UPDATE #2 — 11:47 pm ET
Just Released CNN Flash Poll About Tonight’s SOTU
This includes respondents who watched the speech. The respondents were D — 37%, R — 30%, and I — 33%. So, the poll sample was a bit more Democratic than the electorate as a whole.
- Very Positive — 35%
- Somewhat Positive — 29%
- Negative — 35%
This is a very good result for the Biden Campaign. Just now on CNN, Van Jones had high praise for the President. He had been down on him for weeks. Axelrod also praised him.
Here’s a comment I made downthread.
He got his major points across. He was forceful, yet also funny at times. He portrayed himself as the defender of American values; Trump was characterized as the destroyer of all things good about the country. He was at times critical of the Republicans without demeaning anyone. Most of all, he came across as sincere, empathetic, and on the side of average, ordinary Americans.
Well done, Mr. President!
UPDATE #2 — 11:45 pm ET: This Cartoon Was Just Posted Online.
Simply Perfect!
Stability vs Chaos
I will post at least another 15-20 additional editorial cartoons about Donald Trump’s insanity, Nikki Haley’s withdrawal from the 2024 GOP Primaries, Mitch McConnell’s retirement, Immigration, Super Tuesday elections, the Israel/Hamas War, and other topics in the comments section.
I appreciate your support of this diary series, one I first started in 2009.
In case you have been busy with other matters, and if you missed them, here are the links to my diaries over the past few days.
How Could This Be True?
In an email I received today from the Nation, the magazine’s brilliant political commentator and legal analyst Elie Mystal explains this week’s decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in easy-to-understand terms.
Mystal says that the latest power grab by SCOTUS is profoundly anti-democratic.
The Supreme Court has proven, once again, that law, logic, and their own alleged principles mean nothing in their quest to ensure the electoral success of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. As I wrote for The Nation, the court decided to ignore the 14th Amendment in order to give Trump a chance to run again, and has helped Trump delay his criminal trial until after the election, in order to give him a chance to win again...
The nine Supreme Court justices are the nepo-babies of American democracy: They’ve earned nothing, yet act like they own the entire world. Every other institution in this country treats the Supreme Court with unfailing respect and total acquiescence to its power. Why? What have these people done to deserve the authority to wield power without question?
The Choice in 2024 is Simple
In the New York Review of Books, Sean Wilentz, Professor of American History at Princeton University, states what is obvious to the average person trying to make sense of the court’s ruling.
In one of the Supreme Court’s most sweeping rulings in modern times, a five-man majority has effectively nullified a critical provision of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The “oathbreaking insurrectionist” Donald Trump—a designation unchallenged by either the Supreme Court majority, the Colorado courts, or even his attorneys—will never be disqualified from the presidency. Nor will any other insurrectionist whose partisans control a majority in Congress...
The lead of any story about the decision in Trump v. Anderson should be that the Court has unanimously ruled that an insurrectionist who attempted to overthrow a presidential election will remain on the presidential ballot.
Designed and Approved by the Supreme Court of the United States
The. Worst. US Supreme Court. Ever.
Attribution: Dave Whamond @DaveWhamond
A New Name for SCOTUS
Better Offense Than “The Steel Curtain” Defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers
1st Down and Goal, Ball on the 1-Yard Line… Nah, I Think We’ll Punt
Getting Greedy, Pushing His Luck
The State of the Union Address by President Joe Biden
John Cassidy of the New Yorker magazine wrote a speech that he thinks the President should give to emphasize the positive, substantive, and meaningful achievements of the Biden-Harris Administration — What Biden Should Say About the Economy During the State of the Union.
Of course, Republicans will try to claim credit for Biden’s successful policies, ones they opposed in the United States Congress.
It’s particularly alarming for the President that, with many voters still focussed on the rising cost of living, he hasn’t received much credit for an economic record that, in many ways, is impressive. According to the poll average, just 40.2 per cent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, and 57.4 per cent disapprove. To improve his electoral prospects, Biden badly needs to turn those figures around.
The State of the Union presents a much needed opportunity for him to talk to the American people about his economic record.
Claiming Credit for Everything They Opposed
The New Yorker speaks largely for the well-educated and well-heeled and looks at the macro picture of the country. What is happening on the ground level? What are the daily experiences of average, ordinary working Americans? One needs the forceful and honest voice of someone like Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II to speak for the impoverished, disenfranchised, and dispossessed.
Through the pages of Nation magazine, Rev. Barber has some important advice for President Biden and the Democratic Party — The True State of the Union: We must listen to the cries of those who are suffering. While acknowledging that there has been discernible progress in the past 3+ years, he mentions insufficient or inadequate healthcare for tens of millions of Americans; the erosion of civil and voting rights; criticizes some Democrats who failed to defend the expired Expanded Child Tax Credit; the growing wealth inequality; and doesn’t pull any punches when talking about the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
If leaders like him don’t speak out on behalf of the least amongst us, who will? All in all, he has an optimistic message and one hopeful enough to bring about the desired change in society.
[T]he SOTU gets reported as an incumbent’s case for why he should be reelected. But the Constitution requires a “state of the union” report because it is honest about the limits of human government. If we are to do the work necessary to “form a more perfect union,” we need an honest assessment of where we really are…
The true state of the union is not limited to one administration; it reflects the systemic reality that nearly a third of the workforce—52 million Americans—work for less than $15 an hour. Poverty wages, combined with a steep increase in cost of living, have left 135 million of our neighbors poor or low-income, even as unemployment is at a record low…
As Dr. King said in the midst of the Birmingham campaign to bring down Jim Crow, our greatest enemy is not the extremist who openly opposes progress but the moderate who pretends that everything will be OK if we carry on as normal.
These Morons Will Never Initiate Positive Change
Don’t Listen to These Purveyors of Hate
World War II Ended Almost 80 Years Ago
Just Go Away
MAGA Mania
The SCOTUS-Approved Candidate
Diary Poll
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