During his State of the Union address, Biden maneuvered Republicans into abandoning their hopes for cutting Medicare and Social Security to ribbons.
February 8, 2023

Let me just get the obvious out of the way. As State of the Union speeches go, Joe Biden's will go down as one of the best I've ever watched. And I've watched a lot of them. From Reagan to George HW Bush to Clinton and forward, I've watched them all. And I will say without any apology that this one was one of the best.

An 11/10.

One of the reasons it was great was because, as I've been arguing for a long time now, Biden knows Congress, and he knows Republicans. He understands what they want and how they want to achieve their goals, and he's not afraid to interact with them.

At every turn last night, he either co-opted them or put them in a box. The exchange in the video above was a perfect example.

It begins with Biden pointing out that some Republicans in the chamber want to sunset Medicare and Social Security (looking at YOU, Rick Scott). This prompts Georgia loudmouth Marjorie Taylor Greene to humiliate herself and Republicans by shouting "Liar!" at the President of the United States.

And there's Biden, with the receipts, inviting all the protesting Republicans to contact his office for a copy of Rick Scott's proposal to absolutely sunset Medicare and Social Security.

The more they protest, the funnier it gets, until he finally just ropes them in like the dopes they are.

"Let's all stand for Social Security and Medicare, then!"

And dutifully, they stood. And are now on the record standing tall for Social Security and Medicare.

There wasn't a dry eye in our house when he introduced Tyre Nichols' parents. Or, for that matter, Paul Pelosi, as he called the nation to protect democracy and abandon the Big Lie that drove Pelosi's attacker to take him hostage and injure him so badly.

I'm not kidding myself that Republicans will actually care that they're on the record or that they made such fools of themselves that even Kevin McCarthy couldn't get them under control and embarrassed him. Especially after he made such a big deal out of Biden not calling them "extreme MAGA Republicans," which they absolutely are.

But all of the crap about Biden being too old, too decrepit, too senile for the job? That was crushed by his performance. He's a stutterer, so he stumbled over words. But he successfully boxed in the Republicans and showed them for the fools they are.

Pitch perfect, sir. Pitch perfect.

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