USA Today: "Dark Brandon shows up at State of the Union, mops the floor with lost Republicans"

[kpete]

Biden went off script regularly, parrying GOP lawmakers who heckled him, at one point backing the party into a corner and getting them to swear to protect Medicare and Social Security benefits.
Rex Huppke
USA TODAY

President Joe Biden, at the ripe age of 80, came out with ample vim and vigor in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address and proceeded to mop the House floor with the howling, discombobulated remains of the Republican Party.

Preaching populism and leaning hard on his noted skill as the empathizer-in-chief, Biden bounded through a speech that acknowledged the nation’s struggles while remaining unerringly optimistic. He went off script regularly, parrying Republican lawmakers who heckled him, at one point backing the whole party into a corner and getting them to swear to protect Medicare and Social Security benefits.

I’ve never seen anything like it in a State of the Union speech – they ran at him like a pack of lemmings and, with a wink and a grin, he politely directed them to the cliff.

...................

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/02/08/state-union-biden-deflects-republican-heckling-sarah-huckabee-sanders/11202538002/

Playbook notes President Biden had a few goals last night:

Remind his audience of his accomplishments over the last two years.
Reiterate his positions in the spending debate (no negotiations over the debt ceiling and no touching Social Security and Medicare).
Detail the most popular highlights of his 2023 agenda.
Expose his congressional GOP opposition as unreasonable and chaotic.

“The speech accomplished the first three goals if you listened or read it carefully. But it will be best remembered for the dramatic clashes with jeering members of the GOP which may have done more than Biden ever could have hoped to accomplish goal No. 4.”

John Harris: “With boos, taunts, groans, and sarcastic chortles, the opposition party effectively turned themselves into prime-time props for President Joseph Biden."

Link to tweet

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Link to tweet

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https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2023/02/08/bidens-no-compromise-sotu-00081779?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=0000014e-f0ed-dd93-ad7f-f8edad790000&nlid=630318

[calimary]

1. LOVE this!

[malaise]

2. THIS

I’ve never seen anything like it in a State of the Union speech – they ran at him like a pack of lemmings and, with a wink and a grin, he politely directed them to the cliff.

[panader0]

7. That's a great line.

[liberalla]

18. Excellent!

Love it!

[Skittles]

3. EXCELLENCE

VERY REFRESHING TO HEAR SOMEONE SAY IT LIKE IT IS

[calimary]

32. What's the best part of all is the universal acclaim for Biden in the press.

He certainly earned it, but I was surprised to see all the good reviews!

Ordinarily, it seems to me the media sees him as just another Democratic punching bag.

[Alpeduez21]

4. This was a surprising editorial from USA Today

usually they lean right. Very pleasantly surprised by this. Given the rightist tendencies of this publication it kind of indicates Biden was more successful than this opinion piece suggests.

[Irish_Dem]

6. +1

[Mysterian]

5. Why I did not watch the SOTU address

I simply cannot stand to see these traitorous, imbecile republicans like MTG defiling our seat of government.

I knew Joe would give them hell and I enjoy seeing the highlights.

[wnylib]

8. I can understand how you feel, but

you missed a great moment in American history. Well worth it to see Biden take control of the hecklers and turn the whole thing around to a standing ovation of him and his support for SS and Medicare.

The best part is that this was not something that the MSM could ignore or downplay. The whole nation was watching and the media were capturing it.

[Roc2020]

10. I did not watch because it's no fun watching

a blowout game. Biden has been kicking arse and taking GOP names since the midterms. I thought the SOTU would be the same. I wasn't wrong

[h2ebits]

14. I normally don't watch but glad that I made the exception this time

I started to watch on my PBS station but couldn't stand the political commentary right at the start so turned the tv off and watched on cspan.org instead. I had no interest in listening to the Republican spin speech that followed so turned it off.

Biden was prepared for the peanut gallery and handled them masterfully and with a grin. If you have time to listen, I believe that cspan has a recording that you can watch.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. This makes me smile

Link to tweet

[JI7]

11. The "Brandon" thing is interesting

There has been a total turnaround in it's use . I don't hear Republicans use it anymore . And when Republicans did use it , it just came off stupid and Cringe .

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. Plus, Biden spoke of "The Talk" !!!

Many clueless white heads spinning I bet.

[AllyCat]

13. How much do I love this?!?!?

Reading over and over and over again!

[BumRushDaShow]

15. At 1:16 on the video, CSPAN focuses on teabagger Mike Lee but Lee is sitting next to the culprit

SS/Medicare elimination author Rick Scott, who is sitting to the left of Lee (from the video's perspective)!

[ananda]

16. ... the howling, discombobulated remains of the Republican Party.

[Wild blueberry]

17. Biden was magnificent

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. The Republicans brought silly putty to a knife fight; Biden brought Mjolnir.

He owned the night, and especially in that moment - I had to pause and applaud his brilliant move, backing them into a corner, and then saying, "Great, we're in agreement - thank you."

Stupid fuckers.

[markodochartaigh]

20. One thing which I didn't understand...

Speaker McCarthy barely stood up at all during President Biden's speech. Was Speaker McCarthy afraid that as soon as he stood up his Republican friends would pull the speaker's chair out from under him?

[The Jungle 1]

21. When the teabaggers became popular and started screaming at meetings I responded.

I decided to go to public meeting and do the same thing. When the republican leaders called me out on my behavior. I just explained that if it was Ok for the teabaggers then it was Ok for me. The rules had changed. My local rep stopped doing town hall meeting completely. The teabaggers also stopped screaming at meetings.

So I guess it is time to start screaming at haggy Maggie!!!

[Marthe48]

22. Fabulous read

Skewered the losers!

[Hekate]

23. Lovely-- Lemmings they are

[Danascot]

35. I don't know

I kind of prefer rabid snapping chihuahuas.

[republianmushroom]

24. enjoyed it thank you, Joe

[Cha]

25. TY & USA Today!

[Tanuki]

26. He rope-a-doped 'em!

🤣

[Scrivener7]

28. So much great about that article, not least of which is the fact that the whole "Brandon"

thing has totally been turned around from an insult into an asset.

[Blue Owl]

29. When did USA Today grow some teeth?

[nolabear]

31. Right? That's two articles praising Joe I've seen.

I mean, I’ll take it, but

[betsuni]

30. K&R

[Emile]

33. Don't tread on Dark Brandon 😎

😎

[tavernier]

34. This needs a kick

Because everyone here should start out their day with this fabulous read!