W.J. Astore Biden, Shouting, Looks Good Compared to Cringe-inducing Republican Overacting Let's face it, the state of the union is scary. So should be the conclusion from last night's disingenuous exercises in reading off teleprompters. Fir…
Biden, Shouting, Looks Good Compared to Cringe-inducing Republican Overacting
Let's face it, the state of the union is scary. So should be the conclusion from last night's disingenuous exercises in reading off teleprompters.
First, President Joe Biden. If the main qualification to be president is to walk without tripping, to stand for over an hour without falling, while reading somewhat fluidly from a teleprompter, I guess Biden is still qualified. I found this summary from Biden-friendly NBC News to be revealing:
Biden flubbed a few prepared lines and stumbled a bit during ad-libs — notably when he said drug prices in Moscow are lower than in the U.S. — but he belied the GOP caricature of him as an enfeebled old man who needs to retire.
"No one's going to talk about cognitive memory now," Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told the president after he finished the speech and made his way out of the House chamber.
That was, of course, the idea when Biden's speechwriters worked on the draft. The prepared text included 80 exclamation points — cuing Biden to when he needed to raise his voice and project strength. By contrast, there were no exclamation points in last year's text.
Can somebody please tell me how cognitive memory is tested by reading from a prepared script? Also, can you imagine reading a speech with 80 (!) exclamation points embedded in it? No wonder Biden was shouting.
Incredibly, the Republican response was worse. Far worse! (Exclamation points are a virus.) Alabama Senator Katie Britt gave the response from a kitchen, but she couldn't stand the heat of the moment. The speech was a master class in bad acting. It was so bad that it exceeded by light years the worst hamming of William Shatner in "Star Trek." Judge for yourself:
If Katie Britt had spoken informally from her kitchen set about the rising cost of food, the difficulties of making ends meet, due to so-called Bidenomics, maybe she could have been effective. But this self-own was truly cringe-worthy.
Turning to content, Biden's speech was replete with lies, half-truths, and misleading claims. Surprise! He's a politician, after all. Lisa Savage does a great job of highlighting many of them here.
When all is read and done, America heard an experienced and angry old man competing with an amateurish younger woman over which one of them could mislead (certainly not lead) the American people best.
Oh for the days of JFK, Reagan, even Obama. At least they could deliver a speech. And without 80 exclamation points!
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