11mo ago

State of the Union Megapost!

Tonight, Thursday, March 7th, is the State of the Union Address so lets keep everything related to it (including the Republican response) confined to this thread.

This is probably one of the most important speeches Biden can give this year. He has to come across as "Present", not just "President".

This will set the tone for the campaign the rest of the year and will be second only to the Democratic Convention speech in August for visibility.

Watch it live here:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2024/

Or through your favorite news source.

The Republican response will be delivered by Senator Katie Britt of Alabama:

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/07/1236338784/katie-britt-alabama-republican-biden-state-of-the-union

Very good speech!

Full transcript is here:

https://time.com/6898705/read-president-joe-bidens-2024-state-of-the-union-address-full-transcript/

Republican response from Katie Britt here:

https://www.britt.senate.gov/press-releases/u-s-senator-katie-britt-responds-to-president-bidens-state-of-the-union-address/

I encourage you to watch the video and not just read the transcript. Reading it doesn't carry just how breathless and borderline weepy her delivery is.

180 comments

In my mind, the best bit was at the very end... it's not about the age of the candidate, it's about the age of the ideas, and fear and hate are some of the oldest ideas of mankind.
"My fellow Americans, the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are, it’s how old our ideas are.
Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas.
But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back.
To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future of what America can and should be. "
- Listening to him work the floor now, he knows everyone and has something to tell them about the thing they care about. Its impressive.
  
  It's almost like he's been doing this for a while and has experience. Such a breath of fresh air after four years of that other guy.
- Biden's ideas are pretty ancient themselves. But he's not wrong. Fuck anyone who vilifies the poor and minorities. Biden likely won't accomplish much to reduce poverty or help the average person. But he likely won't make any of that demonstrably worse ether. And honestly he's been way better than many imagined he would. Shitty Israel policy not withstanding. Thank goodness he's finally taking small steps to balance out his fuck ups.
  I have some big hopes for 2028 if we're still holding elections. Hopefully some fresh young blood will be ready to run. Like Ocasio-Cortez after almost a decade in the house. But to get there I can't deny Biden is the path forward for now.
- God damn. What an ending. Thats some legacy shit right there.
  
  Biden had been saying awesome stuff since the 80s. Look up his 80s stuff. Inspiring.
  I still prefer Sanders, though.

Dude is sharp, it's no comparison really between Biden and the "look having nuclear guy". Im done giving the people "worried" about Bidens mind the time of day.
- He's had a couple of mis-speaks but that's because he's going too fast (!)
  
  His stutter and mispeaks are not off-putting to me at all. He is obviously mentally fit, this isn't how someone with mental deficiencies sounds.
  
  His pacing is way off and he's rushing. Not waiting for the applause to finish.
- This is why I hope he'll commit to a lot more engagements like late shows and whistle stop tours. When he's out talking he reinforces that he's still got it together... while Trump... well he's clearly losing it.
- He is absolutely going to destroy Trump in the debates. It's gonna be like Prime Tyson vs Marvis Frazier. 30 seconds and it's over.
  
  How long until Donnie boy starts trying to dodge the debates because of “these corrupt political sham trials” and his fanatical followers lap it up?
  
  "will you shut up man?" from the last debates is still one of my favorite TV moments

Before this speech, I wondered how he'd deal with the predictable topics he'd be attacked on. I didn't expect him to be the one to bring them all up himself. Baller move.
- He's baiting them to shout out so he can smack them back down, and they're dumb enough to keep falling for it.
  
  Pretty good way to show that he's mentally sharp and on top of it. Republicans just destroyed their own talking point.
  
  Over and over and over again! Those clips are going to get played on repeat.

I really wish Biden would've turned around to Mike Johnson when he was talking about January 6th and ask, "what's the matter with you, man? Why aren't you clapping? So you support a fascist takeover? Of course you do.."
Also turn around and say, 'it's this man here who is blocking aid to Ukraine while women and children die in Ukraine"
- Dude, he was squirming hard in that chair lmao.
  
  Love it, but I say twist the blade lol.

It's not just a good speech for Biden, this is the best SOTU I've ever heard.
- Honestly, yeah. This is better than any of Obama's, and Obama's were all great.

Lmao. Led them into the Social Security trap again
- EVERY trap! And they're acting as if they haven't learned their lesson a year or even a few minutes earlier
- And they fell right into it again.

Biden knocked this fucker out of the park.
Bona-fide 500 foot grand slam blast over the center field wall.

So I get in my car, and i'm listening to the beat on MSNBC, and a reporter is saying that she was talking with a bunch of young voters, especially young black voters.
Basically, they think that they've already been through a Trump presidency, and it's not gonna be any different from the first time. Oh boy, could they not be more wrong. Apparently, they haven't heard about project 2025, or they think it's nothing big that 20,000 fascists are itching to take over government roles in the next Trump White House.
- Maybe I am dumb but... I am genuinely starting to think many people are fundamentally incapable of imagining complex, abstract potential outcomes (like allowing Trump back in office).
  I always assumed envisioning such things was easy, instant, and obvious for nearly everyone.
  Several years ago I started noticing a couple of people make decisions that to me seemed insane and later they were surprised by the outcome that I saw coming a mile away.
  And I started wondering, could this ability to imagine how things will turn out be much rarer than I ever imagined?
  I genuinely don't know for sure. Not like I have a ton of conversations with different people let alone ones about cognitive abilities lol.
  Like, I didn't even realize some people can't see images in their heads or don't have an inner monologue (think by "talking to themselves" using language) until fairly recently and I'm in my 50s.
  Surely anyone can imagine some vague idea of what happens if they jump in front of a speeding bus. That's simple. Surely you can at least conceptualize that you'll be run into and injured or killed. Maybe even imagine it with some internal video of your body being run over by giant bus tires or being flung from the impact and landing in a crumbled bleeding mess. Nothing complicated there.
  But is it actually impossible for some to imagine the many ways Trump and the Project 2025 people are going to fuck up everything?
  That would certainly explain the bafflingly cavalier reactions to cybersecurity vulnerabilities I've seen over the years. Or the shrugging off of egregious privacy issues.
  
  You bring up an interesting question, and it's something I noticed in my own life, but for me I always related it to confidence/optimism.
  I'm naturally very anxious, and I think ahead because I worry a lot and I need to have some control of my future or to at least feel like I do by having as much information as I can. Stability has always lacked in my life, and still does, so I know confidence and optimism are in very short supply for me.
  I think more confident/optimistic people tend to be more relaxed about the future because of their natural tendency to believe they'll be ok and therefore the things around them should be fine.
  
  And I started wondering, could this ability to imagine how things will turn out be much rarer than I ever imagined?
  Yes - it is. As someone with ADHD and in my mid 30's now, i have wondered the same thing quite often, because a lot of times solutions to complex problems seem extremely easy to me, where people around me are absolutely baffled by me calling a solution very simple and easy.
  I started wondering the same thing a few years back and came to the conclusion: Most people don't care. I've had quite a few very recent discussions about various issues about consumers needing to be more educated and able to make decisions on what they buy. Every time i bring this up, i realize that even these simple things are too much for most people.
  
  Ah yes, I believe you've encountered people in the wild who support leopards eating their face. This is a documented phenomenon and I, for one, don't have a clue what can be done about it.
- Maybe Biden should have done some shit the first two years instead of "looking into things" until right before midterms.
  Then after losing the House, saying it was too late to do anything.
  People didn't elect Joe Biden so he could spend 2 years looking into how to undo the damage of trump.
  And Biden failed at that.
  Now he's telling us that this time will be different. Historically, this is what makes 1 term presidents.
  
  So how should he have "done some shit the first two years"?
  You mean like:
  The American Rescue Plan
  The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
  The largest gun safety bill in 30 years
  The CHIPS and Science Act
  The Inflation Reduction Act
  and support for Ukraine so they can fight off the orks that directly impacts our economy by giving Ukraine old weapons that would have rotted in wearhouses and resupply with new ones providing high paying jobs to American workers.
  Stuff like that?
  
  So what do you want, Trump?

Wow! He is not pulling any punches lmao. Mike is squirming in his chair behind him.
- He looks like the Keebler elf
  
  Every time I see a headshot of Johnson, he reminds me of a Lego minifig.
  
  Wish version Keebler elf
- Haha squirm away you little shit.
  Nice to see him call this bullshit out.
  
  God damn right.

If y'all didn't see Biden's reaction to Marjorie when he walked in, you NEED to see it! I laughed so hard! Even she tried not to laugh.
https://x.com/timjhogan/status/1765945203867746548?s=20
- The look that says "Wow! Y'all come in the SAME clown car or just you?" 🤡
- Any chance of a non-x link?
  
  Here you go https://youtube.com/shorts/KHKMzVpnyuM

He should come out to Sabotage by the Beasties Boys. Liven shit up a bit.
- Can't wait till the first Zoomer president.
  
  Bruh. We may not have presidents any more.
- I kind of wanted the Wonka introduction:
  https://youtu.be/qsgQvZOBhEY
  
  Found the Friend of the Pod.

He is utterly manhandling the Republicans.

Aaaaand here's the Republican response...
2 sentences in and she sounds like she's going to cry.
- Her: "I'm a mom"
  Her constituents: "Rub it in, why dontcha?"
  
  Lmao
- Her backdrop set is literally a kitchen...
  
  Well, she claims it's her kitchen...
- Holy crap this rebuttal is just... Bad. Especially given what it's following.
  
  And fundamentally false... She's attacking Biden on the border, when she herself helped write the border bill and VOTED IT DOWN because Trump told her to.

This is just genuinely a great speech.

This Republican Response Senator Katie Britt is unhinged. This is like watching a bad Lifetime TV D-list actor.
- I put this in the thread elsewhere, but I think you, personally, will think it's hilarious:
  https://twitter.com/tomorrowventure/status/1765952347451130127?t=LZYJ3mF-a_d-3Ssgum4lrQ
- I keep thinking she's just going to burst into tears...
  
  Her voice was cracking many times. It felt like a bad cut scene in Far Cry 5 with the unhinged cult.
  Did you notice she gave the response in the KITCHEN?!? JFC Republicans. I guess it's on brand for them. SMH
- I took a peek at r conservative last night, and they were all dunking on her too lmao

What was that fool yelling lol.
Also I don't think I've ever seen anyone get kicked out of the State of the Union lmao
- [incoherent yelling]
- It sounded something similar to free marine, I am waiting for better response too
  
  Free Palestine?
  
  I'm seeing contradictory reporting, but the consensus is he's a Gold Star Dad who lost his kid in the Afghani evacuation, and was arrested for the interruption.
  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/07/yelling-state-of-the-union-heckler-mentions-abbey-gate/72891395007/
  “Remember Abbey Gate! US Marines!”
  Abbey Gate is a reference to a 2021 suicide bombing during the evacuation of Afghanistan.
  The protestor was handcuffed and arrested after being escorted out by security from the House gallery as seen in a photo shared with USA TODAY.
  https://nypost.com/2024/03/08/us-news/heckler-who-shouted-at-biden-during-state-of-the-union-identified-as-gold-star-father/
  “Abbey Gate!” Steve Nikoui yelled down at the president. “Second Battalion, First Marines!”
  Capitol Police escorted Nikoui, 51, out of the chamber around 10:15 p.m. and took him into custody.
  He was charged with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding Congress, a misdemeanor that typically results in the offender’s release after paying a $50 fine.
  Nikoui’s son, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was killed by a suicide bomber outside Kabul’s international airport while trying to process evacuees from the Biden administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.
- I'm seeing contradictory reporting, but the consensus is he's a Gold Star Dad who lost his kid in the Afghani evacuation, and was arrested for the interruption.
  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/07/yelling-state-of-the-union-heckler-mentions-abbey-gate/72891395007/
  “Remember Abbey Gate! US Marines!”
  Abbey Gate is a reference to a 2021 suicide bombing during the evacuation of Afghanistan.
  The protestor was handcuffed and arrested after being escorted out by security from the House gallery as seen in a photo shared with USA TODAY.
  https://nypost.com/2024/03/08/us-news/heckler-who-shouted-at-biden-during-state-of-the-union-identified-as-gold-star-father/
  “Abbey Gate!” Steve Nikoui yelled down at the president. “Second Battalion, First Marines!”
  Capitol Police escorted Nikoui, 51, out of the chamber around 10:15 p.m. and took him into custody.
  He was charged with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding Congress, a misdemeanor that typically results in the offender’s release after paying a $50 fine.
  Nikoui’s son, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was killed by a suicide bomber outside Kabul’s international airport while trying to process evacuees from the Biden administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.
  
  So a grieving father being used by the republicans to Politicize his kids death..
  Totally on brand.
  I'm pretty sure the guy is more than happy to, even though Trump literally invited the people that blew up his son to Camp David and handed them Afghanistan.

Katie Britt has the acting skills of a 6th grader. That shit was weak and phony as fuck.

I almost feel bad for Katie Britt having to follow this.
- I overheard some of her rebuttal - crocodile tears from a no-name politician, nothing to see here.
  
  Better with music:
  https://twitter.com/tomorrowventure/status/1765952347451130127?t=LZYJ3mF-a_d-3Ssgum4lrQ

Regardless of age, Biden knows how to work a crowd.
- That is the truth, and he really seems to like it!

Bet he moves to the right to try to get Haley voters.
- This is why voting is so important, and why voting uncommitted in the primary is a sound strategy this time around. Politicians listen to voters, because they actually show up to vote.
  Threatening to withhold your vote is powerful only if you've already given it before. I hope more people start understanding this
- They don't need a reason, just an excuse.
  
  The sun came up this morning. It's a clear sign that we need to move to the right.

Anyone know what that guy was yelling?
- It was right after Biden said something like "All Americans deserve the freedom to be safe, and America is safer now than when I took office." Sorry I can't get a timestamp while its live but it's at about 2:15:00 in on the cspan livestream
- Something like this
- Here's the post of /u/jordanlund describing the situation:
  https://lemmy.world/comment/8249808

I don't know where else to post this, so here goes
I'm sad that Obama never adopted the "-nomics" moniker that Reagan and Biden have. Obamanomics just rolls off the tongue
- https://youtu.be/TbZ_hTEOKZc
- Obama didn't have to rip off a failed actor who had Alzheimer's most of his presidency...
  This year both candidates are giving it a go.
  Fun fact:
  The early signs of Reagan's Alzheimer's was pretty much the same things Biden and trump have been doing. Mixing up words/places/times and drifting off, before coming back to their old selves.
  But it doesn't get better. Everytime the "old self" sticks around less and the confusion comes back faster. It's a 100% natural part of aging that we'll all be lucky to live long enough for it to happen to us.
  Our brains can't work forever.
  And Reagan was only 69 when he took office, 12 years younger than Biden is now...

As far as I can tell Bernie won't be giving his own response to the SOTU this year - has anyone seen any announcements by him?

Holy shit, he's working them over like a pro boxer.

I can't believe he still has energy to mingle after that.
- Not just mingle, but recognize and engage so many people. Listening in, he is dropping policy and info on people based on what he knows they care about.
- He always does this, and it pisses the Secret Service off to no end lol
  
  I would imagine they don't need quite the same alertness that you'd have in public - should be a secure area with known people (granted, I wouldn't want him alone with Gaetz or MTG)
- Why wouldn't he?
  
  Talking at that pace and intensity for that long is tiring for anyone NOT 81 years old.

If nothing else, he's proven he still has some endurance left. This is a long speech.
- Stamina
- Which is weird because it did not FEEL long.
  
  Really good speeches never do.

Anyone else watching CSPAN just for the unhinged call-in comments?
- I can only take those in small doses. C-SPAN is boring, but its callers are absolutely bonkers.
- Where!?

Say what you want about Katie Britt, but she did deliver the biggest laugh of the night...
https://twitter.com/tomorrowventure/status/1765952347451130127?t=LZYJ3mF-a_d-3Ssgum4lrQ
- Perfect

The State of my Onion is chopped and sauteed with a bit of butter
- Listen Jack, add some chopped bacon to that!

Pow!! Right in Trumps fat gob right off the bat lmao

Damn. Lloyd Austin is a tall som' bitch.

It was all great. Until that Israel section. Absolutely no hint of why Gaza needs a fucking dock. And still blindly taking Israel's negotiating position which isn't going to obliterate our credibility as a negotiator at all. It certainly isn't realistic. This isn't a bank robbery. Those hostages are going to be released after Israel demonstrates good behavior, not for a temporary cease fire.
- Bibi is going to hate this part:
  "As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution.
  I say this as a lifelong supporter of Israel and the only American president to visit Israel in wartime.
  There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy.
  There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live with peace and dignity.
  There is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia."
  For those who might have missed Bibi's position:
  https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/21/middleeast/netanyahu-palestinian-sovereignty-two-state-solution-intl/index.html
  https://www.npr.org/2024/01/19/1225574007/netanyahu-says-he-told-u-s-that-he-opposes-palestinian-state-in-any-postwar-scen
  
  Oh yeah. I just wish there was even a hint of a recognition that Israel is not willing to have a two state solution.
  
  Bibi loves that because he can basically permanently avoid a 2-state solution, and if it ever does happen, it's just official apartheid. Separate, as the United States learned the hard way, is never really equal. The only realistic solution is a single secular state.

It's just dumb campaign promises that he cannot and will not deliver on. If he could do any of this he would have already done it
- That's why he said, "Give me a congress that will work with me." Its not just the president. You need to get people into office who will do these things.
  
  That's why he said, "Give me a congress that will work with me."
  Because no such congress can exist? Either there's a Republican majority in at least one chamber and nothing gets done, or there's a Democratic majority in both chambers that finds just enough no votes in the senate.
  
  ....
  Did you forget the Georgia runoffs?
  Biden got elected because he claimed he could get Senate republicans to vote with Dems.
  After the GA runoffs, we end up with a 50/50 senate with the VP as tiebreaker. And the House.
  For two years.
  And Biden literally said he couldn't change anyone's mind so it would be a waste of time if he tried.
  That happened.
  Recently.
  So, how much does Biden need in 2028?
  And why isn't he out there campaigning for himself and down ballot races?
- It's what could get done if Republicans got the fuck out of the way.
- Well yeah, none of it will get done, and he will blame the guy behind him, and the other guy who is holding his strings.
- First time?

Oh is he going to finish with the Dean "RAAAAAHHHHH!"
- I'm sorry this was such a good speech that it clearly hurt your feefees.
  
  ¯(ツ)_/¯ It was entertaining but I don't care if it was "good" or not. These are always empty promises. He'll get a boost in the polls for a few days, the media will say he was "presidential", and the American people will still be struggling to keep a roof over their head and afford groceries.
  But hey, the Blue team owned the Red team for a night! Zing!

180 comments