State of Division
Link to Quote: Biden’s State of the Union address: Top 5 moments | Fox News
As State of the Union speeches go, it was probably the least memorable and most boring of all time. It began with another Biden gaffe when he called Chuck Schumer the Senate "Minority Leader." That and a lot of other missteps and stutters and incoherent statements were covered up by MSM in their text of the speech:
Full text: President Joe Biden's 2023 State of the Union address (msn.com)
which is clearly the speech as written, but not as delivered. Although Biden was less divisive than usual, he did take occasional shots at Republicans, starting with lying one again about Republicans trying to cut Medicare or Social Security, both of which Speaker McCarthy took off the table weeks ago. Then Biden lied about jobs he claimed to have created:
"Two years ago, our economy was reeling," the president said. "As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs, more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years."
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), however, the economy under Biden has only added 2.7 million overall jobs, because the rest had been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden’s State of the Union address: Top 5 moments | Fox News
He also talked of "police reform" after introducing the parents of Tyre Nichols. The problem, of course is that police have been under assault since the George Floyd killing. We absolutely need police, but they have been totally emasculated by the anti-cop rhetoric of the left and we are now struggling to find people who want to be LE officers. The Tyre Nichols case demonstrates what we are replacing those good cops with. Biden also, again, wants to ban assault rifles, but clearly isn't sure of what they are. He wants to work with Republicans but will not budge on the deficit ceiling. On the border he was in fantasy world asking for more money so he can replace the border patrol agents that he turned into clerks and nannies for migrants. Speaking of money, the speech promised that Biden seeks to stick to the democratic prescription of more & more spending while "taxing the rich." I'm sure he knows that the top 1% accounts for 40% of all the individual tax revenue, while the bottom 50% only contributes about 2%.
One thing I am in favor of was his call to codify Roe. Let congress vote on it and let it be the law of the land if that is what the people want. Otherwise each state gets to vote on it. Either way is correct.
The speech did serve to launch his reelection campaign and the phrase he commonly used: Let's finish the job" may just be the campaign slogan for 2024.
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"Chaos briefly erupted in the House chamber after Biden repeated an old Democratic talking point that has long been debunked by fact-checkers ."
"Some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset," Biden claimed."
"I'm not saying it's a majority," he continued as Republican congressional members began to protest. "Anybody who doubts it, contact my office, I'll give you a copy. I'll give you a copy of the proposal."
"Liar!" Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shouted.
Biden backtracked saying, "I'm not saying it's a majority of you. I don't even think it's even a significant – but it’s being proposed by individuals. I'm politely not naming them, but it's being proposed by some of you."
Biden’s State of the Union address: Top 5 moments | Fox News
McCarthy tried to silence some on the right, but Biden needed to be called out!
For what? Telling the truth?
Newsweek has compiled a list of prominent Republicans who have previously either explicitly, or implicitly, called for cuts to Medicare or Social Security payments.
Mitch McConnell
Speaking in October 2018, McConnell called "entitlements," a term usually deployed to describe welfare payments like Medicare and Social Security, "the real drivers of the debt, " adding they need to be adjusted "to the demographics of America in the future."
McConnell also described the GOP's failure on the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, as "the one disappointment of this Congress from a Republican point of view."
Ron Johnson
In August, Republican Senator Ron Johnson suggested Medicare and Social Security should cease being federal entitlement programs, and instead require approval every year as "discretionary spending."
"If you qualify for the entitlement, you just get it no matter what the cost," he said. "And our problem in this country is that more than 70 percent of our federal budget, of our federal spending, is all mandatory spending . It's on automatic pilot. It never, you just don't do proper oversight. You don't get in there and fix the programs going bankrupt."
Lindsey Graham
In June, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham argued "entitlement reform" was needed to stop the U.S. from becoming like Greece, during a debate with Vermont's Bernie Sanders.
Graham made a similar argument nearly a decade earlier in December 2012, when he called for "real structural reforms to save Medicare and Social Security from bankruptcy and prevent our country from becoming Greece."
Marco Rubio
Speaking to two Politico journalists in 2017, Florida Senator Marco Rubio called for "structural changes" in U.S. welfare provisions.
"We have to do two things," he said. "We have to generate economic growth which generates revenue while reducing spending. That will mean instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare for the future ."
List of Republicans Who Have Suggested Cutting Medicare, Social Security (newsweek.com)
Republicans have been trying to kill social security for decades, this is nothing new.
"F ollowing his successful 2004 reelection campaign, President George W. Bush designated fundamental Social Security reform as his top domestic priority. This was anything but an impulsive decision. As early as his 1978 congressional race, he had suggested that the Social Security System could not be sustained unless individuals were allowed to invest the payroll tax themselves ."
Why the 2005 Social Security Initiative Failed, and What it Means for the Future (brookings.edu)
It failed because people on social security knew that would fundamentally undermine the program by cutting the "security" part out of it. But Republicans today know it's bad politics to attack two programs that are overwhelmingly popular, so they are more subtle and have in the last decade resigned themselves to just making sure Democrats can't fix it so that they will eventually die on their own due to lack of funding. If Republicans actually wanted to fix them they would work with Democrats to keep both Medicare and Social Security funded, but of course that would undermine their true goals of killing both programs that they and many of their fascist supporters see as socialism.
Don't forget Rick Scott and Mike Pence.
Not one of them says they want Medicare and social security to sunset. But the gullible confuse reforming with ending those programs I guess, so they eat up Biden's lies.
Anyone who understands math understands reform will be necessary.
McCarthy has said cuts to Social Security and Medicare were “off the table” but did not rule out cuts to defense spending.
These two entitlements account for about a third of federal spending are on unsustainable trajectories, and protecting them for future generations requires some reform sooner than later.
Medicare is currently projected to run short by 2028, and Social Security by 2034.
Which is why Democrats have proposed increasing their funding:
What Democrats' call for Social Security reform means for benefits (cnbc.com)
That doesn't address the problem at all.
Sorry but that's just not a good plan. It calls for reapplying the SS payroll tax on wages above $400,000. But it only extends the depletion date from 2035 to 2038. Extending only three years? Not good enough.
A couple months back I put forth some ideas on how I think Social Security / Medicare need to change and the partisan divide on NT was rather vocal and evident. This has been an issue that has been kicked down the road for decades. Don't touch SS, that's the third rail of politics. Well (to borrow a phrase from the climate activists) the sea level has gone up a foot and the program is about to run out of money.
Social Security and Medicare require hard choices to fix the systems. Tiny little measures like this may look good to the partisan side but do little to solve the problem.
Actually I think Biden did rather well there. I cannot believe that Biden really believes the partisan talking point that Republicans want to cut SS & Medicare, he knows that's not true. But he got Republicans to walk into a trap on live TV so that he could "negotiate" right there and come off looking like the better guy in front of his audience.
But then again, maybe not. Biden is up in Wisconsin today and after getting agreement from Republicans on live TV last night that Social Security and Medicare were not on the table for negotiation, he's at a rally where he's again pushing how Republicans want to cut SS / Medicare. Maybe it wasn't a trap by him, maybe he's really that lost?
when "real structural reforms to save Medicare and Social Security from bankruptcy and prevent our country from becoming Greece."
Reforming Social Security and Medicare is not about cuts. but realistic adjustments that need to be made so these programs won't go broke.
But the Democrats don't want to compromise on anything but make loud noises about cuts and slashes.
That needs to change
Stop lying about Social Security. It needs to be saved and reformed. Joe Biden once led the fight:
Stop lying about Social Security:
That was clearly one delusional individual at the podium giving that address!
There is only one man he can beat.
Funny that in the photo above Harris is standing and clapping profusely while McCarthy remained seating with a look on his face looking at the president as if to say "get real"...
McCarthy never forgot that Cornpop was a "bad dude."
Biden somehow takes credit for creating jobs, but denies any responsibility for the mishandling classified information and leaving it in the office the ccp paid for.
Gee, we didn't hear about that last night.
Did Fang Fang work there when she wasn't doing Swalwell? Or was it Feinsteins driver?
Guess one of my favorites was when he said something way out there and when challenged he yelled "Check it out" at least twice. The guy is so ..................oh wait, the guy's handlers are so out of touch with what is reality it is alarming.
He clocked in with the word "folks" 19 times!
Holy hell that speech is virtually PURE FICTION.
What did you think of the part where he said his wife was a "full-time teacher?"
Mrs Biden was a full time teacher...
He said "is". Picayune strikes again!!!
No, Vic said, "was a full time teacher"...
Semantics, "did he say his wife was a full time teacher?" As in "My wife is a teacher" so he said it last night and Vic was recalling what Mr. Biden said. Even last night after the fact one would say "Did he (just) say his wife was a teacher?"
You said it above, "Picayune Strikes Again".
You spelled it wrong. Picayune strikes one last time......................
SMH...
She does have to show him how to button his shirt and tie his shoes like a toddler. So I can see it that he thinks thats true.
I wish we could all live in Biden's fantasyland. The real world is becoming unaffordable.
Notice that Biden did not dwell upon foreign affairs? The bulk of Biden's speech was a delivery of domestic pabulum. Biden was even trying to claim that MAGA was his idea. There was a lot more Trump in Biden's SOTU than the MSM will acknowledge. Biden is turning MAGA into a policy agenda. Republicans better take notice.
Oh yes, all of that trying to bring jobs back here was pure MAGA.
Of course, the elite side of Biden couldn't help but add that people should still have more than a 12th grade education to live a good life.
Neoliberal habits die hard. Biden even tried to foist a Clintonesque technicality about SocSec onto public opinion and was called out. Politics has changed.
As he was when he reported on all the Fentanyl, as if it was something that couldn't be avoided.
Politics has changed.
For sure.
Biden was trying to weasel out of responsibility. Secure the damned border!
Surely Biden isn't so clueless that he's unaware border security is a big issue for Republicans. The fentanyl issue is really about border security and nothing else. Biden was trying to change the subject.
Did anyone catch the Sarah Huckabee Sanders response?
Missed the beginning last night as I had turned off the "speech" and went back at a time I thought the GS would be over. Listened to it this morning
I had a similar problem. After listening to more than a hour of Biden's mumbling and speed-reading, I took two aspirin and went to bed.
Gov. Huckabee wasn't speaking for Republicans, she was speaking for a generation. And Huckabee's story telling was quite a contrast with past party political speeches.
That kind of makes sense. Somebody told me it was a little emotional without giving any details.
IMO Huckabee was speaking for and to the 9/11 generation. And Huckabee did not appropriate someone else's story. The theme of Huckabee's speech was perseverance and obligation which aptly applies to the 9/11 generation. Huckabee's story telling was about much more than politics.
They won't ask Sarah to do that again.
She can't look us in the eye while lying!
Little Rock Nine.
Let's just say her talk was broadly panned.
“Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.”
Broadly panned
Like this? "And even while sticking to the script, Biden began rushing through his lines and slurring words so badly that it became difficult to understand what he was saying — while shouting a significant percentage of it at the top of his lungs, for some reason." Ed Morrissey
Her spiel played well in Harrison Arkansas and down around Bugtussle and Pixley, butt it fell flat in Fayetteville. Where the drag queens and educated people live...
Never heard of Ed. Saw both speeches.
His was widely praised. Hers was not...
Conservative blah-ger.
Well then, that settles it! The consensus opinions of dozens of professional journalists and politicians be damned!
Whatever Ed said, "Trumps", everything.
Lol. Democrats like Biden's speech and didn't like Sanders.
Who would ever expected that to happen?
“The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy.”
People liked Biden's speech, not Sarah's!
Hers flat as Sarah Jessica Parker's butt...
His was inspirational. Hers was a big dud.
Democratic media and democratic politicians did. Republicans didn't. SSDD, That you would be surprised that Democratic media shill for Biden is frankly amazing. I guess that's why they still do it, some people actually fall for it.
Ratings were down on the Big 4 networks 18% YOY. Few care about the speech and by next week no one will even remember it happened.
Jessica Parker popped her butt in those Jordache Jeans ads.
The 34% who reacted very positively to Biden’s speech is the lowest in CNN’s speech reaction polls dating back to 1998.
Play the sad trombone.....
72% of respondents had a positive review!
Where did I do that? Denial of all Biden said does not make it untrue, either...
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Did anyone catch the Sarah Huckabee Sanders response?
I did. It took an hour to unroll my eyes back in the correct direction. Keep it up with the woke mob stuff, it couldn’t be more helpful to Democrats.
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You don't believe that the “dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy.”
Exactly! Simple minds think in binary terms.
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My computer operates in binary, how about yours?
Simple minded isn't hard to understand!
Understanding doesn't equal agreement.
Exactly! Let's derail to infantile nonsense!
Too late, see 7.1
Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about.
Thank you for providing another example.
See 7.1 again.
I think most would agree with that assessment, they'd just disagree as to which side was which. When you have the Republicans with their serial lying congressmen, their Qanon crazy crew, their sad continued election deniers, their screaming out bullshit during the State of the Union address, all this is a clear indication of which party is nucking futz.
Those trying to claim it's the Democrats who are crazy because they support an individuals right to live as the gender they prefer, instead of the one they may have been assigned at birth, just prove themselves not only nucking futz but fascist religious conservatives who apparently strongly believe they should have the right to strip others of their right to privacy, bodily autonomy and individuality by forcing their useless archaic religious morals and supposed "norms" on others through the law, government and courts counter to the establishment clause and our constitution.
The Republican party hopped into a psychiatrists office covered in nothing but Saran wrap and asked the doctor "Can you tell me what's wrong with me? I just don't feel myself anymore." to which the doctor replied, "Well clearly I can see your nuts...".
What an angry ranting steaming pile of babel. No, I'm not talking about the SOTU. I'm talking about the comment threads here.
Yes, most of the comments above are what one would expect to hear at the elder rager's table in dementia wards of decrepit old folks homes...
Bless their hearts. They gone round the bend.
The worst, for them, is a crushed worldview...
Biden was more vital and relevant than them...
Therefore they rant and rage in impotent fury!
For, tis but sounds and fury, signifying nothing...
Joe gave a stellar speech so they're mad as hell.
The current White house?
No, The Shady Rest Dementia Ward...
The locked one with a guard on duty.
Most Americans call them the Secret Service.
We can't have the cranks wandering off...
They'll settle down for naps after puddin!
But, President Biden will still be working...
Yeah, I suppose it lacks the obsessive postings about shooting people and cheerleading for the suffering of people who don't conform to progressive ideology that you find in other seeds.
The comments here criticize the contents of a speech! The horror!
“…cheerleading for the suffering of people…”
No one does that. Do they? But of course some do…we seem to have lost our sense of commonality in the meaningless attempts to widen the divide. Silly, supercilious, and stuck in the ‘swamp’ of sycophantic symbolism.
Fox News was most watched for live #SOTU coverage last night:
• Fox News: 4.568 mil
• ABC: 4.256 mil
• NBC: 3.683 mil
• MSNBC: 3.464 mil
• CBS: 3.519 mil
• CNN: 2.313 mil
• FOX: 1.597 mil
• Fox News: 4.568 mil
• Not Fox News: 18.832 mil
?
They're your numbers Vic. Fox News viewers are not the majority of Americans.
Ya! Thanks for pointing out the obvious truth.
It's hilarious how some think that high ratings means that faux news is truthful.
Freaking hilarious.
State Of The Union TV viewers are not the majority of Americans. Viewership this year dropped 29% to 27.3 Million, according To Nielsen. That is the lowest audience over the last 30 years. Only 5% of the viewers were 18-34 years old.
Who claimed that? Looks to me like what was being noted was the various networks and viewership numbers.
Seems that you tried to added Fox's 1.597 to the leftist other BS instead of Fox News.
Of course the leftist BS networks had more total viewers combined- they outnumber Fox News 5 to 2.
I watched on PBS, the forgotten news channel. The quality of commentary and analysis by PBS commentators following these events has really tanked. Amy Walter still tries to hold on to some level of objectivity but it's apparently a losing battle. And David Brooks is just lost these days.
I'm glad Edward R Murrow can't see any of it
Everyone seems to forget that Barack Obama, as President, promoted the idea that news reporters were supposed to be story tellers. The who, what, where, why of news reporting wasn't enough. Reporters have an obligation to tell the personal stories of people involved in events which is unavoidably subjective.
Edward Murrow was a moralist story teller so he might fit in well with today's style of news reporting. Murrow might approve.
It looks like you got me again!
My intent was not to play gotcha. I attribute it to being older than dirt.
One thing notably absent from today's story telling news style is Murrow's phrase "in this reporter's opinion". Remember that? A lot of reporters expressed their opinion but they made it clear it was an opinion and not facts or conclusions. The public understood that it was an informed opinion but nonetheless an opinion.
The political nabobs were upset that reporter's opinions were too influential in shaping public opinion. So, there was a shift emphasizing objectivity and balance; reporters weren't supposed to express opinions. IMO that's why today's reporters try to express their opinions as facts. Political expedience sacrificed something important, once again.
Very good point!
I disagree. They are as objective as they have ever been. The issue seems to be that those on the right freak out when anyone validates a position taken by the left no matter how sensible the position is. So when objective non-partisans essentially admit in their commentaries that yes, the leftist position that water is wet seems rational regardless of the screams of right wing water-is-wet deniers, that does not make the objective position 'partisan'.
PBS has stuck to facts and is one of the most trusted news sources anyone has access to.
"According to a survey from the Knight Foundation and Gallup, t hese are the most and least biased news outlets in the US, according to Americans:
Here are the survey's results for how biased respondents thought each news outlet was overall, ranked from most to least biased (a negative score indicates more people said the outlet was more biased than unbiased, while a positive score indicates more people thought the outlet was more unbiased than biased):
Starting with the MOST biased media sources:
1. Fox News (tied with Breitbart at -51)
1. Breitbart (tied with Fox News at -51)
3. MSNBC (-37)
4. HuffPost (-32)
5. CNN (-27)
6. Mother Jones (-22)
7. VOX (-12)
8. NYT (-11)
9. NBC (tied -7)
9. Washington Post (-7)
11. ABC News (+4)
12. CBS News (tied +5)
12. USA Today (tied +5)
14. WSJ (+10)
15. NPR (+12)
16. AP (+23)
17. PBS (+31)
" PBS polled as the least biased media organization overall by survey respondents "
These Are the Most and Least Biased News Outlets in the US (businessinsider.com)
Sadly for millions of poorly educated conservatives anything below the tied #1 most biased news sources are considered the evil Satanic "MSM". The reality is that the farther you get away from right wing religious conservative ideology and belief, the closer you get to facts, truth and reality.
That disagreement does not align with reality or common sense. The PBS Newshour invites commentary from partisan political operatives and presents that commentary as news. And it's simply impossible to objectively speculate about the political future of any party or individual politician based upon political opinion.
The PBS Newshour has adopted the modern trend of expressing opinion as fact. And disagreeing with that opinion is not a rejection of facts.
Well, looks like the SOTU event was as big a waste of time as I knew it would be. Biden pretty much said what I thought he would, the GOP acted like just as big of dip shits as I knew they would, and ol Kevin looked just as pathetic as I knew he would.
Glad I didn’t waste my time watching how sad our politics have become.
Well, looks like the SOTU event was as big a waste of time as I knew it would be. Biden pretty much said what I thought he would, the GOP acted like just as big of dip shits as I knew they would, and ol Kevin looked just as pathetic as I knew he would.
Glad I didn’t waste my time watching how sad our politics have become.
The 2 lowest viewed SOTU events were both given by Biden.