your description of a falling house, I considered the Citizens United decision as knocking out the "temporary" shoring from houses, before anyone could think of how to create effective rules based more permanent foundations.
Who would have thought about what we lost as old informal standard foundations, not set in stone well enough to withstand a Supreme Court Hurricane Sandy would be needed (and is still needed).
Very true Jim. After McConnell stole the Garland nomination, frat brother Kavanaugh was nominated and Coathanger Barrett replaced RBG, I now put 'Supreme' in quotes, along with 'Justice.' And that was before the luxurious vacations and cash prizes were bestowed upon Thomas and his insurrectionist wife, and Alito started using Witch trials as precedent for some of his so-called thinking.
Republicans have become Orwellian labelers, and we should not just accept their and pass on their deceptive mislabeling. "Small Government" was always cover for their actual agenda, which is suppression of democracy and conversion to government by and for the wealthy. Sending SWAT teams to enforce evictions is not "small" government, nor is enforcement of sexual prejudice. Bailing out bankrupt bankers is not small government. Deliberate voter suppression is not small government. It's only "small", way small, when it comes to serving the common good.
" The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves---in their separate, and individual capacities.
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere." - Lincoln
Reagan was a better actor than I gave him credit for. He fooled a lot of people, maybe he should have gotten an Oscar because his performance was way better than the reality of his presidency. Of course, Peggy Noonan and Michael Deaver were on the job making the image seem real. He was just a huckster with better PR. Chump is a huckster with Rupert’s propaganda machine to cut and paste him into human form. One was an empty suit, the other is an empty suit with a really bad tailor. EMPTY describes all republicans. Can Rupert make it seem otherwise with Joe needing no help being the caring, effective human that he is. Ye hear that MSM…
One of the worst things Reagan did for the US and democracy was to bring the white Faux-christian nationalists into the Republican tent. Is it really conservative to take away human rights and to support white-collar crime? President Biden made the point in closing, that Republicans take away freedoms. The white faux-Christian nationalists love to take away freedoms, especially from women, immigrants and the underprivileged.
It's a line from "Ghostbusters", but I think it fits; all sales pitch and no substance. TeeVee is a top-down medium, you only see what they want you to see and it's easy to blend fact with fiction. I initially thought that the open access, peer to peer architecture of the Internet was resistant to that, and forums like this prove that's so, but corporate power still found ways to dominate what is ultimately a public sector creation, and with it, dominate society. I love free enterprise, but not oligarchy and not monopoly. Consent of the aggregated governed with protection of "unalienable" individual human rights are our system's "better angels". We are letting the tail wag the dog.
The speech was a GREAT one, and fully agreed, as even the best rock and roll performers well know, "surround yourself with good people"... including the making of that phenomenal speech. But what a delivery!!!
Exactly! I remember the revolving door of incompetence that was the last administration. He often seemed to choose leaders for a position that were bent on destruction of that institution. If insider accounts are to be believed the few brave souls that worked to keep him on the rails had to stoop to hiding papers so he would not sign them and slipping his name into information so he would read it. No way to run a government.
I think the biggest takeaway from the speech is the opportunity to tell the TRUTH to the American people unfiltered by all the corporate personhood of the MSM media’s propaganda. That was HUGE 🤩.
It helps. Unfortunately there are far too many willfully ignorant who are "factose" intolerant and will continue to maintain blind fealty to Putin/Trump/MAGA.
Yes! The team is everything, yet rarely do our lame news media focus on the people Pres Biden has assembled, and exactly what they are struggling to accomplish.
For example how many of us know what each Latin American country is up to, stressed by, led by, beholden to, and in many cases the source of that stress (hint: US demand for more illegal drugs).
Very true Peter. We decimated many counties through our preference for authoritarian leaders over democracies (like Kissinger's work to eliminate Allende in Chile). The refugees who now flee poverty, gangs, and violence are the results of, for example, Reagan's intervention in El Salvador. You can't burn down the apartment building next door and then wonder why so many are trying to come to your building for housing.
George, a crooked leader or mob boss will never surround himself with honest people. The leader would always have to fear that an honest subordinate would “get the goods” on him. No, such leaders need underlings who have enough dishonesty in their background that the leader holds the power to blackmail. Their Cabinets alone prove who is the dishonest leader and who is the honest one. Case closed.
Speaking of the present cabinet. Biden has kept the same cabinet for three years unlike tRump that changed his cabinet (fired frequently) more than he changed his underwear!
The Republicans are big believers in "Kinder, Kirche, Kuche" - like all right wing scum are. That's what Mrs. Mom demonstrated in her speech. I'm surprised her husband let her run for public office.
The Republicans have been asking for "A damned good whacking" all year and they got it. Hopefully there are more to come. Let them stand from mid-summer through the election because their posteriors are so raw.
I am in a different time zone and did not hear the speeches, but when I hear that Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) delivered her speech from her kitchen, it is in keeping with the fact that they could not elect a woman as their candidate, choosing instead a convicted rapist. Britt should also remind all women that AL is the state that brought IVF to its knees, a big contradiction to their general Hitlerian-like Lebensborn ideology of birthing as many White children as possible to keep the majority in the USA. Happy International Women's Day! It is a national holiday here in Germany so many have the day off!
I think they are simply emboldened by their cult. As they get increasingly transparent with their agenda and actions their cult gets louder and increasingly fervent. It’s as if they are feeding each other. They get so much support from the MSM. It will be interesting to see if MSM sticks with them after the raw truth was revealed to the country so clearly last night.
The standard Curse of the Rising GOP Star - sentenced to give the SOTU response. Widdle Marco Rubio and his water glass are finally happy they've been demoted.
Are we prepared for what R's have in store? Economic Sabotage and October surprise. We need to be prepared. I don't know what is in store for October, but I bet it will have Putin/FSB/Russian Intelligence roots.
I do believe gas prices, controlled much by Saudi Arabia's Port Arthur Refinery and colluding with Russia to cut production could send gas over $6 a gallon this summer and fall. That could swing the election and we need a plan. Thom Hartman is on point here and tfoff tipped off their plan a few nights ago when he cut himself off in a very revealing way. Maybe the people should buy those oil futures now? There has to be pain both ways when one of our parties allows foreign oil oligarchies to influence our elections by crashing our economy. How in the hell did we allow Aramco to buy Port Arthur, one of our largest refineries? this is too much strategic power over us!
Thom Hartmann is really worth listening to...complementing HCR every day, and using history as she does to illuminate our present chaos and shine light on the well-dressed villains. His output is prodigious and he loves to speak with ...US!
How many times did Biden lose the thread of his thought? Forget where his speech was going? How many times did he stutter, struggle to remember, or show any of the other signs of dementia TFG and MAGA mopes seek to attach to Biden’s public image?
None. Nada. Zero.
Biden exhibited a savvy politician on top of his game.
Lately, his competition, uh… not so much. TFG could not have given the same speech. Not even close.
Ben Franklin said, “A republic; if you can keep it.”
President Joseph R. Biden delivered the State of the Union, tonight, and did he deliver a Barnburner!
When last did The United States of America sound so bright, so strong and so ready to defeat its enemies? They shall go unnamed at this time, except to say that the President did refer to The Supreme Court. and his predecessor.
He woke up the House, the whole House, your house and my house.
Welcome home to the best economy in the world and our Democracy that will blossom more fully with spring as it grows stronger.
Some old dudes are better with age and experience.
Thank you President Biden.
"My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor."
"Now, other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me. I was born amid World War II, when American stood for the freedom of the world." (posted on Civil Discourse as well)
The speech was so well crafted. Biden has delivered several speeches that are blow away good. I hope he shares his speechwriters with some of the other Democrat candidates that are in tight races.
As a note, that faucet behind her cost over $200. ( I priced many when we updated the kitchen & recall that model running about $289. Needless to say, we didn’t pick that one.) Her husband was a pro football player. She’s pulling down $175k/yr. Okay. Lots of difficult discussions around THAT kitchen table.
The oddest thing was her cheery smile while claiming hellhole status for the USA. It was like the love child of an internet influencer & 1984.
I noticed the kitchen faucet also, since we remodeled ours a few years ago. I thought she was dreadful, and having her speak from that room (was it really there or was that just a “green screen”?) was a very poor choice even for the Repugnants.
Actually, as a Sarasota County, Florida resident I found her to be a typical Stepford style Mom of Liberty. Her acting was ridiculous, her outrage dishonest, and she seemed to be auditioning for an audience of one. “America’s Mom”???? God help the children.
You make a good point Teri. I was thinking about TFFG's sheltered life earlier. Does he ever drive anywhere to meet with the average American? His campaign screens the far-right nut cases he allows to come into his rallies. And if someone heckles him, he has them removed.
He sends his someone (most likely a woman) to Wendy's or McDonalds to get his food, because heaven forbid, he actually talks to real people. He uses natural disasters and mass shootings as campaign stops and if he needs cash, he pulls another grift.
He's going to soon be exposed for lying to the court about having $400 million in cash. The E Jean Carroll penalty for $91 million is due today.
Anyone bet that he'll actually put up the cash today?
Where are his supporters and friends now that he needs half a billion dollars?
I'm a bit more interested in why she helped craft the border bill with Lankford, then came out against it, when Trump surprised them by effectively vetoing it.
Well, she did give that response from a kitchen, like any dutiful Republican woman. And she has an obvious need to be subservient: how else do we explain her kneeling before T****?
I didn't notice the faucet... the treacly sound of her voice as she vomited her doom-and-gloom vision of the greatest country on earth was more than I could take. Thankfully, there was an old episode of "Law and Order" on another channel that rescued me from listening to that smarmy twit from Alabama.
The GOPers lost ground as a result of this speech.
Watching Squeaker Johnson lookng miserable during the speech spoke volumes. Everything Joe said put him on the spot, and he had no defense to offer. The president spoke without a single gaffe and made every point he wanted to make. He even recognized the pinch points, from the murdered jogger to the wrongful deaths of so many Palestinians, and then he put the onus on the legislature to send him bills that would let him effectively address those problems.
After the speech, he was so energetic that he made a point of staying on the House floor to shake hands. So much for "too old".
Later, when Senator Britt came out in Stepford Wife mode to rebut the speech, it was laughably bad.
She sounded like a Save the Children advertisement, and nothing she said related to Joe's speech.
At this rate, the prediction holds that if we vote Blue up and down the ballot, and re-take the House & hold the Senate, we WILL relegate the MAGA repubs to spend the next 30 years in the wilderness as a minor regional party. The news might be daunting but this event was a much needed shot in the arm!
If sanity can rule this November, it will not solve the problem, but it will be our DDay plus. We will be on the march. They will still scream stop the steal. But the momentum will be formidable.
If that happens hopefully SCOTUS can be expanded or Alito and Thomas will be eliminated And Robert's, of course.
Like with Biden having to rebuild the government and the country after TFFG left office it will take several years to undo the damage done by the Robert's court.
It is my professional opinion, as a primary care doctor, that President Joe Biden can still kick some ass in the name of decency, dignity, and democracy.
Too old? While working memory may diminish with age, accumulated knowledge keeps compounding like interest.
Emotional regulation and wisdom tend to increase with age, contributing to better decision-making and reduced emotional volatility, ultimately enhancing overall cognitive function and leadership capabilities in older adults. We saw that tonight, and we’ve seen it since Obama/Biden.
We should be so fortunate to have the same old guy keep leading this country. When we look at the historic and astounding list of accomplishments the Biden team has actually delivered, we can only marvel at the wizard conducting the show.
Gandalfs, not Sarumans. Yodas, not Emperors. Dark Brandons, not Dark Bandits.
"When we look at the historic and astounding list of accomplishments the Biden team has actually delivered, we can only marvel at the wizard conducting the show."
Right on, Doctor. It truly is a team, and yet several of the individuals on his team are capable of being President -- Harris, of course, Buttigieg, Yellen, Granholm and Halland for starters.
You look at the championship teams in the NFL, NBA, MLB and they all have a few all-starts but they all are great teams.
Thank you for a detailed analysis, one that you obviously relished in writing. President Biden knocked the ball out of the park with his State of the Union speech. I found myself applauding . . . all by my lonesome! I appreciated C-span focussing in on President Biden after he completed his address and was speaking with Congressional and military leaders. This was President Biden unscripted; his mind was sharp. That re-assured me the most.
Ma'am, I really hope that the President's campaign takes the many snip-its available in this speech and puts them into campaign advertisements, perhaps in a compare-&-contrast manner. Dig it: a scowling Trump whining about "Sleepy Joe" juxtaposed with a quote from President Biden that directly refutes the trumper tantrum.
On Senator Britt's speech. Her delivery was facile but her points rather tired and trite. One thing disturbs me with the G.O.P. today more than other deficiencies: exploiting two or three victims of murders by migrants to justify the border story. That is shameful and demagogic.
I watched Senator Britt's speech a second time. 😴 I was wrong; it was not facile. 😵💫 The Senator sounded insincere, not because she is some terrible human being. 🤞But because she sounded as if she had been stuck on a fool's errand. 🤢
Though I used to be a Republican and remain conservative by temperament, I really had a hard time living the Willie Horton slime down. 😳 The rhetoric of my erstwhile Party is every bit as stale as its ideology is exhausted. 🤭
Me too Ned. Newt Gingrich changed the House so any hint of bi-partisanship was looked down upon. And McConnell was proud of the fact that under his leadership, almost all legislation came to the Senate to die.
There are very few "conservatives" left in Washington, they are repressive regressives. Biden said it last night, old ideas of revenge and retribution and taking away freedom.
P.S., I still believe President Biden should add two Justices to the Supreme Court since Senator McConnell stacked the Court by scalping A.G. Garland's nomination in 2016. Two more Justices would retore the one vote conservative majority that should be in place today.
I am conservative about some things, but I have NEVER been tempted to sign on to the repub version of what that means. Whenever I see campaign signs with "Conservative Republican" front and center, I heave. There is no such thing. People are still fooled by the fools.
Well, the term 'radical Republican' used to be a badge of honor. ✌️ The conservatism I appreciated was one as a counterpoise to liberalism. ⚖️ The liberals would lead the charge ahead into the future while the conservatives would most often seek to make those changes fiscally sustainable or, if the policy had clearly failed or been repudiated, repeal it. 🤔 Likewise, liberals would reel in conservatives if they went to far, turning backward. 🤞 I have always been one for pragmatism; that ideology breeds idiocy. 💡Today's self misnomer of conservatism erases prudence with prudish and democracy with demogogy. 🤢
Same with my adult life. But there was a time of honorable leadership like Presidents Ford and Eisenhower, Senators Dole and Weicker, Governors Christie and Kasich, Attorney General Thornburgh et al. Those days are gone. I wonder how much Trump will drumpf the R.N.C. treasury for. EDIT: of course, I overlooked many women Republicans of impeccable honor: Senators Bailey Hutchinson and Landon Kassebaum, Ambassadors Temple Black and Kirkpatrick, Justice Day O'Connor, Governor Todd Whitman, First Ladies Ford and Bush et many al. the voices of the honorable have been muted; they need to speak up.
Thank you, Heather. Terrific summary. I paid close attention to Moses Mike's body language and facial expressions. Though he occasionally nodded, more often he smirked or shook his head. Tellingly, after he sat down, he only stood once and it wasn't when President Biden talked about the needs of our veterans. Many on Twitter commented on MTG's hat as being against their rules. More critically, I saw the hat as campaigning, which is worse than her lack of decorum.
By times Johnson literally cringed in his seat, loved when his negative on the Senate border bill was contrasted with Scranton's (name right?) affirmative nod, "you're right". Biden was masterful in calling out both the Supreme Court conservative majority and the seat-glued GOP gang. Morning Joe was right this morning, the GOP is on the wrong side of American majorities and "history" right down the line.
Now there is a woman acting like an eight-year-old brat who needs a good spanking. Atrocious behavior for a member of Congress. But we have become inured to it. And we hope the unintelligent citizens of Georgia who sent her to the House will come to their senses at the next election.
I watched his constant squirm and thought they should have provided a booster seat for him.
As for MTG, once again she finds a way to garner media hits. Too bad it looked like she was wearing a hat to cover a bad-hair day. Next time, maybe someone will give her one that fits her head, Whoever provided that one greatly underestimated the size of the brain that it would be covering.
I missed that. I assume he operates from fear -- of being unseated, of incurring the wrath of Trump or the god whose voice he hears (though it's often hard to know the difference).
Heather Cox Richardson thank you for your dedication to our nation, its history, and its current condition. Just as our President benefits from experience, your posts help us understand from an historical perspective the events of today. I look forward to your daily letters.
Thank you, Heather.
President Biden's speech was far from tone deaf as MAGA would like it received; it was in perfect pitch with the ideals of democracy. He outlined a vision that starkly contrasts with opposition stances, emphasizing the preservation of democracy, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring decency and respect. Biden's identification of domestic challenges, particularly the January 6 insurrection, as significant threats to democracy, alongside his calls for unity against external threats like Russia's actions in Ukraine, mark critical areas of concern for Americans. His call for bipartisan action on domestic issues, economic fairness, environmental responsibility, and social justice encapsulates the broader challenges and paths forward for reinforcing democratic values in the United States.
Uncle Joe nailed it.
Speak up. Speak out. VOTE. Pray.
Michael, Uncle Joe (my junior) absolutely nailed it in the SOU speech. I played golf with two of my MAGA friends yesterday. I lost $15 on the golf course but when I got home I discovered that I had made $10,052 in the stock market, and most of my investments are not in stocks but in tax-free muni bonds. So, Bidenomics is working for me. I will send in some very generous donations today to Pres. Biden and other Democrats in tight races. In fact, it would be irresponsible for me not to participate in this manner and I would consider myself to be an ingrate.
Richard, you go man. So what about losing a few dollars hitting a small white dimpled ball? Whatever you’re doing, you’re winning as you didn’t fyesterday.
I thought my face might break as I smiled my way through Biden’s SOTU speech; woke up happy & energized feeling strongly he scored ‘a hole in one’, an Ace.
Samm -- Terrific response! A "hole in one" is the perfect image!
I agree with Judith. Wish I had thought of it, a "hole-in-one." Old Joe nailed it to the wall. Wow.
I slept more peaceful and woke up more peaceful. Noemi’s the Man for All América.
That was suppose to read Joe’s the man got All America
I see your auto wrong is shotting you.
Which auto wrong are you referring to?
Samm, my thought now is that what I'm doing is simply spending free dollars, also known as BIDEN DOLLARS. I love it. They're free, a reinvestment in my portfolio. Makes it so much easier to hit that Act Blue button.
Sounds better than the fake dust collecting coins trump has out.
Yes , I agree. We all feel energize and motivated to win this election in November.
Speaking of a hole-in-one, I had my 8th one two months ago. We have a Hole-in-One club here so I ended up with $555 of golf pro shop credits.
Richard, good to know that you can still play golf and then do well in the stock market. Thank you for being generous with your winnings.
I assume he wouldn't think of cheating in either activity, too.
Back when I was a Republican, all those I admired and respected were honest and fair, no matter what their views were on policies and platforms of parties were. Too many of us thought most were like us in that regard, and we seemed to be as willing as modern Democrats are to show the door to what seemed the few who broke major or even relatively minor rules (when the "minor" rules violations revealed more serious character flaws), Nixon as the top example.
Way back then, in the pre-Southern Strategy days, It was the "Conservative" southern Democrats that were the stubborn roadblocks to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Guess where they are now, and why I would call them the real hypocritical RINOs (as for what the party used to represent).
Way back when the south was democratic they wanted to protect slavery and legalized segregation. Same policies under new management name.
Michele, in terms of increasing substantially my contributions to Democratic candidates and causes, I now look on it as though I am spending BIDEN DOLLARS. They're "free," virtually. Why not, for heaven's sake. We've got a republic to keep.
Yes!!! This is the way Biden will win. Any extra money you get between now and November donate to the Democrats! It's worth the investment for the future of democracy for your kids and grandchildren.
Bravo! So happy for you !
Thank you, we need all the help we can get.
''The Republican Party now belongs to Trump.'' Indeed...
"It is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven"
- Satan, in "Paradise Lost" by John Milton
Confucius say: “If trump is elected you can put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.”
I shouldn't laugh at what would be a horror...but this is very funny!! So thank you for a LOL moment!
It’s very funny. I join you!
Still laughing every time I envision it.🤣🤣🤣
It is what I call a "sick joke", but in times like this maybe laughter can overcome our sickness.
Hoyt, LOL and I wish I were that flexible.
That's what I thought after watching Dr. Strangelove.
Slim Pickens (great name) should have won an academy award for that famous scene, he actually was a REAL cowboy. Funny scary movie.
"We must not allow a Mine Shaft Gap!"
Yes, Mr Pickens was perfectly cast. George C Scott was also brilliant, and of course Peter Sellers should have gotten TWO Oscars for his performances.
Perfect moment for dark humor, Hoyt. Emperor Tang would put our collective ass in a permanent sling. Let's not play doctor with him. (He'd probably cheat anyway).
🤣🤣🤨
He who makes love on hill is not on level.
Great insight! Except Satan would say to Trump, "Go on home ya mama's callin' you . . . ."
Now there’s an expression I haven’t heard since I was a kid
There must be a lot of Star Trek fans here, for I am certain that folks would have been thousands of times more likely to have remembered those words coming from Captain Kirk in Season 1, episode 22, "Space Seed" after a prompt from Kahn Noonien Singh (Racardo Montealban), as opposed to having actually read and remembered them from Milton's "Paradise Lost" which nobody in the boomer generation was reading.
I read it, but then I read everything when I was young. Not so much nowadays. Instead I get hung up in online discussions.
Well Lauren, I think that makes you one in a million, which is pretty special. Everyone on this forum is a reader, but Milton? Now THAT'S a reader. Now I should talk since I'm working my way through Marshal Sahlins' "Stone Age Economics" and rereading Peter Drucker's "Concept of the Corporation" at the moment.
Axually, I recall hearing that line in a Grateful Dead song, "Cosmic Charlie", a take-off on the song, "Revolution", by the Beatles (at least by my reckoning). EDIT: about thirty seconds into the tuney loon; never fails to make me giggle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7TjA53JSxs OOOps. more like forty-to-forty-five seconds in. "Revolution" mocked the pseudo-intellectualism of many political radicals while "Cosmic Charlie" mocked the pseudo-hippiness of many cultural radicals.
I appreciate the link. It reminded me that my copy of AOXOMOXOA on vinyl was accidentally left in my old VW Beetle on a hot summer day, many years ago, and it got warped. I managed to flatten it with an iron (nothing to lose at that point), and so I could still play it, but it was never quite the same. I think I still have it. After listening to "Cosmic Charlie", I went on a little nostalgia trip, looking at all the album covers. It reminded me that I don't have all of them. I no longer have a turntable either. Music restoreth my soul, so considering tone and tenor of the times we're living in, maybe a good antidote would be to stock up on the music I will always love.
:) LOL
Trumpianism in a nutshell. A view manifestly evident in the behavior of many a plutocrat.
Of golden escalators and insurrection.
Re: "Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.”
"Satan exalted sat, by merit rais’d
To that bad eminence; "
Read it here:
"HIGH on a Throne of Royal State, which far
Outshon the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showrs on her Kings Barbaric Pearl and Gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit rais’d
To that bad eminence; and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain Warr with Heav’n, and by success untaught
His proud imaginations thus displaid."
...
Or could we break our way
By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise
With blackest Insurrection, to confound
Heav’ns purest Light, yet our great Enemy
All incorruptible would on his Throne
Sit unpolluted, and th’ Ethereal mould
Incapable of stain would soon expel
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire
Victorious.
...
Damn, John Milton is GOOD! (Well a damn fine writer. Milton certainly knew tyranny - being Cromwell's amanuenses.)
The entire passage.
https://www.telelib.com/words/authors/M/MiltonJohn/verse/ParadiseLost/paradiselostb2.html
Thank you for this. I took an entire course in Milton in college. It was wonderful.
Awesom poem, thank you for sharing. 👍
Right now I am reading War and Peace. Paradise Lost is next in the queue!
His crystal ball was absolutely clear, although he didn't get Trampler by name, or that individual's flunkies.
Here's a tweak from a page of Maxine's calendar. (J. Wagner)
She says: "(Republican) members of Congress (need to put) their shoulders to the wheel.
Which is tough, considering where their heads are."
Now THAT"S funny!! We all needed a morning like this. The giddyness is infectious.
That explains clearly why the Repugs can't see what's going on.
😊
Cranial rectotomies are typically performed outpatient. Clinics need to be available everywhere, if the republic is to survive.
Hmmm. Envisioning the geometry of it, I think all they have to do is sit down on the wheel. Though how that will make it go anywhere, I'm at a loss....
Lovely, Themon, but check your anatomy re shoulders and glutei.
Ah, I see my error. I was assuming their head, in the posterior position, was still connected to their neck.... Thank you for the correction. :-)
😊
Just as Biden nailed it with his principled assertions, so did the GOP choice of a woman in the kitchen responding to Biden "nail" the underlying prejudices the GOP policies express about women. The image was perfect for a party that takes away women's health care and agency, trashes mothers who travel hundreds of miles on foot with little children in tow to survive, does not applaud education for children, does not work toward a healthy environment, and ... you know the rest. Thank you, Heather, for reminding us that Katie was in the kitchen.
I live in Alabama. No pity please, the scenery is nice and (most of) the people are too, if you stay away from politics. A little loony on that score.
Katie Britt, bless her heart, seemed to actually believe what she was saying. Passionate performative rage. Give her a golden statue award for Drama Princess at least, if not Drama Queen. Over the top emotional based on lies.
Doesn’t she know the “worst inflation in our lifetime” was not caused by Biden? Doesn’t she know Biden cannot “fix” the border situation on his authority alone? They’ve been told that over and over until some of them actually believe it. It would be pitiable if it wasn’t so mean-spirited.
I had to stop watching before I burst into tears. /s
And one more thought Stan… based on Katie Britt’s rebuttal, she has now successfully made Sarah Palin look like a Rhodes Scholar. Nuff said.
But, can she see Russia from her kitchen!
And Rubio and the former LA governor Jindal are off the hook for worst rebuttal speeches.
Ouch! Didn't think such was possible. Glad I missed it. I guess I owe a debt of thanks to Rubio and Jindal for convincing me not to waste my time. Was Marco's speech the one where he needed the water bottle but it was out of reach, so he ducked down and snatched it as if nobody would notice? All he needed to do was excuse himself for a sec to get a sip of water. Classic error of taking yourself too seriously. Thanks for reminding me of that. It's the only thing I remember from the speech.
Amen. You nailed it
LOL she sure did!
😄😅🤣🤣🤣
Katie Britt was quite the ham actress. She missed her calling. I bet she can even cry on cue. It was all just a little too faked, though she certainly flashed between simmering outrage and simpering false "concern" in the blink of an eye. Bless her little heart sittin' there in the kitchen where women [obviously] belong in the Republican Party!
May she baste herself with grievance gravy and bake in her IVF- free oven.
We all know what a southern "Bless your heart" means. Bless her heart
So glad you said that but you need to follow it with, “Her mama pinned her diaper too tight”.
Stan, I changed the channel after her first sentence, describing Biden as "clueless." An earlier post pointing out that she fit the Right's mold while "rebutting" from her kitchen says it all.
I turned the sound off.
With the sound off, she could have been selling a new, amazing appliance for your kitchen.
Like her $10,000 Subzero with matching cabinet panels?
I wish I had. It was a waste of my time. She made a complete fool out of herself.
and fools of her Repub handlers!
I couldn't last more than a few minutes.
Believe me you didn't miss anything that was important. It was the usual BS from a Republican.
Ditto
no, before you threw up. I barfed at prayer.
She was on the Senate committee that wrote the immigration bill, then voted against it at trump’s behest. Did she watch the SOTU? Her response was full of lies. I couldn’t listen to the whole thing either.
I kept thinking what is she saying and what hole had she been buried in!
Chin up young person. Britt was like a SNL skit to my ears and eyes... so over the top she seemed a parody of herself. On the eternal edge of tears over fictional woes?! Puh-lease!
Maybe they should hire her. She was good! LOL
I think many of us were thinking at the same time: this will become an SNL cold open.
I saw it through to hear Jonathan Capehart say "What was that?" & David Brooks say she did pretty well- ugh.
Perhaps Brooks secretly like the idea of little woman in the kitchen.
LOl
Interesting this religious right Tik Toc “Trad Wife” influencer is supposed to be the goal for suburban moms while she is working and married to a lobbyist. Highly doubt she spends much time in the kitchen. Selling a bag of goods which will only hurt most women.
Your reply highlights the Republican position: “hamstring” the President, then blame him for not controlling the border issue. No one seems to state clearly what (to me) is obvious: how hideous must conditions be/seem in your home that you feel the only possibility is a horrible expensive journey just for the *possibility* of making a life better and safer for your children and you…even when we know there will be *some* bad actors in the flood. And it is certainly true that we cannot simply throw open the borders. But I also admit, for things happening yesterday, I wasn’t able to watch the speech or the rebuttal last night; I will today.
Thank you for your compassion for those who make that journey. We all too readily forget the reasons so many risk everything to get here.
I recommend listening to the SOTU. But unless you have a lot of extra time to kill don't waste a minute listening to her rebuttal. Just take everything Joe said and make it the opposite.
She's an Jr. Senator. Republicans made an huge mistake having her represent them. She voted yes on the Immigration bill and then she goes on live television and lies about it.
Well, they could have used their other senator, Tommy Tuberville.
True, but Biden was focusing on the Immigration bill that included funding for Ukraine and other funding for this country. Republicans have a goal to make Biden fail. Immigration is their weapon to used against Biden for the presidency.
But she is prettier than Tommy! lol She fits right in with the party of liars.
Stan, you know that miss Katie knows perfectly well that Biden did not cause inflation at all, and that a President cannot "fix" the border issues by executive order. She knows, but is happy to spread MAGAt disinformation - just another of Trampler's flunkies.
I so agree with you. I appreciate your validation, esp. "Passionatee Performative Rage," as if she were auditioning for a part in Our Town.
“A propped up puppet!”. Loved the comment that “Yes indeed, alien life has been found on earth”. I read so many biting comments in the news this morning that unfortunately, I cannot remember the source…but it was rich!
It screamed "we are the patriarchy. We control our women. Just listen to the speech we wrote for her."
And she deliver3ed it in that breathy "fundie woman" voice. In a kitchen--right where tffg and his party want women to stay.
The Nazis did the exact same thing. Then they had every fertile Aryan female have as many babies as possible. Kinder Kuchen Kirche. Katie Britt, fertile mother for Jesus and Trump.
She'll get screwed by #45 like everyone else.., err ahh that was 'figurative speek'...! In case you were wondering.
Or, possibly not.
Apparently Repubs are still eager to prove that women are "too emotional to lead" and belong in the kitchen.
And, she spoke as if she were a Stepford wife, repeating her programming.
Before I flipped channels to a basketball game, I texted a friend of mine that same description, Patricia, "Stepford Wife".
I kept waiting to see a few,,non union, underpaid workers from countries whose immigrants she so coldly bashed appear behind her and start working on her kitchen counters🤣
Exactly!!
LOL
President Joseph Robinette Biden is definitely large and in charge!
I’ll never forget the 2016 election when I knew that something really deeply disreputable had occurred. There was nothing to be done but fight TFFG all the way. In the 2020 election I was hopeful again. Then 6/24/22 happened and a deeply a corrupt SCOTUS overturned Roe vs Wade. That was the end of the Republican Party.
Then;
A WOMAN IN THE KITCHEN?? Giving the rebuttal? That was just down right hilarious!
Ah! ha! ha! ha! ha! (snort).
You Republican a-holes! Believe them when they tell you who they are the first time!! Is
Truer words were never spoken!
(showcased)
Why not an African American wearing MAGA hat, picking cotton, nodding and smiling “Yessir, Massa Graham, yessir.”
Or 20 police officers dressed in full riot gear chasing a 3 year old African American baby down the street, or going after a teenage girl demanding her menstrual cycle “papers”, or Republicans high fiving each other as another young mother is buried along with her non viable fetus? Not only did President Biden meet and went clearly beyond all expectations and delivered a message that outlined all our strengths as Americans but has a clear vision path to dealing with our weaknesses,our sworn enemies, NATO and Global Security, the American dream that Republicans are bound and determined to destroy for all but the most morbidly wealthy tax scofflaws. Excellent!
They have COMPLETELY forgotten Margaret Chase Smith, haven't they? Can you imagine her making any kind of speech from her kitchen? Honestly, one doesn't even need to listen to her disinformation to get the message - "I'm a working woman first, a mother second, but am happy to tell you women to get back in the kitchen and have babies; don't vote to support your interests as a woman, but let your man take care of all that for you. Here's my recipe for rice krispie treats".
Here is the Wikipedia article about Margaret Chase Smith.
She was elected to the US Senate, from the State of Maine, in 1948 and served until 1972.
I lived in Maine for a few years, beginning early in 1972. My impression at the time was that almost everybody in Maine liked MCS, even if they did not vote for her. I think she was a very dignified, no nonsense US Senator.
I am quite certain that if Senator Margaret Chase Smith had delivered the Republican response to President Biden's SOTU address, it would have been very different, more dignified, and her criticism would have been more respectful of the President.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Chase_Smith
Brava! Graham is a faux massa, actually a toady. However, I enjoyed your tempered rage!
A senator from Alabama - talking about the importance of protecting IVF - from her pink kitchen…bless her heart!
LOL. The kitchen was pink....and yes, a good southern bless her heart.
I missed it being pink. LOL
I am relaying on the post above mine....as i didn't watch. OK, full confession, we watched a basketball game.
If you missed Biden's speech you sure missed a good one!
Just like the overly pink kitchen from Lessons in Chemistry. (The miniseries and book)
This proves to me how tone deaf Rs are and I confess that I am smiling about them having her respond in a kitchen. She should have shared a few recipes and a couple stories about her kids and then shut up.
She might be a decent person but she let herself be used. She worked with Lankford on the immigration bill which Biden would have signed until trump told them not to do so. Who is in charge? She has ruined her future.
Yes, used. I hope she has ruined her future.
Hopefully that "speech" will haunt her...
Amen!
I was kinda hoping the (R)'s would have chosen Ms BoBare to give it to us. But, she's just not his "type"..., I guess?
I suspect she's just his type - cheap and loony.
Lord, can you image her giving a response. She would probably wave a gun around for starters and be in a saloon. Or maybe visiting her son in jail or just groping someone in public while blowing smoke.
Melinda, could not agree more, “a woman in the kitchen”. Do they really think the Handmaiden’s Tale would resonate with the women of America in a positive way….NOT!!!!!
Lily white Katie in the kitchen, talking god & wearing her badge around her neck- made me sick. Is that the best they've got?
I can't for the life of me figger out what they were thinking, showcasing Sen. Pink Dollspeak after the fuss they made over "Barbie"!
My guess that was her first time in that sterile kitchen! Like the handmaiden on the court, pathetic!
Funny, my Southern mom was a big fan of house tours, and she said the best kitchens were always in the homes of people you knew never cooked a meal.
Michael, Biden not only identified challenges, he proposed solutions. It’s easy to criticize, godawful hard to fix.
BTW, Biden’s treatment of 45 as Voldemort in the Harry Potter books (“he who must not be named”) by calling him his predecessor was genius—kudos to whoever came up with that idea.
All four of the above.
Mike Johnson squirmed and looked like he was waiting for instructions from tfg or god if he should clap or not, He looked truly uncomfortable... as to the majority of the repubs, shame on you!
He looked so little!
Probably pissing his pants entertaining sinful thoughts about what he'd like to be doing to her. These people are such hypo-crits. I wonder if Tammy Faye is listening from her post in "hells kitchen" or wherever. The (R)'s certainly have a big bag of marbles. Regarding Ms Britt, 'cross' another one off.
Yup, god's messages must have been on delayed transmission. Poor Mikey.
Sure-nuff.., god and our televangelisto Jesse Duplantis, were having a meeting in his newest Falcon jet at 38,000fee t (near'er god) at the time. According to the MARS ROVER Team they were concerned with SpaceX encroaching god's kingdom outside of the Earth Orbit. Holy creamolas. The MARS ROVER Team is not an affiliate of Faux News or the (R)s RNC.
Perhaps he actually found a shred of conscience pricking his soul?
Did Fox broadcast it
Good morning, Jeri. Fox did broadcast it along with Sen. Katie Britt's response. I watched her speak. She made a big deal of the border problem, which is hollow given that the Republicans refused to take up in the House the bill negotiated by Senator Lankford of Oklahoma. During Biden's speech, when the border was mentioned the cameras turned to Senator Lankford, an absolute conservative, who is royally pissed at the House Republicans because they listened to TFFG to not go forward on protecting the border, to make it a campaign issue. It now is, but it's now their hot potato.
I 💯💯LOVED that the camera (on MSNBC at least) caught Lankford’s head nod and mouthing of “that’s true” to Biden’s numbers on the border while the MAGA’s were screeching the opposite. Lankford worked hard on the border bill and was absolutely invested in getting it over the finish line.
CNN even carried it as a headline 🤩🤩
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/08/james-lankford-border-bill-biden-state-of-the-union-vpx.cnn
Not only that, but I heard him tell a reporter that some media guy told him that if that bill passed, he would "destroy" Sen. Lankford's life, and that it had already started. I'm thinking this might be Heather's next book - heroes of the 21st century American revolution.
Thank God we have heros and sheros. I will have to write a note to Lankford. It’s easy to forget what these upstanders likely have to go thru!
Liz Cheney said on "The View" that: "We need a new party". No one on the panel noticed or followed up with a question, which astounds me. She also said that she would leave the Republican Party if Trump is the nominee. From what I have observed, the woman does what she says she is going to do. I expect a major announcement from her soon.
Completely agree! That was a priceless image!
Yea to CNN
He won't get any money from Putin or tfg's campaign fund.
🤣
Coming after Biden’s rousing speech, Senator Britt’s wailing fear of migrants seemed to come from another world. She cried about the woman who was killed by an”illegal.” She didn’t seem to care about the 20 people who have been shot dead in Birmingham this year. As Dr. R pointed out, she is an attractive white woman speaking from her kitchen. The MAGA Party had no response to Biden’s vision. They are the party of rich, white, faux-Christian, men. They are the White Supremacy Party. It would have been more honest if Senator Britt had just said. “You want greed, racism, misogyny, and violence? That’s what we’re offering.
I have to credit someone named "Pogo" who posted this a few weeks ago elsewhere but what Senator Britt should have just come out and said:
VOTE Republican - What Have You Got to Lose???
Pregnancy Health Care & IVF, Marriage Equality, Child Protection, Birth Control, LGBTQ Protections, Education, Healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Common Sense Gun Control, Drug Pricing Relief, Price Gouging Control, Student Debt Relief, Climate & Environment Protection, Freedom of Religion, NATO & Foreign Allies, Global Leadership & Respect and,....Your Inalienable Right to Vote
Agree with all the foregoing, but Pogo missed Freedom of Speech - because what is banning books but interfering with both the authors' freedom to speak and readers' right to hear that speech. Otherwise, perfectly spot on (I realize that this particular freedom may be comprised within "education", but I think it's worth making the distinction).
Oldandintheway: Your wrote: " It would have been more honest if Senator Britt had just said. “You want greed, racism, misogyny, and violence? That’s what we’re offering." And, you nailed it. Isn't English an amazing language?
Richard, I had to wonder, as I saw Langford nod and say “That’s true”, how he felt about Katie Britt’s working with him on the bill that she pretended didn’t exist on national television.
I think Fox and the other conservative pretend news outlets will have a difficult time choosing clips from Biden's speech that shows him to be sleepy, old or doddering. That was a powerful performance.
They will probably photo shop!
Thank you for this. I have never been able to watch Fox since I had a daily dose when I spent a lot of time at a friends house in the late 90's. That cured me, but I know the strategy is the same. Rupert could solve the chump problem in a flash. Just show him like he is. Of course, his audiences would fade away. Money still makes Rupert tick. And he's not the only one...
Jeri, it isn't always easy to stomach, but as Hsun Tzu noted in 250 B.C., "Know your enemy and in 100 battles you will win 100 victories." It's useful to understand the opposition's state of mind and information at their disposal. My MAGA kin in Texas only get their "info" from Fox, OAS, Newsmax and Alex Jones. There is no "cross-pollination" at work. Some still are satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt that TFFG won the 2020 election.
I set it to record on C-Span (and use ff to get thru the riffraff) I really dont care to watch CNN,MSNBC etc & listen to them tell what Biden WILL say- then inform us of what he DID say after we watch it ourselves. My patience has shrunk a great deal these days.
Biden went off script more than once.....effectively.
I know them well, my respect has faded away.
Richard Sutherland -- Thanks for your Hsün Tsu reference! One of the greats. Along with Chuang Tzu, Mo Tzu and Han Fei Tzu. I've had their 'Basic Writings' books (translated by Burton Watson) since about 1965. You've inspired me to go back and review.
Cool, Judith. I fell in love with Chinese when the U.S. Army sent me to the Army Language School in Monterey, CA to learn Chinese Mandarin. I spent an extra year there and the later got an M.A. and a Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Language before getting my J.D. Chinese history, art, language can be very, very seductive. What the Chinese have done since 1911 is nothing but extraordinary. They're smart, very smart.
In this instance, Richard, you give the opposition too much credit. What mind(s)? What information? If it wasn't for regurgitated effluvia from their master's cakehole they wouldn't have no thoughts at all.
Ouch. You drive the dagger deep into the heart, Lauren: "regurgitated effluvia from their master's cakehole . . . ." The mind begins to imagine strange things.
I think that is the same in Indiana.
Me too ! Stuck up in snowy Vermont with friends and Fox on 24/7 in the run up to the Iraq war . With the same friends in Costa Rica later that year when we were bombing Iran and having to live with “Shock and Awe”, “Shock and Awe” from Fox as my friends high fived each other at cocktail hour. And we all know how that went ! I thought that was poisonous enough but I was too naive to know how low Fox, Donald Trump and his MAGA base could go.
.
Good Lord, you had the same horrible experience with the shock and awe crap. I was so embarrassed and mortified that all this was done in my name. And Abu Ghraib - how horrible. And one wonders how our rep in the area went from sympathy after 9/11 to hatred. They were ecstatic when W went to China and were dancing around cheering. And when Obama was elected, they were so morose. I had moved so not in touch like that anymore. Last I heard, kids about split. Parents not so much. And all educated, well off, and indoctrinated. Fox just spouted what the dad wanted to hear. Sad. Yep, I thought that was as low as they would go. Silly me…
And your friends?
Two ended up “converting because they grew to detest Donald Trump, one died but his spouse is strictly MAGA but vaccinated.
One of my high school class mates was a reporter at the WSJ when Rupert bought the paper. Occasionally Rupert would stop by. She was so turned off by him that she had to leave the building until he was gone.
Her and her husband found jobs in the Baltimore area and left NYC after 30 years.
Why did we ever let him into the US?
He’s been a slimy snake from the git go. The UK figured that out. A clue was with an article in the Post on this subject in early 1981. “At a dinner last month honoring Mr. Murdoch for his work on behalf of MR. Reagan, Representative Jack Kemp, a New York Republican said ‘Mr. Murdoch used the editorial page, the front page, and every other page necessary to elect Ronald Reagan president.” Well, by design I think. To do what Rupert still does best. Skew the happenings, or make things happen to reshape the world to his liking. He may not like chump, but he knows a useful fool when he sees one. As chump reportedly said (don’t remember where), Rupert calls me way more than Roger (Ailes) ever did.
According to Jerome Powell, much of the big contribution to our economy is from migrant labor, Just thought that interesting. In fact, every recovery, every wave of economic growth for more than 200 years has been by large influxes of population, whether from births ( baby boomers) and/or from waves of migration, first from Europe, west, then east, and now from South America. We have a two hundred plus history of this. We give too much credit, and too much blame on one office, one man, versus the thousands that actually move the needle of our GDP. Tax free muni bonds are a great investment, they fund the infrastructure necessary to keep building the things necessary to keep up with a growing population. Sometimes I wonder if R’s understand economics at all.
Of course they understand economics. Tax me less, issue more muni bonds and treasuries. That way I get to keep my money, lend it to the governments, and get PAID for my trouble. Win-Win. Yep, they know economics all right.
Yes, yes they know. Therefore, they have to lie in politics. Which is not leadership, that is manipulation.
It's pure fascism.
No need for them to understand economics as long as they can dupe 10’s of millions of voters with their hate mongering and lies!
Exactly.
trying not to be a nit picker, I think it's important to point out that Mexico is in North America and while Venezuela and Colombia are in South America, much of the immigration coming through Mexico is from Central America. And that ignores the many immigrants who are coming from Northern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
It's really pointless to dig through the manure that the manu(R)e spreader is loaded with, because it "is what it is" ..., a load of crap. I prefer grits myself... with a light dash of salt to wake things up. Leave the MAGAtts to live in that - Plow em under. Concentrate on how we can grow crops from what this administration has planted. If we Pull the weeds, soda-speak, they'll dry up and blow away. Be a good farmer. Remember, No farms.. NO food.
Britt also glossed right past Ukraine funding in order to spew lies about the Border and Immigration violence.
Her report of someone trafficked for sex by someone was a bit confusing. I thought she was referring to a migrant being the victim. Katie Britt had fun with the details of rape “over and over and over.”
I was confused by that sex trafficking bit. Frankly it was like the Republicans who wrote that part of the speech were gleefully bringing up some salacious gossip. And Britt kept harping on it. Then she tries to pin it on Biden and Democrats when they are the only people actually trying to prevent sex trafficking. My senator Jon Ossoff from GA has been working on that issue since before he got elected. I've never seen Republicans do anything except partake of it. I'm Lookin' at you, Matt Gaetz and Roy Moore and Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein and that senator from the massage parlor sting. At least Bill Clinton’s sexapades were with adult and willing women.
I have now heard that this whole story was taken from a horrific thing that happened 20 years ago, in Mexico (not the US), when Bush was President. Remember all those republican amnesty programs to boost big farmers with migration crop workers?
I'm sorry that Ms Britt appears not to have had some real fun in a hayloft while some ofd her friends had a bad experience. Why is it always 'men' who get front-paged? Is it like Blacks..? We're easier to spot? Or is it because the media just grabs the "low hanging fruit", as the saying goes? There's a ton of "Karens" out there, they're just harder to spot and pin down.
LOL Jeri. If they did did they bleep out all the parts that made Trump look like the insolent little boy he is?
I'm wondering Jeri, how many people commenting here watched it on Fox if they did? It's been over an hour an no one has replied to your post.
Sorry, Gary. As is my usual for SOTU, I was at rehearsal, watching the director. She may beg to differ on that whole "watching" thing.
Sidebar: How many directors does it take to change a light bulb?
No one knows. No one watches the director.
Good morning, Aly. I hope you can catch a tape of the speech, it was INCREDIBLE!
Your pun about the directors: we became good friends with our kids hs band director. (great guy) Sometime in the first couple of weeks, he'd get upset with the kids and very dramatically shove a music stand over. It always got their attention! I later found out he'd do this every year. (LOL)
I am SO PLEASED at the absence of our troll this morning! It is such a pleasure to scroll through and see the thoughts of the many good people here, like a walk through the park without spotting trash on the trial! :-D
Shhhh!
O'com Miselle... this is a big field we're playing in. Pretty unusual we get comments which don't 'fact-check' agreeably. I'm sure some of my own remarks can be construed by readers here as being sacrilegious, though I often use them for levity. We are fortunate that others will step forth onto this turf which allows us to skewer what they post or even benefit from it. What we don't want to do is skewer the person. Taking issue with the "post" does the job. JMHO
Rupert always cut and pasted the image that made chump look less an idiot. They haven’t changed that strategy.
I watched it on YouTube after the fact, as I was also rehearsing when it aired live. I have no idea which channel's broadcast I saw, as I assumed it would be the same speech no matter which media outlet recorded it.
Nice Jo Michael. I was so proud of Joe Biden as our president last night.
"Decency and respect" - not really words the rest of the world outside the West (so about 85%) would currently connect with the US.
I am old enough to remember bipartisanship. Maybe a lost art, but maybe it can be resurrected and practiced again.
I guess "praying" is okay, but not very realistic in this case. I would suggest "pay" instead of "pray"...donate as much money as you can to the Biden campaign as well as to important down ballot candidates in important state contests (even if it's not the state you currently live in). Money will be more effective than prayer.
Yes, Uncle Joe sure did!!
I am just wondering...where Uncle Joe will have Israel put this Palestinian state??? Will the Palestinians get a voice in this new state??? Don't the "Ps" need a little more room than just GAZA??? Will Bibi have a freeway connecting it to Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, etc.??? Who will educate the settlers about being good neighbors??? Will the Palestinians be allowed into Israel to do the grunt jobs???
Once this too has passed (become 'past') will there be millions in the streets demanding it doesn't get put back under the rug? Huh? HUH? Will you and I be in that crowd? Well..., if not.., how in hell do we expect our President to do anything.? He/she, has laws to abide by. Of course, that's where dictators can be so effective... they just "git er done" or really "F" things up! Like, that 's where #45 gets his MAGAatts support. Those bosos are willing to get out in the street (Jan 6)..w/guns if needed..., cuz "they" want to "git er done". So, how bad do you and I want to? That's the problem. It's called 'all talk and no action' . Label that "libtard behavior"... typical. History proves that. An exception being in the 60's when 'Blacks' had had enough. And to their credit, did so non-violently. The "burn baby burn" was the option that was fueled. And we.... most of us, just sat home and watched. Lyndon Johnson, did the best he could, in the face of
the "fuelers". so..., just WHAT are we gonna do? Put up more "Jesus Saves" signs? hahahahaa.. STOP // LOOK // LISTEN.., as the freight train rolls on by, is what I see.
Absolutely
The fact that the Republicans sat on their hands as Biden denounced Putin speaks volumes. We are in dangerous times. Vote blue up and down.
That smarmy little weasel Alfred e Neuman lookalike house speaker was like a bobble head doll unable to decide whether to bobble side to side or up and down. He looked as uncomfortable as hell. I loved it.
Yes! Johnson and Rs forced themselves into distorted positions where they had to shake their heads, NO to better education, NO to a fairer tax code, NO to defending Ukraine and defeating Putin, NO to lower drug costs, NO to affordable healthcare,…., and YELLING NO to another tax cut for corporations and the wealthy! Trump couldn’t talk coherently or on-topic (especially not on policy) for 70 minutes.
My God, you would think they hate America and all Americans. They are pitiful. President Biden absolutely knocked it out of the park tonight. Dark Brandon is kicking ass. Joe needs to have a monthly SOTU, if for no other reason, than the opportunity for America to see marge three toes do her clown act.
I'd love to see President Biden do his own version of a Fireside Chat, briefly and regularly.
Absolutely, he is our modern day Roosevelt after all.
He's given many great speeches that simply weren't broadcast. You really have to search for them.
You didn't think American media would benefit their audience instead of their fat wallets did you?
I would like to see each candidate give two 15 minute speeches on Prime Time TV. First Trump, then Biden, then Trump then Biden. Or they could flip a coin on who goes first. And no audience. Of course, Trump would never agree to that format since, like his good little mentees in Congress, he wouldn't be able to heckle Biden. And he would look like a moron.
In different rooms, so Trampler can't roam around and attempt to loom over President Biden as he did with Hillary.
And the way he "attacked" the Supreme Court made me proud.
Hell yes, unfortunately the three worst of the horrible six were not there. Scared little fascist!
"When we win in Nov, SCOTUS...its your fault. Thank you!" That's what I heard Uncle Joe say to them last night.
Ah, yes, the tax code, begun by Reagan in 1986, doling out trillions of tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporations, the primary reason that we have a $34 trillion national debt when it was less than $1 trillion when Reagan took office. Our children and grandchildren deserve our correcting the course of state and start clawing back these ill-begotten gains.
Roughly 25% of our total national debt incurred over the last 230 years occurred during the 4 years of the trump. That's right. 25% of our entire national debt, all due to trump. Since 1933, the economy has grown at an annual average rate of 4.6 percent under Democratic presidents and 2.4 percent under Republicans. In more concrete terms: The average income of Americans would be more than double its current level if the economy had somehow grown at the Democratic rate the past nine decades. And that does not include the portion of the Great Depression that happened on Herbert Hoover’s watch.
Great points. And why do ordinary Americans vote against their own best social and economic interests? It's the wedge issues (abortion, race, women's rights, gay rights, etc.) that the oligarchs dispense through Fox, OAN, Newsmax, Boston Herald, Alex Jones, and before him, Rush Limbaugh. [Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" 2004]
Yes, it’s been pointed out many times that the entire function of the Republican Party — entirely — is to transfer wealth from the poor and middle class to the ultra-wealthy. That’s it. All the rest — militarism, racist dog whistles, balanced budget, small government, national security, immigration, crime, anti-abortion, family values rhetoric — is a ruse to get the “low information” voters to go along.
We have been conditioned to vote against our own interests. spectacle, distraction, shiny object, outrage, grievance, single issue voter. 1.7 seconds is all it takes. And its gotten worse with the phone/SM. Delusion vs reality. Manipulation vs Leadership.
The wedge issues are click bait. The 'ordinaries' get distracted by the shiny pellets their masters feed them and forget to guard their own flanks.
I have a question. To what extent was Trampler's horrific increase of the national debt due to his and his flunkies' mismanagement of the Covid-19 disaster? Would the debt be as high if he and his maladministration had handled the pandemic effectively (to the extent it could have been)? (To say nothing of that monster's direct personal responsibility for the suffering and premature deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans from Covid due, again, to that dreadful mishandling of the pandemic in the US.)
“Of the $8.4 trillion President Trump added to the debt, $3.6 trillion came from COVID relief laws and executive orders, $2.5 trillion from tax cut laws, and $2.3 trillion from spending increases, with the remaining executive orders having costs and savings that largely offset each other,” budget experts with the CRFB wrote in a summary of the report.
Hoyt, I think our politics are similar, but it’s worth noting that growth of the economy is not the same as income growth. So 4.6% growth in GDP or GNP does not mean wages went up 4.6%. That connects with one of our national problems for a long time: even though the economy has grown, real wages have fallen.
And the gum chewing my God didn’t they know where they were? Where is the decorum there?
Every single gopper was on their cell phone, heads down in shame. Scared they may be persuaded by cool headed reasoning.
Marlene -- I disgustingly noted that last night as well. Rebellious children.
And we put them there for shame
Stanley.. indeed: Un-Adulterated - Pure. Gag me!
Mikey J looked like Joe was giving him an hour-long wedgie
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Johnson. I’ve never witnessed discomfort like he expressed. Sometimes he nodded in agreement with Biden…then looked terrified…like a naughty school child who got caught. Occasionally he looked to the left as though he was being coached…or scolded. What a terrified little man. He’ll never be a leader.
No, little Mikey will never be a leader. Vice President Harris, however, was comfortable and seemed to enjoy every opportunity to stand and clap for parts of Biden's speech she supported.
Heard by the MARS ROVER team: Mikey... Jesus calling, come to me.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzztttttt.
I also witnessed all his discomforts
lol
The elf on the shelf.
LOL, now for years to come our poor little elf on the shelf will always remind me of milquetoast mike..
Perfect! 😂😂
My evil twin came out while I watched him, I texted a friend and said that he squirmed like a teenager who REALLY wanted to be on his phone scrolling for porn instead of sitting there. Or perhaps he needed a booster seat as he kept twisting around and trying to sit up.
You couldn't actually see it, but his head was up his ass.
I think more like the Keebler Elf
Regina! Totally!!! How funny
You could almost see the strings.
He looked like he was waiting outside the principal's office in grammar school.
Unfortunately, his actions, manner and sheer idiocy drew me to watch him the entire time, a very strange little man.
Like a wee elf sitting on a tack
Ants in his pants?
Regina called it out. Mikes just an Elf on the shelf.
hahahaahhaaaaa....WHATTTT? ME(???) WORRY (!!!). As a thirteen year-old in Rumson, NJ that was my favorite magazine on the lower shelves in the corner drugstore. I loved the humor. It influenced my behavior. It was genius, and not dirty/toilet associated humor. or drawings of girls with big tits. Damn sure not "Captain Underpants" books like I found in our 2nd & 3rd grade classrooms yesterday. Whewww. Alfred E. Neuman , rock on!
That is, vote for sanity.
The GOP simply acted like the comrades they are! Led by the Orange narcissist & Putin protege, they acted in obedience last night like good little puppets!
Exception: Senator James Langford!
And Romney, who frequently stood up.
I didn’t catch that. Thanks for mentioning. He was very cozy with Manchin though. Interesting to imagine those conversations.
I thought the same about those convos, Christy.
And actually Lindsey was giggling a little, like he was enjoying the speech.
Lindsey was giddy because Joe went off script and mentioned him by name. Made his day.
Exactly. And Biden knew!
I noticed that too! He looked happy!
I am certain Senator Lankfird feels really betrayed after doing the very hard work he was assigned, succeeded, then got thrown under the bus!
MAGA only has loyalty to Trump. Even though the border legislation was good, the Orange Narcissist said no. It would be a disadvantage to his political strategy if passed. So, the little minions followed his lead & basically said to hell with Langford!
Very very true!!I agree with you!!We need to keep our democracy intact!!Don’t let the MAGA clan and Don the Con win!!!
Agreed. And in my 47 years of being eligible to vote, I’ve taken great pride in looking at the facts, policies and record before choosing who gets my vote. And over the years, that vote has been widely varied among both democrats and republicans. (Yes, I’m a proud independent for 47 years) But in these dangerous times, I wouldn’t vote for anyone with an “R” preceding their name, even if they were running for local dog-catcher!! Straight ticket blue is how I’m voting!!!!!
ME TOO alll the way BLUE💙
They live in fear, them hands sitters
Agreed 👍
Our Heather's key point came early in hers tonight.
And hers -- "Biden continued to broaden the Democrats’ tent" -- was only underlined by cameras scanning the hall.
Dems looked energized, not just by their leader, President Biden, but by him as their friend, and obviously as the friend of all Americans. He animated them. They all up standing again and again at his decency and common sense. And this delight in public service, this rapport among so many so diverse, only now redounds unto a campaign for which millions long.
Compare this all with the dour, unsmiling, petulant faces of Republicans. This contempt for America, this lack of life, amply also shows their spinelessness both in having no programs for America, and in having fawning, cult servility to their leader in hatreds, leader in racism, leader in rancor. Hostages all are to the worst in theocratic bullying. Hostages to the most murderous dictators in the world. Hostages to the most cynical of U.S. billionaires. Hostages to the heckling white trash among them.
We have much to look forward to now. So correctly Heather has got it in our best now well broadening their tent, ours.
I think that since trump came along, I have become more patriotic each passing year. And that's because the America I envision, the America I want to fight for, is the America that was on display on the Democratic side of the aisle last night.
💯 agree! Great comment.
Absolutely 💯 💙💙💙
✅️
Phil, perfect description of the both the vibe at the SOTU last night and the competing ideologies of the two parties.
Love this comment. 🤩 losers versus winners. How can you not want to be on the team that’s winning? Hopefully many fence sitters were finally hearing truth instead of propaganda from the MSM
Wouldn't it have been great if Trump's little Johnson had torn up Biden's speech in the end?
It would have been the perfect exclamation point to their classless behavior.
When Nancy did it to Donald, Gary, it was an active, vital, classy statement of apt disgust.
Today's Republican white trash have zero classy statements of anything, about anything, for anything.
Our Madam Speaker was and is a class act. The republicans don’t come close. She’d squish them under her heel!
I totally agree. I cheered out loud when Nancy did it. Trump lied his way through that entire SOTU. I was at least as disgusted as she was.
I recall she had extended her hand politely to shake DT's hand at the beginning when he passed the copy of the speech to her, and he refused. She waited calmly for the end and then calmly conveyed her opinion by slowing, deliberately tearing her copy of the speech slowly, neatly and deliberately.
He doesn't have the cojones.
He doesn’t have the wherewithal or the courage to do something like that. He’s hiding something inside that small fearful little man.
He would be pitiful except that the traps he has made for himself make him very dangerous.
Regardless of party, one would LIKE to believe that these people represent US, the American voters, and many of the TRUTHS Biden stated should make EVERY ONE OF THEM stand and applaud. The fact that they did not is very, very telling.
And once again, MTG practicing her "performative politics" by donning a MAGA hat that was three sizes too big. In all seriousness, can anyone cite a single thing that she has done to directly improve the lives of the people in her district?
As Beau of the Fifth Column always says about the GOP: they don't want to REPRESENT you, they want to RULE you.
I came away from last night both heartened and amazed by Democrats’ show of animation, diversity, and colorful display of passion, and gobsmacked by their contrast with the wooden, white and dour Republican showing. What a sad commentary on what must be a bleak, pessimistic and unhappy existence.
To use my newly learned S-A-T word, portmanteau (i.e., blending two words into one), I cite two examples.
1st, President Biden is an 'optimumist'.✌️
2nd, Trump is just another 'pestimist'. 🤬
Don't understand "optimumist". Feels more like 'opportunist' . But 'pestimist'? Superb!
Optimumist is an admittedly ungainly blend of optimum with optimist. 😉 Yes, it is lame, l know. 🤭
Ned McDoodle -- Thanks for your not ungainly response!
Truth be told: I swiped the 'pestimist' from the Treasurer of The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company when I was calling on that company thirty years ago. 😳 My only decent portmanteau was in Mexico: estadostupidense. 😱
So well said, Phil. I don't understand the last sentence for some reason.
Heather sees "the broadening," the widening, expansion of the big tent.
We can enjoy that positivity, that welcome embrace of others -- others as different from us, perhaps, but human like any individuals in any "group."
This sentence "
Thank you, Professor. President Joe was strong, honest and correct. What I loved most was saying how his age allowed him to understand the past, and to know what to do for the future. I never worried about his age. Personally, I know people have, but we have to remember he is a good man and maybe he’s not the best orator or speaker,(he did a pretty good job), but he goes to work every day for the American people. I believe he does his job. I don’t think our other person believes in hard work, or cares about the country as a whole. Only about his view of himself. I believe it’s time that we take Joe’s words and share them amongst ourselves, and to any naysayers, talk to people about his common sense, and the love of his country, the country we love too. His goal has always been I believe, as the constitution says life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We are a diverse people, and I go out among them and everyone is good and that’s what makes us great. Stay kind, considerate, compassionate, and resolute thank you Joe for doing your job we voted you to do. I will vote for you again. Sorry everybody it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and I tend to ramble ha ha ha ha have a great Friday and weekend and know that the path ahead is blue.
Mike,
YES! Our current and future President..."BUILDS BACK BETTER"!!!! He is for all of us...he is for freedom . He does not need to be anyone's "retribution" he is focused on working for all the people of the USA!!! He is working for the ideal of freedom for all....even those who foolishly want to destroy our freedoms. He knows, we are better together when we work to solve problems that will benefit our entire population.
Those who want to focus on hate and disruptions have no ideas for building up our country. Their words are not filled with ways to improve our education systems for all including those who live miles away from cities.
They do not want to improve the situation at our borders but only to use it to disrupt and separate our citizens when there is so much good we could be accomplishing.
President Joe Biden does care.
And as far as my confused Christian friends go....Joe Biden actually lives like a person of faith....not as a robot...not like a mindless follower but as a real human being with heart, soul and mind promoting goodness, building friendships.....working hard to keep this country and world together. It will never be perfect but it will not be because Joe and his hardworking team are being slack. Thank you President Joe Biden and all persons everywhere who are giving their lives everyday to "Build Back Better"!!!! not only physically but with good will!!!
Emily-well said. Did you notice how Joe was kissing, hugging, engaging with people and smiling? He cares about everyone, our nation and the world.
I couldn’t even imagine his “predecessor” even getting that close to people. He only cares about himself. People that love America will vote for Biden-those who don’t will vote for the other guy.
The R response by Britt was cringeworthy-what a dishonest performance-having a woman in the kitchen feigning emotion was just too much. I’m more optimistic now that democracy might be perfected in America.
That is how I felt. A performer. Find’s think of the kitchen scenario 😡
Thank you. You said it all, exactly 💙
Bright Blue!!!!
This is why Haley says Biden is "dangerous"! Republicans are against fairness for everyone. "Dangerous" because someone they consider undeserving might have a better life and future. 💙💙💙
Haley is as clueless as the insipid clown she could hardly bring herself to criticize.
After hearing my president speak last night , teach me how to stutter.
Amen💙💙💙
💙💙💙
Thank you Heather.
It is interesting how much weight is placed upon the State of the Union address. Many media outlets were stating that this was "President Biden's moment" to dispel thoughts about his being too old to govern. During his predecessor's time in office, the press clamored, describing the SOTU as a time in which he could appear "Presidential".
I started to reflect about the Presidency. During my lifetime I've seen great orators like John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Ronald Reagan, in spite of being one of the worst Presidents in modern history was excellent behind the microphone (providing he wasn't joking about missiles flying).
President Biden and VP Harris have assembled an excellent Cabinet and team. He's established a vision for the United States which is to lead through strength, stability, and compassion. His approach to the economy, strengthening Unions and the middle class -growth from the middle out (the complete opposite of the Reagan/GOP trickle-down fraud) is excellent.
While his SOTU was good -that's not my primary focus on governance and never will be. An excellent orator can be inspiring. Ultimately, a solid, experienced team leading for the good of all Americans and the world is my key consideration for the office.
By comparison, Trump Cabinet was more of a criminal organization -and that has set the bar for today's Putin/Trump/MAGA GOP -they are no longer a political party. An opposing party would still be defending the Constitution and the laws and principles of America while offering policy alternatives under the framework of democracy. The Putin/Trump/MAGA GOP vision is to destroy the system and replace it with massive wealth concentration, hate, fear, isolationism and retribution.
So while the speech was a good one, I am grateful for the sane governance offered by the Biden/Harris administration and would support and vote for them if the SOTU had simply been President Biden reading the nation a bedtime story, putting false teeth into a jar, and saying "goodnight America."
Trump's cabinet was a gang of crooks and saboteurs. I'd vote for a sack of potatoes over an autocrat, but Biden is in most respects far more "presidential" than I had hoped for.
The media insisted on crowning Ronald Reagan as "The Great Communicator"and clearly his Nielsen ratings were high, but he never ever impressed me in terms of substance or style. He seemed more like a game show host. And his smearing of government of, by and for the people was unforgivable. It sent us in a tailspin toward Trump. Compare the rhetoric and poetry of Lincoln's salient utterances to any of Reagan's patter. Or Trump's diatribes compared to Yesterday's SOTU. The office of president appears to me to be best served by a wise and capable administrator who is also an inspiring speaker.
So true. Reagan's hilarious "I'm with the government and I'm here to help" and one of Reagan's elves -Grover Norquist said "I want a government so small I can drown it in a bathtub." As disgusting as these two utterances are, today's extremist GOP through their actions now want a government vast enough to regulate books and women's bodies (presumably when they aren't in the kitchen like Senator Katie Britt), but small enough so they are ineffective on matters of public health, public safety, and the obscenely wealthy evading taxes.
Working in civil service during the Reagan administration was painful. I wish I had saved the memo with the rules for women to wear pants to work. His phony concern about the budget while having countless state dinners to play dress up. Don the Con added nastiness and a revolving door making himself supreme among all the “actings” in a new version of Alice in Wonderland. Who will take the vp offer and wonder when he (or she) will hear OFF WITH HIS (or her) HEAD on the campaign trail ?
Thank you HCR for a perfect summary of the SOTU.
Authoritarians are apt to use pomp and circuses to reinforce their illusion of supremacy. Halfwit Hitler wanted grand military spectacles, but the military was resistant. Republican's say "let them eat austerity while Trump spent a large fortune on golf escapades. I have no doubt the Don the Con would scream "Off with their heads" if he thought he could get away with it.
Remind folks, smaller govt doesn't mean better, just weaker in every sense which leads to regular people get screwed over by their govt due to the powerful controlling it. FASCISM 101.
Yes, and opens the door to privatization. Too many people generalize that business can be more efficient than public sector. They forget that the goal is to provide services to society, and not simply generate dividends and profit for institutional and wealthy investors.
For all of the people who carry signs to rallies "I want government out of healthcare (except for regulating women's bodies)" -they are saying they would much rather have Wall Street decide which child gets the life-saving operation and which doesn't -because have to hit our quarterly profit numbers for executive bonuses.
Spot on. And why I keep railing against all the insurance companies offering Medicare Advantage (their advantage, not ours). Criminal activity, in my book.
It really is. I hit Medicare age last year, and beginning about 15 months before, I was inundated with at least 2 or 3 Medicare "Advantage" pamphlets a week. I found a trusted insurance agent (she came highly recommended by several friends) and my wife and I went. She presented both "advantage" plans and Medicare "Plan B" supplemental. At one point, my wife asked "If Advantage is such a great deal, why are they pushing it so hard?"
She gave a completely professional answer and said, essentially, they are in it for profit. We both said "oh, hell no" at the same time. We made our Plan B and prescription coverage selections. The agent then said this (and I paraphrase, since that was so last year) "Those plans work great until they don't."
James, it is criminal activity.
I want us to tackle some time in the near future Isurance companies that have taken over healthcare. They have the power to deny or approve much needed healthcare issues such as surgery, medicines etc. Enough. Also paying so very little to the actual Doctors and therapists. It truly is a crime. They take in billions of dollars and supposedly are non-profit my A__
The problem with running government like a business is that they are completely different functions. Business needs to make a profit. Government needs to run the country and all that entails.
Ally: homeless people are a net loss unless you can force them into expensive, privately-run internment camps.
My sister-in-law was on a jury for a civil trial where the assistant HR director was fired. He was suing the largest hospital group in ME for wrongful dismissal.
During the trial the hospital group disclosed that the top 9 executives bring in a minimum of $3 million a year -- each. Their compensation with bonus was about $33 million.
The fired HR assistant director won the case because the hospital didn't follow their own procedures when they terminated him. My sister-in-law pushed through a $1.5 million settlement for him.
But government can be "business" run if the CONservatives would stop forcing Zero Based Budgeting on business. That means any and all profit must be dispensed at the end of a year. Either by tax reduction or reducing the budget to the lower end of expenses. This was done to prevent government growth. Rather than allowing government agencies to bank a surplus and build a fund like Norway has with their sovereignty fund, CONservative in America demand that tax money be returned to tax payers. SO in that aspect, they fail business 101. Non-profits do not operate in that manner so why does government? Because as COnservatives see government as a nuisance. Smaller govt does not mean better. It means weaker which allows those at the top of the economic food chain to exploit others. Remember that it is a very rare thing where someone achieves uber wealth without exploiting people, ethics, or the law - or all three.
Privatization - another big CONservative lie.
"Freedom is not the absence of the state"- Dr. Tim Snyder
Less to No Government worldview is very privileged thinking. Its comes from the Libertarian Playbook. It is an error only those in functional states can make. "Political Adolescence". Try living in a non functioning state without police, in lawlessness. Is that freedom? Evangelical's love this though, bring about the "end of days" and Jesus's return. Libertarians think they have the money and guns to protect themselves in a non regulated economy, behind high walls with no law enforcement. R's are delusional, cult like in their beliefs.
No, the Libertarians are not anarchists; they like plenty police, as "the one legitimate function of the state is the protection of private property." And that is *by definition* "very privileged thinking."
Yeah, but….who’s private property?
Libertarians want you to believe they mean “everyone’s” property, but we know that is not true.
Sounds like they are emulating Haiti. The idiots actually want to defund the DOJ, the FBI, the CIA, etc. While calling for complete immunity for police officers. Haiti.
By "small government" their intent is for the same 5 or 6 people to be in charge of everything, with their Big Man at the top. Feudalism, in other words.
Yep, betcha Grover is all in on the updated plans set forth in Project 2025…. Wish that Joe had mentioned that. People need to know.
There's still time Jeri for Biden to get in many more digs.
One thing that struck me was Morning Joe said this was Biden's best speech by far.
Morning Joe hasn't been listening because I have been absolutely blown away by a couple of other Biden speeches. If I'm not mistaken Biden and his speechwriters have reached out to HCR for ideas and comment.
Dems have really missed some opportunities, hope they have learned…
I thought the same. They can only squeeze so much in, they gotta draw a line I guess.
But that needs to be blared from every outlet. People have no clue what is in store if the cretins regain power…
Reagan was a puppet for Charles Koch to usher in Libertarianism—a government raping and plundering the national wealth, destroying infrastructure, education and environmental protection; Malignant capitalism that has resulted, today, in an Oligarchy of fascist billionaires seeking to overthrow democracies worldwide. Reagan showed signs of Alzheimer’s in his FIRST term, but no one wanted to look. In the second term, Nancy and Dick Cheney propped him up like the dummy he was.
Biden had to pull this economy out of an abyss after tRump botched the Covid epidemic. People brainlessly complaining that “they don’t feel” economic improvement have NO IDEA how close we came to crashing and burning. The Trumpanzees , acting like the Deplorable People they are, most certainly TOOK THE MONEY when Biden relief was issued to keep people in their homes and employed. HOW DARE tRump make claims about the economy! HOW DARE HE—-he tanked the good economy he INHERITED from Obama, who also had to rescue this country from the unbridled greed of the banking and real estate sectors. If you don’t remember that—watch the movie, The Big Short.
As interest rates have risen, the debt Trump added through tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy will limit economic growth in the United States for a generation. The fact that President Biden's policies -to grow from the middle out, have provided some stability and improvement is nothing short of heroic.
Is this where "blame everything on immigrants" came from?
Read “Democracy in Chains” by Nancy MacLean for the roots and ideology of Libertarianism. They used the writings of Lenin and Nazis for how to apply policies to a populations that otherwise would not find acceptable. How do you make people embrace methods that ultimately rob them, starve them, reduce their standard of living?
Well, Divide and Conquer is a major tool. Religion is a major tool. Set up a false choice of Us vs Them. Fear tactics. False Patriotism. Immigrants are an easy target; Antisemitism is practically a cliche; LGBQ are a perennial target. Women have ALWAYS been suppressed.
“Democracy in Chains” is heavy reading, even by my daughter’s standards, and she has a ph.D in an applied science 🤣. But it is worth it.
Another good book is “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein. Libertarianism is unbridled capitalism—frank theft, decimating the Middle Class and moving wealth to the elite Corporate oligarchs. That’s why the tax system has been so skewed by the RNC—and why we are seeing wealth concentrated among tyrants today, including the Koch Gang of Fascist Billionaires who use the RNC to install puppets.
The unstated problems with immigrants have to do with Global Climate Change—50 years of RNC denial has brought us to a tipping point. With Global Climate Change comes mass migrations and refugees as resources run out. For EXAMPLE: Right NOw—22 MILLION people in Mexico City face a dire water shortage. 22 Million, desperate people could make the southern borders look like the Alamo. . .
And while the RNC wants women pregnant and barefoot, the truth is, the world has a severe overpopulation problem.
Dawna: I’ve been thinking about the climate refugees we will see at our borders for years to come. Because our two parties will never be able to deal with the crisis of the moment, there is certainly no planning for the future. I foresee walls and barbed/razor wire around the borders of every northern hemisphere nation..
Great juxtaposition, comparing Grover's stated aims with the reality of Reagan destroying trust in a government that had made great advances for us.
Look at his first campaign stops, especially the Neshoba County Fair a few miles from the County Seat, Philadelphia, Mississippi. (I was born in the Nashoba Valley 22 miles from Lexington Green, so the spelling was close enough to interest me, as was the County seat being Philadelphia.)
The similarity in names suckered me in a bit, but the discovery that the Philadelphia he campaigned in so early was far from the areas I associated with patriotism, especially finding out that was where the 3 Civil Rights workers, Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were murdered. I remember thinking the location of the bodies was given up relatively soon since they started looking for their bodies and found so many others that they wanted them to stop looking as soon as possible.
Depending upon where you look, you find very different stories that leave out half the important stuff. The place I found a tighter grouping of the stuff left out is at https://theintercept.com/2015/09/16/seven-things-reagan-wont-mentioned-tonight-gops-debate/
"...But no matter how much the candidates talk about Reagan, you can be sure that none of these extremely important things about him will come up. And maybe that’s appropriate — since if Reagan stood for anything as president, it was creating a completely fictionalized version of the past..."
Looking back, I see how close the actual dog fighting (not seen by me at the time) was between Reagan and Gerald Ford and how each considered then rejected the other as VP picks. See https://millercenter.org/president/reagan/campaigns-and-elections
I look at one tid bit more attentively (to me a bit reflective now on money in politics)
"...In an incident that has become legendary in American political history, the moderator of the second debate ordered Reagan's microphone turned off as the candidates and their advisers argued about the debate's format. Reagan, paraphrasing a line from an old Spencer Tracy movie, defiantly responded, "I paid for this microphone..."
Indeed he did PAY for the microphone, I just wish we had campaign rules that made it possible for all reasonably supported candidates to have fair access to the microphones that can reach all the people. Remember the Fairness Doctrine?
Thank you for sharing -important background and detail. If Putin/Trump/MAGA is the manifestation of the falling-down house, Reagan most certainly poured the foundation. Attacks on public service, higher education, Unions, the societal safety net, mental health, the Fairness Doctrine, and economic policy that led to the extreme wealth inequality that is antithetical to any form of meaningful democracy today.
Adding an old thought of mine to your description of a falling house, I considered the Citizens United decision as knocking out the "temporary" shoring from houses, before anyone could think of how to create effective rules based more permanent foundations.
Who would have thought about what we lost as old informal standard foundations, not set in stone well enough to withstand a Supreme Court Hurricane Sandy would be needed (and is still needed).
Very true Jim. After McConnell stole the Garland nomination, frat brother Kavanaugh was nominated and Coathanger Barrett replaced RBG, I now put 'Supreme' in quotes, along with 'Justice.' And that was before the luxurious vacations and cash prizes were bestowed upon Thomas and his insurrectionist wife, and Alito started using Witch trials as precedent for some of his so-called thinking.
Republicans have become Orwellian labelers, and we should not just accept their and pass on their deceptive mislabeling. "Small Government" was always cover for their actual agenda, which is suppression of democracy and conversion to government by and for the wealthy. Sending SWAT teams to enforce evictions is not "small" government, nor is enforcement of sexual prejudice. Bailing out bankrupt bankers is not small government. Deliberate voter suppression is not small government. It's only "small", way small, when it comes to serving the common good.
" The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves---in their separate, and individual capacities.
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere." - Lincoln
Very true. Dr. George Lakoff has continued to provide important thinking about political language and framing.
Reagan was a better actor than I gave him credit for. He fooled a lot of people, maybe he should have gotten an Oscar because his performance was way better than the reality of his presidency. Of course, Peggy Noonan and Michael Deaver were on the job making the image seem real. He was just a huckster with better PR. Chump is a huckster with Rupert’s propaganda machine to cut and paste him into human form. One was an empty suit, the other is an empty suit with a really bad tailor. EMPTY describes all republicans. Can Rupert make it seem otherwise with Joe needing no help being the caring, effective human that he is. Ye hear that MSM…
One of the worst things Reagan did for the US and democracy was to bring the white Faux-christian nationalists into the Republican tent. Is it really conservative to take away human rights and to support white-collar crime? President Biden made the point in closing, that Republicans take away freedoms. The white faux-Christian nationalists love to take away freedoms, especially from women, immigrants and the underprivileged.
and God approves. A sure sign that bull schitt rules the fools
"More like a game show host"
That is fantastic! It also speaks to the level of acumen of today's RepubliKan voters
It's a line from "Ghostbusters", but I think it fits; all sales pitch and no substance. TeeVee is a top-down medium, you only see what they want you to see and it's easy to blend fact with fiction. I initially thought that the open access, peer to peer architecture of the Internet was resistant to that, and forums like this prove that's so, but corporate power still found ways to dominate what is ultimately a public sector creation, and with it, dominate society. I love free enterprise, but not oligarchy and not monopoly. Consent of the aggregated governed with protection of "unalienable" individual human rights are our system's "better angels". We are letting the tail wag the dog.
Did you mean RepubliKlan?
It's why I use a capital "K". If I knew how to make a "cubed" I'd do that.
The speech was a GREAT one, and fully agreed, as even the best rock and roll performers well know, "surround yourself with good people"... including the making of that phenomenal speech. But what a delivery!!!
Exactly! I remember the revolving door of incompetence that was the last administration. He often seemed to choose leaders for a position that were bent on destruction of that institution. If insider accounts are to be believed the few brave souls that worked to keep him on the rails had to stoop to hiding papers so he would not sign them and slipping his name into information so he would read it. No way to run a government.
Indeed Cameron. Corruption and incompetence.
I think the biggest takeaway from the speech is the opportunity to tell the TRUTH to the American people unfiltered by all the corporate personhood of the MSM media’s propaganda. That was HUGE 🤩.
It helps. Unfortunately there are far too many willfully ignorant who are "factose" intolerant and will continue to maintain blind fealty to Putin/Trump/MAGA.
"factose intolerant"
You win the internet today, sir.
You know I try on a daily basis! However even Willie Mays only had a lifetime batting average of .302.
🤣
George, i LOVE your astute phrase and am going to use it every chance I can!!
THANK YOU.
I'm here to help! :)
Brava on your comment!
Consistent with your comment is this young man’s post. Unfortunately, it’s on Facebook. Hope you can still view it.
I loved it! https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Freel%2FC3oAcobODUe%2F&h=AT1uJvWvaSJ8sGSb1nUshdgwkt1hgixTEoVJM54SaLYmslSN94qqdqqbBb91ub4mOJ-lK-1A1ilzgPfjaSSyV9YCvNijjR085gnftxVLxWt2y4_p03cy1lmO2cZzXcWqnv4hUQj8Ewuy&s=1
Thanks for sharing Christy! He's excellent.
Yes! The team is everything, yet rarely do our lame news media focus on the people Pres Biden has assembled, and exactly what they are struggling to accomplish.
For example how many of us know what each Latin American country is up to, stressed by, led by, beholden to, and in many cases the source of that stress (hint: US demand for more illegal drugs).
Very true Peter. We decimated many counties through our preference for authoritarian leaders over democracies (like Kissinger's work to eliminate Allende in Chile). The refugees who now flee poverty, gangs, and violence are the results of, for example, Reagan's intervention in El Salvador. You can't burn down the apartment building next door and then wonder why so many are trying to come to your building for housing.
Exactly!
Exactly!
George, a crooked leader or mob boss will never surround himself with honest people. The leader would always have to fear that an honest subordinate would “get the goods” on him. No, such leaders need underlings who have enough dishonesty in their background that the leader holds the power to blackmail. Their Cabinets alone prove who is the dishonest leader and who is the honest one. Case closed.
Like the ending humor.
Speaking of the present cabinet. Biden has kept the same cabinet for three years unlike tRump that changed his cabinet (fired frequently) more than he changed his underwear!
The Republicans are big believers in "Kinder, Kirche, Kuche" - like all right wing scum are. That's what Mrs. Mom demonstrated in her speech. I'm surprised her husband let her run for public office.
The Republicans have been asking for "A damned good whacking" all year and they got it. Hopefully there are more to come. Let them stand from mid-summer through the election because their posteriors are so raw.
I am in a different time zone and did not hear the speeches, but when I hear that Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) delivered her speech from her kitchen, it is in keeping with the fact that they could not elect a woman as their candidate, choosing instead a convicted rapist. Britt should also remind all women that AL is the state that brought IVF to its knees, a big contradiction to their general Hitlerian-like Lebensborn ideology of birthing as many White children as possible to keep the majority in the USA. Happy International Women's Day! It is a national holiday here in Germany so many have the day off!
Treat yourself and watch it on YouTube.
Guten Tag
Happy Holiday! KB was possitively saccharine, sprinkled with maternal scolding. She seemed incredibly hollow to me.
She had all the skill in delivery of those who never had any talent to begin with. I saw it a lot over 30 years in Okeefenokee West.
Was the symbolism of a female Republican senator giving her speech from a kitchen on purpose, or are they that tone-deaf?
I think they are simply emboldened by their cult. As they get increasingly transparent with their agenda and actions their cult gets louder and increasingly fervent. It’s as if they are feeding each other. They get so much support from the MSM. It will be interesting to see if MSM sticks with them after the raw truth was revealed to the country so clearly last night.
Totally tone deaf as fu....
Yes, Robin, they are that tone deaf. A high end kitchen is not the setting for the kitchen table discussions they are clearly NOT having.
Both.
And she will be forgotten tomorrow, as well as what she said.
The standard Curse of the Rising GOP Star - sentenced to give the SOTU response. Widdle Marco Rubio and his water glass are finally happy they've been demoted.
It was both. On purpose and yes, they are that tone-deaf.
Are we prepared for what R's have in store? Economic Sabotage and October surprise. We need to be prepared. I don't know what is in store for October, but I bet it will have Putin/FSB/Russian Intelligence roots.
I do believe gas prices, controlled much by Saudi Arabia's Port Arthur Refinery and colluding with Russia to cut production could send gas over $6 a gallon this summer and fall. That could swing the election and we need a plan. Thom Hartman is on point here and tfoff tipped off their plan a few nights ago when he cut himself off in a very revealing way. Maybe the people should buy those oil futures now? There has to be pain both ways when one of our parties allows foreign oil oligarchies to influence our elections by crashing our economy. How in the hell did we allow Aramco to buy Port Arthur, one of our largest refineries? this is too much strategic power over us!
https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-saudi-and-putin-scheme-for-screwing-1e4?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Trump Gaff's Montage ( skip to 1:00 m and play...)
"we are a nation that just recently heard that Saudi Arabia and Russia will rRrrr...( cuts himself off) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkHShhTSMeA
Thom Hartmann is really worth listening to...complementing HCR every day, and using history as she does to illuminate our present chaos and shine light on the well-dressed villains. His output is prodigious and he loves to speak with ...US!
Republicans appear so conformist now. They remind me of pastry: All white dough on the inside, with a veneer of Christian-sweet icing.
How many times did Biden lose the thread of his thought? Forget where his speech was going? How many times did he stutter, struggle to remember, or show any of the other signs of dementia TFG and MAGA mopes seek to attach to Biden’s public image?
None. Nada. Zero.
Biden exhibited a savvy politician on top of his game.
Lately, his competition, uh… not so much. TFG could not have given the same speech. Not even close.
Ben Franklin said, “A republic; if you can keep it.”
Let’s keep it.
Handing it over to a stupid, ugly excuse for a human is just too much to bear.
"Handing it over to a stupid, ugly excuse for a human is just too much to bear."
Even worse, there's a major political party ready, willing, and able to do just that.
That is the reason I am weary to my bones.
THAT is the shocking part. His hubris is a lifelong mental disorder. His followers? They have gulped the Koolaid and the brainwashing is complete.
President Joseph R. Biden delivered the State of the Union, tonight, and did he deliver a Barnburner!
When last did The United States of America sound so bright, so strong and so ready to defeat its enemies? They shall go unnamed at this time, except to say that the President did refer to The Supreme Court. and his predecessor.
He woke up the House, the whole House, your house and my house.
Welcome home to the best economy in the world and our Democracy that will blossom more fully with spring as it grows stronger.
Some old dudes are better with age and experience.
Thank you President Biden.
"My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor."
"Now, other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me. I was born amid World War II, when American stood for the freedom of the world." (posted on Civil Discourse as well)
__President Joseph R. Biden
Yes! Thank You, Fern!
Yes, Thank you, Fern, as always. And Heather, as always.
And everyone’s continuing input.
I gain so much from all of you.
Thank you for your great spirit. Onward!
Me, too! Such a pleasure to read comments on this triumphant success of a speech without having to step over the piles the troll usually leaves.
The speech was so well crafted. Biden has delivered several speeches that are blow away good. I hope he shares his speechwriters with some of the other Democrat candidates that are in tight races.
As a note, that faucet behind her cost over $200. ( I priced many when we updated the kitchen & recall that model running about $289. Needless to say, we didn’t pick that one.) Her husband was a pro football player. She’s pulling down $175k/yr. Okay. Lots of difficult discussions around THAT kitchen table.
The oddest thing was her cheery smile while claiming hellhole status for the USA. It was like the love child of an internet influencer & 1984.
I noticed the kitchen faucet also, since we remodeled ours a few years ago. I thought she was dreadful, and having her speak from that room (was it really there or was that just a “green screen”?) was a very poor choice even for the Repugnants.
Actually, as a Sarasota County, Florida resident I found her to be a typical Stepford style Mom of Liberty. Her acting was ridiculous, her outrage dishonest, and she seemed to be auditioning for an audience of one. “America’s Mom”???? God help the children.
Too creepy to watch and listen to, rebuttal without relevance speaks nonsense. Biden encouraged confidence and tenacious teamwork.
I turned off the tv a minute in.
You make a good point Teri. I was thinking about TFFG's sheltered life earlier. Does he ever drive anywhere to meet with the average American? His campaign screens the far-right nut cases he allows to come into his rallies. And if someone heckles him, he has them removed.
He sends his someone (most likely a woman) to Wendy's or McDonalds to get his food, because heaven forbid, he actually talks to real people. He uses natural disasters and mass shootings as campaign stops and if he needs cash, he pulls another grift.
He's going to soon be exposed for lying to the court about having $400 million in cash. The E Jean Carroll penalty for $91 million is due today.
Anyone bet that he'll actually put up the cash today?
Where are his supporters and friends now that he needs half a billion dollars?
What friends?
Well, Orban was just here. He owns the RNC now.
My thought exactly.
Teri, her acting was Soap Opera worthy, no more
Stepford wife??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stepford_Wives_(1975_film)
I'm a bit more interested in why she helped craft the border bill with Lankford, then came out against it, when Trump surprised them by effectively vetoing it.
Well, she did give that response from a kitchen, like any dutiful Republican woman. And she has an obvious need to be subservient: how else do we explain her kneeling before T****?
She seemed a modern day stepford wife/influencer.
I didn't notice the faucet... the treacly sound of her voice as she vomited her doom-and-gloom vision of the greatest country on earth was more than I could take. Thankfully, there was an old episode of "Law and Order" on another channel that rescued me from listening to that smarmy twit from Alabama.
The GOPers lost ground as a result of this speech.
Watching Squeaker Johnson lookng miserable during the speech spoke volumes. Everything Joe said put him on the spot, and he had no defense to offer. The president spoke without a single gaffe and made every point he wanted to make. He even recognized the pinch points, from the murdered jogger to the wrongful deaths of so many Palestinians, and then he put the onus on the legislature to send him bills that would let him effectively address those problems.
After the speech, he was so energetic that he made a point of staying on the House floor to shake hands. So much for "too old".
Later, when Senator Britt came out in Stepford Wife mode to rebut the speech, it was laughably bad.
She sounded like a Save the Children advertisement, and nothing she said related to Joe's speech.
At this rate, the prediction holds that if we vote Blue up and down the ballot, and re-take the House & hold the Senate, we WILL relegate the MAGA repubs to spend the next 30 years in the wilderness as a minor regional party. The news might be daunting but this event was a much needed shot in the arm!
If sanity can rule this November, it will not solve the problem, but it will be our DDay plus. We will be on the march. They will still scream stop the steal. But the momentum will be formidable.
If that happens hopefully SCOTUS can be expanded or Alito and Thomas will be eliminated And Robert's, of course.
Like with Biden having to rebuild the government and the country after TFFG left office it will take several years to undo the damage done by the Robert's court.
The Roberts court will be noted, one hundred years on, as the most corrupt in history. And the most dangerous to human rights.
It is my professional opinion, as a primary care doctor, that President Joe Biden can still kick some ass in the name of decency, dignity, and democracy.
Too old? While working memory may diminish with age, accumulated knowledge keeps compounding like interest.
Emotional regulation and wisdom tend to increase with age, contributing to better decision-making and reduced emotional volatility, ultimately enhancing overall cognitive function and leadership capabilities in older adults. We saw that tonight, and we’ve seen it since Obama/Biden.
We should be so fortunate to have the same old guy keep leading this country. When we look at the historic and astounding list of accomplishments the Biden team has actually delivered, we can only marvel at the wizard conducting the show.
Gandalfs, not Sarumans. Yodas, not Emperors. Dark Brandons, not Dark Bandits.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/2/2227019/-Biden-and-older-people-are-national-treasures-and-often-possess-superior-cognitive-skills
Let’s roll.
"When we look at the historic and astounding list of accomplishments the Biden team has actually delivered, we can only marvel at the wizard conducting the show."
Right on, Doctor. It truly is a team, and yet several of the individuals on his team are capable of being President -- Harris, of course, Buttigieg, Yellen, Granholm and Halland for starters.
You look at the championship teams in the NFL, NBA, MLB and they all have a few all-starts but they all are great teams.
Biden's bench is indeed deep.
There is a reason that in many societies it's the "Elders" that are venerated & their wisdom in sought after.
Dr. McCormick-thank you!! This is awesome!
A working link to the article
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/2/2227019/-Biden-and-older-people-are-national-treasures-and-often-possess-superior-cognitive-skills
Dr. Ryan, very well put.
I am pleased to hear a political speech with genuine substance.
Hear, here!
Thank you for a detailed analysis, one that you obviously relished in writing. President Biden knocked the ball out of the park with his State of the Union speech. I found myself applauding . . . all by my lonesome! I appreciated C-span focussing in on President Biden after he completed his address and was speaking with Congressional and military leaders. This was President Biden unscripted; his mind was sharp. That re-assured me the most.
Ma'am, I really hope that the President's campaign takes the many snip-its available in this speech and puts them into campaign advertisements, perhaps in a compare-&-contrast manner. Dig it: a scowling Trump whining about "Sleepy Joe" juxtaposed with a quote from President Biden that directly refutes the trumper tantrum.
On Senator Britt's speech. Her delivery was facile but her points rather tired and trite. One thing disturbs me with the G.O.P. today more than other deficiencies: exploiting two or three victims of murders by migrants to justify the border story. That is shameful and demagogic.
Glad to know there’s someone else who claps and cheers even if watching the event alone! It’s going to take every single one of us to right the ship.
I did the same! I recalled Nancy tearing up the papers behind tfg.
¡Insomnia has made me capable of a Shakespeare soliloquy! 😉
Yup, startled my dogger with all my clapping and exclaiming “way to go, Joe!”….
Snoozing cat on my lap jumped off. LOL
I watched Senator Britt's speech a second time. 😴 I was wrong; it was not facile. 😵💫 The Senator sounded insincere, not because she is some terrible human being. 🤞But because she sounded as if she had been stuck on a fool's errand. 🤢
I'm impressed you could stick it out a second time! Yeccch.
I couldn’t even listen to the whole thing once. She creeped me out.
Well, I guess insomnia has its dubious benefits. 😉
But not surprising. It’s not a new thing for them. Just more hate and vitriol.
Though I used to be a Republican and remain conservative by temperament, I really had a hard time living the Willie Horton slime down. 😳 The rhetoric of my erstwhile Party is every bit as stale as its ideology is exhausted. 🤭
Me too Ned. Newt Gingrich changed the House so any hint of bi-partisanship was looked down upon. And McConnell was proud of the fact that under his leadership, almost all legislation came to the Senate to die.
There are very few "conservatives" left in Washington, they are repressive regressives. Biden said it last night, old ideas of revenge and retribution and taking away freedom.
Amen right down the line. 😢
P.S., I still believe President Biden should add two Justices to the Supreme Court since Senator McConnell stacked the Court by scalping A.G. Garland's nomination in 2016. Two more Justices would retore the one vote conservative majority that should be in place today.
I am conservative about some things, but I have NEVER been tempted to sign on to the repub version of what that means. Whenever I see campaign signs with "Conservative Republican" front and center, I heave. There is no such thing. People are still fooled by the fools.
Well, the term 'radical Republican' used to be a badge of honor. ✌️ The conservatism I appreciated was one as a counterpoise to liberalism. ⚖️ The liberals would lead the charge ahead into the future while the conservatives would most often seek to make those changes fiscally sustainable or, if the policy had clearly failed or been repudiated, repeal it. 🤔 Likewise, liberals would reel in conservatives if they went to far, turning backward. 🤞 I have always been one for pragmatism; that ideology breeds idiocy. 💡Today's self misnomer of conservatism erases prudence with prudish and democracy with demogogy. 🤢
Can’ argue, but that balance has been skewed for much of my adult life. It’s just been a lead up to Project 2025, it seems.
Same with my adult life. But there was a time of honorable leadership like Presidents Ford and Eisenhower, Senators Dole and Weicker, Governors Christie and Kasich, Attorney General Thornburgh et al. Those days are gone. I wonder how much Trump will drumpf the R.N.C. treasury for. EDIT: of course, I overlooked many women Republicans of impeccable honor: Senators Bailey Hutchinson and Landon Kassebaum, Ambassadors Temple Black and Kirkpatrick, Justice Day O'Connor, Governor Todd Whitman, First Ladies Ford and Bush et many al. the voices of the honorable have been muted; they need to speak up.
Thank you, Heather. Terrific summary. I paid close attention to Moses Mike's body language and facial expressions. Though he occasionally nodded, more often he smirked or shook his head. Tellingly, after he sat down, he only stood once and it wasn't when President Biden talked about the needs of our veterans. Many on Twitter commented on MTG's hat as being against their rules. More critically, I saw the hat as campaigning, which is worse than her lack of decorum.
By times Johnson literally cringed in his seat, loved when his negative on the Senate border bill was contrasted with Scranton's (name right?) affirmative nod, "you're right". Biden was masterful in calling out both the Supreme Court conservative majority and the seat-glued GOP gang. Morning Joe was right this morning, the GOP is on the wrong side of American majorities and "history" right down the line.
Lankford's his name, and boy did he look pissed.
I saw an almost constant smirk on Speaker Johnson's face. His expression was tone deaf.
He has no ears
Can MTG ever be counted on to be anything but gross. Won’t hold my breath…
Now there is a woman acting like an eight-year-old brat who needs a good spanking. Atrocious behavior for a member of Congress. But we have become inured to it. And we hope the unintelligent citizens of Georgia who sent her to the House will come to their senses at the next election.
Unintelligent they will remain, I fear.
They won’t
I watched his constant squirm and thought they should have provided a booster seat for him.
As for MTG, once again she finds a way to garner media hits. Too bad it looked like she was wearing a hat to cover a bad-hair day. Next time, maybe someone will give her one that fits her head, Whoever provided that one greatly underestimated the size of the brain that it would be covering.
Speaker Johnson was clapping often, under the desk. What was that about?
Clapping? Is that what he was doing?
I had a different thought of what he was trying to do in public.
I missed that. I assume he operates from fear -- of being unseated, of incurring the wrath of Trump or the god whose voice he hears (though it's often hard to know the difference).
Heather Cox Richardson thank you for your dedication to our nation, its history, and its current condition. Just as our President benefits from experience, your posts help us understand from an historical perspective the events of today. I look forward to your daily letters.
Thank you Heather for today’s letter. Biden was eloquent and joyful in his SOTU. Made me proud to be an American. November 2024
🗳️🇺🇸🗽