“History Is Watching”
I obviously come late to President Biden’s powerful State of the Union speech last night.
My biggest takeaway is this: The State of the Union is about visibility. That’s why the First Lady’s guests matter. That’s why the chattering class chatters about who is sitting next to whom and what they’re wearing. That’s why CSPAN preps so well to highlight key spectators, pro and con.
Joe Biden gave tribute to the possibility that government can work. He laid out one after another policy that makes sense, and often as not, saves money. He talked about real policy successes. He promised to fight against past policy disasters.
He did so in one of the few remaining venues where political shame exists anymore.
Joe Biden laid out one after another policy that voters overwhelmingly support. Behind him, Speaker Johnson squirmed, often shaking his head. Republicans sat sourly, usually in silence.
Joe Biden orchestrated a public event where voters could see that Republicans collectively want government to fail, want popular policies to fail.
We could do with a lot more shame in the United States. US democracy would be vibrant if Republicans were held accountable for their attacks on America.
Last night, Joe Biden made the Republicans look like the small men and women they are.
I don’t know if that refrain, History is watching, will ring in their minds.
But he used the opportunity, with cameras rolling, to capture Republicans being shamed.
Thank you. The tattered flag that normally hides folded in my chest unfurled for a moment last night.
I’m not the first to note that shamelessness is their superpower. Uncle Joe gave ‘em hell last night, and they deserved every bit of it. This was the beginning of the blue tsunami coming in November.
Biden played the unruly GOP like a dime-store fiddle. They looked, and acted, like bratty juveniles… a national embarrassment.
The GOP knows nothing of shame. They have yet to set the limit on the depths to which they will sink for no other purpose than to own the libs.
They’d burn their own house down around themselves to own the libs.
Shame in American political life ended and shamelessness has reigned supreme since on August 9, 1974 when Richard Nixon, the only POTUS to resign in disgrace, flashed the Double V for Victory as he turned to face the cameras upon boarding the Marine One helicopter. The incongruity of a smiling, dishonored man still flashing the Victory sign, with both hands, still boggles my mind. So, yeah, there’s a date certain for shamelessness. And thanks to the Republican Party, there’s no expiration date.
I’ve seen that image over and over my whole life and the context never really occurred to me. Like, it was always shown but always with the assumption that the tackiness would be understood.
I was 20 years old at the time I viewed him boarding Marine One and will never forget shaking my head and asking my father “Why would he do that, he’s not a victor”. I cringe every time I see it.
In a really sad way, Nixon did declare victory — a personal one as he wasn’t removed from office nor was he prosecuted. What a horrible, dark victory.
i am of the opinion that Ford’s pardon of Nixon is the key to all the ugly politics since 1974. Including Iran Contra and all the rest. Funny how all the ugly is on the GOP side of the aisle. Except for the power-imbalanced fellatio . . .
To borrow a line from Harry Truman, Joe didn’t give ’em hell. Joe told the truth and Republicans thought it was hell.
President Biden effervescent and energized.
Republicans disrespectful lacking decorum.
A bizarre kitchen rebuttal from Britt. I was waiting for her to take cookies out of the oven.
I don’t do social media, so maybe Britt’s video is normal in a Tik-Tok world, but I found it creepy and bizarre. She was like a high-school leading lady in a poorly-written play.
[Moderator’s note: Dude. Please. You attempted to publish this under username “P-ville.” I’ve corrected it but pay attention or your next comment like this will not clear. /~Rayne]
WaPo’s Petri roasts that “speech” to a faretheewell:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/08/katie-britt-state-of-the-union-response/
She’s one of their most consistently spot-on contributors.
My favorite piece by Alexandra Petri is her satirical article from 2017:
This is not a crisis, Republicans say as a large spider slowly devours them.
It casts Trump as Shelob and was quite prophetic about the extent to which Trumpism would take over the Republican party and sweep aside all vestiges of the traditional GOP. As Petri saw, they were totally unprepared to defend the party against this wave of Trumpism, and deluded themselves into thinking it would all be fine. They were all eventually driven out or forced to join the cult and abase themselves before Trump.
That’s an excellent piece by Petri. I missed it the first time around.
Jessica Piper has this essential analysis.
“Back to Sen Katie Britt and the Republican response to the State of the Union speech; it was filled with Fundamentalist ideology and the fundie baby voice. The setting was her kitchen—that is not by accident. It is likely that she thinks this is where most women should spend their time. She’s wearing a modest shirt, opened just far enough to see her cross necklace. She started her speech by indicating that she’s “just a mom” mentioning her children’s names to assure other fundamentalist Christians that she understands her role in society.“
https://jesspiper.substack.com/p/the-fundie-baby-voice?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=email
I think it’s justifiable to recoil from the venue Katie Britt chose as her background — possibly the gloomiest stark bare kitchen ever.
Contrast that with former Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill’s usual background when she is invited to discuss political topics on MSNBC — cheery, well-lit, with a different cake or cookies and flowers every time.
That contrast is a perfect reflection of the emotional DNA of US Republicans vs Democrats.
About that “gloomiest stark bare kitchen ever”: it doesn’t look like a kitchen as much as a kitchenette in an office setting, or a medical office. Just so banal and sterile, it looks like it reeks of Lysol and bleach. *shudder*
Excellent description! And had she taken the cookies out of the oven, the cookies would have appeared over-cooked!
The poor dear is forced to bake her own cookies as with Biden’s inflation who can afford to buy them at the store?
Cookies sold in stores taste awful and lack TLC.
Save your money and make your own cookies, just don’t over-cook them.
My son only likes burnt cookies. It tears out my heart to spend almost $5 for store brand butter only to have to leave them in until they are just shy of black on the bottom.
You’re not going to the proper stores. I know of two where I can get good oatmeal-raisin and oatmeal-cranberry cookies. (They have oatmeal-chocolate chip, but those don’t have the chopped nuts that the best ones have.)
So much hypocrisy, so little time.
I find it interesting that after the entire GOP Senate voted against Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act they either have to continue bitching about inflation, regardless, like Britt, or claim inflation is down in spite of IRA. Britt went with column A
As her stretch goal Britt went for blaming Biden border policies, which she voted against beefing up, for the sex trafficing of a young woman in Mexico in 2004-8 during GW Bush’s admin. Why not blame Biden for the Alamo attack too?
I think her cookies would look vaguely similar to Roseanne Barr’s from a few years back. I don’t remember any cookies in Margaret Atwood’s tome.
Britt’s performance had many things wrong with it and was pretty thoroughly panned, even by Charlie Kirk of all people. It was creepy in a Stepford Wife kind of way, including smiling after each phrase regardless of content like a dime store preacher. The content was alarmist, relentlessly emotional and devoid of facts or policies.
Was it worse than Jindal’s or Rubio’s back in the day? It’s almost as if the ‘rising GOP star’ description is a kiss of death.
It will be interesting to see what SNL does with this.
Waiting for somebody to mess with the stupidly-chosen green dress.
(I should set my stop watch when I click Reply to see how long it takes for *biting my tongue*)
I was thinking some fun with the chyrons, something like Karen -> Caribou Barbie -> Brittney -> etc.
One comment I saw was something like, “She huddled with her team before the speech and she asked them, ‘What emotion should I project?’ and they said, ‘All of them.'”
“OH SNAP!” As the kidz say these days.
ETA: My apologies, I recently binged on “My Name Is Earl” which should be entered into the Library of Congress as a cultural record…
Every time I read/hear the name Earl anymore I think of the Dixie Chicks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7gNf_9njs
Imma go out on a limb and say it’s no coincidence that they used the name “Earl”.
Earl makes me think of Ry Cooder’s cover
of Speedo
Speedo https://g.co/kgs/s3Vv8f2
Yes, that too. I think of Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters.
[Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the SAME USERNAME and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You have (5) published comments here to date as “Fred Thompson.” Pick a name and stick with it or your comments will not clear for publication. Thanks. /~Rayne]
Legend
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes play a good punk rock cover of it. It’s easy to hear it is a good song to begin with.
You say that while Earl is here?? Have some respect.
Earl, as in name is not the same as Earl as in title of nobility.
Whenever I see earlofhuntingdon I think he is the Earl of Huntingdon, the noble of the holdings Huntingdon — the respect is built into recognizing his title.
Not that I should have to explain this to anyone but EoH.
Lol, sure Jan.
I forgive you both, as is my wont. When Nottingham ceases looking high and low for me, in his vain attempt to sustain the local population of the king’s deer, we shall have to break bread. Or open the likker cabinet.
I do not need any “forgiveness”. Rayne is something else.
I was hoping I didn’t need snark tags with you.
Oh shit, it’s worse than I thought…I forgot about the green dress in The Handmaid’s Tale.
https://secondnexus.com/katie-britt-sotu-handmaids-tale
No wonder the green screen attacks haven’t surfaced, no need.
Don’t forget the cross necklace with “Sunday skin” showing. This was intentional by somebody. By the looks of harpie’s link somebody who didn’t bother checking with many other Republican talking heads, but this was obviously moving beyond dog whistles into full-on “they’re coming for you” scare tactics towards their fundie viewers.
Yeah, a fucking diamond cross. I’d have far more respect for that Pharisee bullshit if she’d worn it as a nose piercing.
Where’s her flag pin?
This week it was announced that taxpayers will be funding “school choice” in Alabama. Like Ohio, Alabama will keep expanding vouchers to the point high income parents qualify. Elitist and religious private schools of the rich get funded by taxpayers. Sen. Katie Britt’s kids go to Montgomery Academy, a private school ( 86.8% White, 6.6% Black). The Montgomery area’s stats are 29% White, 63% Black.
School choice is great for racists. Vouchers ( falsely justified as providing choice for poor Black kids) won’t cover the full tuition of an elite,
selective/legacy admission, private school.
Starve public schools of funding- the Koch way. School privatization-it’s the middle class sending more money to the overlords.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy. That. I live in their backyard. This is their playbook — disempower teachers and their unions, find ways to allow access to teachers’ retirement funds, eliminate public K-12 education where those union teachers work.
Are they near Mackinac Island? Never looked into this. Growing up in Traverse City; this wouldn’t surprise me.
MCPP=Koch.
This month, the major battle against public education is in Texas. Throughout the state capitols, the Koch/Catholic Church agenda to control education rages. Major difference-the church has good PR, albeit, false. Charles Uncles’ story, the first African American priest, shows the truth that anti-CRT’ers don’t want told.
At US Rep. Llyod Dogget’s site (Texas), the historical, racist motivation for school vouchers is identified. Galveston-Houston Cath. schools didn’t integrate until 10 years after the Court ordered Texas public schools to integrate.
Btw-for historical accuracy read, Steven J Ochs, “Desegregating the Altar…1871-1960.”
The Church claims taxes going to its schools is poor people making a choice- since when has the authoritarian Cath. church cared about choice for poor people- certainly not in their family sizes, tithing or the role of women.
Oh I thought that was what you were referencing when you said you were going to start a stop watch, hahaha !
Nah, I was waiting for someone to tell me I was being misogynistic for attacking a woman’s attire.
Um, no — a green dress is a perfect tool for green screen fuckery. Very, very bad choice.
But then the Handmaid’s Tale. Wooow. How obvious is it the right-wing is poorly read, poorly educated, just plain stupid.
Was wondering PRECISELY what you meant.
I mean, I thought it was a poor choice and I **love** green. But that was a simple color choice, like the beige kitchen.
The usual Southern or aristocratic English compliments come to mind: “Difficult color, green.”
Solid green is always a bad choice on camera, as Melania demonstrated.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2020/08/28/first-lady-melania-trump-twitter-reimagines-her-green-screen-dress/5652741002/
Wife saw this video, clips of true blood mixed with Britt’s speech. It fits too well. https://www.tiktok. com/@deesknots/video/7344121309430861087
True Blood I did not see coming.
O__O
She sounded like she was performing for an Oscar – from her kitchen no less!
[Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the same username and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You’ve published (3) comments most recently as “Kreativekkj”; please revert to that name on future comments or they may not clear for publication. “Kathy” is not unique to this site and doesn’t meet the site’s minimum standard. /~Rayne]
Was it worse than Jindal or Rubio? Tim Miller says it was far worse.
I thought so, because she was trying SO HARD
For some reason I thought of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to JFK.
We don’t have a tv and so we listened to both speeches on the radio. Biden’s speech energized me.
Britt’s “speech” literally sounded like she was crying half of the time. And the inflections were off—so contrived.
A good politician knows the average voter won’t remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel. Joe wins.
‘What the Hell Am I Watching’: Republicans Torch Their Own SOTU Rebuttal Alabama Sen. Katie Britt was panned after delivering the most bizarre State of the Union rebuttal in recent memory https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/katie-britt-sotu-rebuttal-torched-republicans-1234983528/ RAMIREZ / SUEBSAENG MARCH 8, 2024
Sen. Katie Britt’s SOTU “response” reminded me of “Kinder, Küche, Kirche”.
She worked hard on her sincere, whispery delivery, especially for “disgrace.” Not much substance, though. Happy if that’s the best the Republicans can come up with.
The SOTU and the Republican response in 4 words –
Biden Strong
Katie Britt(le)
So, I take it we all agree Senator Britt’s VP audition didn’t go well?
I dunno, perhaps she was added to Defendant-1’s rolodex like Alina Habba apparently was…until she was replaced as his attorney by Scharf.
I think the telling clue will be who Defendant-1 allows to be around him over the next couple of months. Will the GOP have a convention? Will it have an open bar or be pay as you swill like the M-a-L victory party was?
VP job is up for auction, starting at half a billion….
[Welcome to emptywheel. Please choose and use a unique username with a minimum of 8 letters. We are moving to a new minimum standard to support community security. Because your username is far too short and common (there are more than one Tina here) it will be temporarily changed to match the date/time of your first known comment until you have a new compliant username. Thanks. /~Rayne]
Points it you know who said this: “I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies, and had teas.”
Hillary? (And I’m not American!)
I was waiting for the camera to pan down to her bare feet.
I agree. Johnson looked small and weak and would not stand to applaud at even obvious moments except for when John Lewis was mentioned and lauded. MTG and the rest of the miscreants looked hopeless and forlorn. They’ve been smelling themselves too much and believe their own lies. They and Faux news depict Biden as hesitant, weak, stumbling, inept and he was anything but that. That left them nothing to do but sit on their hands.
Oh, there are new talking points now. He was “angry,” “caffeinated,” “divisive,” “ranting,” etc.
Mike Johnson after the speech last night: “I don’t know why everyone’s suddenly obsessed with my facial expressions…”
“Expressions”?
My favorite Mike Johnson expression: that of just having consumed a shit sandwich.
I was thinking he got a gerbil suppository (h/t Al Franken). No gerbils were harmed for that mental picture.
What struck me was how many times his head nodded yes mostly when Biden recounted his accomplishments and positive agenda. I think his body heard the world he craves but suppresses because of his religious and social indoctrination in Republicanism.
I noticed that too. He was actually clapping occasionally as well under the table. The few times the camera panned to the side you could see his hands clapping.
I expect others picked up on this (I do not watch any of the chattering nor have I read much of the reactions, as I like to take time to form my own impressions) – I was baffled by Mike Johnson last night. His expressions (smiles, nods) as well as clapping made it seem like he was repeatedly agreeing with Joe. I would expect the opposition leader to sit sour faced with a look of distain – Madam Speaker did that so well for so long.
I understand that it is all theater – but that is my point. I see it as yet another showing of how bad he is at his job.
“I was baffled by Mike Johnson last night. His expressions (smiles, nods) as well as clapping made it seem like he was repeatedly agreeing with Joe. I would expect the opposition leader to sit sour faced with a look of distain – Madam Speaker did that so well for so long.”
Yes, me too! MAGA Mike just couldn’t contain himself. Ha, ha. Just shows how good Joe really is.
Just like I said to Rayne on a previous post, “Definitely more sexy than Trump.” He was hot last night. Much better than last year. I don’t know why all the kids on this blog underestimate us wise ol’ folk so much. We’ve been around the block a few times. Our bags of tricks are full of surprises.
I was struck by how much Johnson looks, and acts, like Charlie McCarthy–without the tophat.
Oh! Thanks so much for that. It’s been driving me nuts for months who he reminded me of. That’s it exactly.
Meme creators, do your thing!
I think Stephen Colbert could do to Johnson what Tina Fey did to Sarah Palin.
“The kids on this blog underestimate” .. “wise ‘ol folk” partially because the language and issues that Biden uses that many here found so impressive simply does not effectively communicate with younger generations raised on empty promises. Biden is speaking to his own, solidly Republican, demographic. All of us, “wise ‘ol folk” and younger generations alike, are pretty confident that the mass shootings will continue unabated, the climate crisis will accelerate, the amount of debt foisted on younger generations will grow, implemented solutions to our problems will center on massive handouts to business and/or military engagement, etc.
My guess on the historical parallel of this speech is that of Cicero, and we all know what happened then.
So, you speak Newspeak?
I’m simply saying he is not connecting at all with the younger generations, who he happens to need come November.
I work with a lot of this younger generation you speak of. About 20 or sold them last night. They were glued to their phones and annoyed when interrupted in their viewing of the state of the union. Sorry Jim, but you are really off base with this.
Huh. Couldn’t tell it from the young people asking me questions about last night’s SOTU — and deriding the Handmaiden’s rebuttal.
I think someone once said that age and guile beat youth, (faked) innocence, and a bad haircut…
Speaker Johnson’s reactions struck me the same way: his noddings made it seem like he was agreeing with Biden on many points. I expect he got some stiff notes from his handlers on how to do better when serving in the visual background of an opposing politician’s speech. Let’s hope this was his one and only chance in that role.
I’d say Mini Mike is one & done as acting house speaker, an historical footnote to the GOP sabotage of the Ukrainian state.
Like Britt he’s in over his head and doing OJT at a high level. Britts previous highest elected position was college student body president. Cue John McEnroe again “you can not be serious”
Yes. About halfway in Johnson seemed ready to jump up and perform an altar-call conversion to the Democrat (sic) Party. He really did seem in agreement with Joe’s points, with his face revealing that Joe had broken through the MAGA programming and hit Johnson in the heart. Or the stomach. Or, dare I say, in the mind, that realm so rarely breached by Republican rhetoric.
Toward the end he seemed determined to control himself. Hence the constipated, rueful look he adopted later. But this Speaker lacks the discipline we are used to seeing in that chair.
Does this mean there’s hope on Ukraine?
It would be about time. Maybe his mind has finally realized that he can spring forward. But he’s still afraid of his shadow.
He was present in the moment.
1. He did the Joe Biden thing of shaking hands and sending good tidings.
2. He dealt with the issues in sentences that connected, with ideas.
3. He handled the hecklers like an experienced stand-up comedian. He never lost his composure.
4. His historical references may ring true to the 65 and older voters who remember the murders of MLK and RFK and certainly remember the bi-partisan support to end the Cold War successfully.
5. He started well and finished well. His physical stamina was noticeable.
…and he stayed a half hour after they turned out the lights. I think the cliche is “The Happy Warrior.” The man loves doing this. I hope the GOP stays with their brain dead tactics. He eats it up. I think they were looking forward to a debate. I don’t know if they still are.
Biden wiped the floor with Defendant-1 in 2020 (as HRC actually did in 2016) and given how much Def-1 has declined mentally Biden will curb stomp Def-1 this time. I think the GOP knows it and so will resort to ‘wanting’ the debate without actually letting it happen. Kind of like releasing Defendant-1’s tax returns, the infrastructure bill, replacing Obamacare, etc., et al.
This is an area where the upcoming legal entanglements can actually help out Inmate P01135089 because having to sit in a courtroom as a defendant is a valid reason to not go to a debate.
If President Biden is re-elected Trump will never last another four years. The MAGA movement will still be around, in some form. The prior example of post Civil War reconstruction shows the movement will reconstitute itself and struggle on in some form.
That’s a key question. Unquestionably Trump is a unique character a lot of which is due to being a celebrity for so many years which helped in building his cult status, No one in the GOP including his failsons are anything like him in style and weirdness. I suspect someone will be the leader in MAGA but that person won’t have the same cult following.
Had the Tea Party found some sort of avatar like MAGA has in Trump, it might have persisted longer than it did. On second thought, the Tea Party’s not really a thing anymore, right? RIGHT?!?
The Tea Party became MAGA.
And the John Birch Society of 1950s—2010 became the Tea Party.
Yup…
Yes
FJB = F*ck John Birch would make a nice meme.
Precisely correct. The Koch brothers were major supporters of Tea Party initiatives and financiers of Americans for Prosperity, their operational arm. Their father, Fred Koch, had been one of the founders of the John Birch Society. There is thus a direct line between the Birchers and the MAGAs.
[Moderator’s note: WARNING: You have now disregarded FOUR moderator requests to change your username. Please choose and use a unique username with a minimum of 8 letters. You will not be permitted to comment again until your name has been changed to meet the site’s standard. /~Rayne]
“We could do with a lot more shame in the United States. US democracy would be vibrant if Republicans were held accountable for their attacks on America.”
Hear! Hear!
The Republican antics last night were shameful. And I hope that all Americans saw that as I did and are as sick of it as I am.
yes, agree…and there are more of us than them…
The shelf life of such a powerful speech needs to last longer than the ability of the typical (MAGA) voters short attention span.
OK – I realize it is unlikely to resonate positively to any dedicated MAGA so the swing voters.
Perhaps one way to keep the resonance on is to make campaign ads that repeat his specific comparative comments between “his predecessor” and him – 13 I believe were counted.
Another way to demonstrate his mental acuity is to selector key passages ESPECIALLY his ability too parry with the interruptors and shut them down.
MTG is a very special case, but he handled it well by taking the pin from MTG and saying her name (Laken Riley) thus flipping the MAGA narrative of it being his fault back at the Rs.
The Lankford shot of “It’s true” is priceless too.
I believe it was CBS or perhaps NBC commentator who likened the style of the speech to be in a rhythm of instagram or tictoc posts or any of those that I don’t participate in. I think it was this person who said it could be made into a whole lot of political ads. I whole heartedly agree.
I don’t think I heard ‘malarkey’ once, and dadgummit that was my drinking word. Did I miss something?
It was implicit
Malarkey.
So much good stuff from our president last night. Let me add the humorous ones. The moment pres. Biden saw MTG in her magaht and tshirt is priceless. His face was pure joy, so much so that even that stupid woman couldn’t keep from laughing herself. Our presidents quick response to the do nothing GOP……..
But the rebuttal given by the senator? had to be 100% djt. They used in both optics (kitchen) and this silly woman’s gagging delivery of fear mongering…..old fashioned was the direct opposite of our presidents message of being stuck in old ideas..and the rebuttal grabbed that as their North star. Hilarious. Oh, it felt so good to hear him yell.
ps? I’d say 85% of the callers during the 2hr comment period on Washington Journal/cspan, were on fire supporting our president. It was so welcome to hear. I have to add the rest magaht callers? more hysterical.
What struck me with Britt’s rebuttal was all the panting and heavy breathing- I have never witnessed another woman speaking so breathily except in movies or shows, just before the actress says the equivalent of ‘I want you; take me now!’ It was bizarre. It didn’t make sense until I learned she’s on Trump’s VP shortlist.
She was auditioning to be his VP, and decided this was the way to appeal to him.
I understand why it’s hard to talk about, because as a society we’re trying to stop judging women on their appearance, stop making women responsible for men’s attraction to them, etc. But it looks like Britt is relying on that effort while cynically using inappropriate sexualized behavior to try to become Trump’s VP pick and win over voters.
A commenter at Balloon Juice says this is the “evangelical tradwife” voice. Just shoot me now.
Yeah, one of the things I learned post-SOTU last night was there’s this thing called “Fundie Baby Voice” and apparently it’s a badge of “good” womanhood among the evangelical set. Here’s a hilarious thread about it (I’m adding spaces to the URL, hope that’s OK): https:/ /twitter. com/piper4missouri/status/ 1720927778 155995512
Thanks for this! Last fall I wrote about the Johnson’s [Mike and Kelly], and tried to listen to some of their podcasts [“Truth Be Told”] … it was so difficult listening to her speak! Piper’s “fundie baby voice” is a perfect description.
I mentioned the podcast here: https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/10/25/leave-the-rest-to-mike-johnson-republicans-prepare-to-elect-key-jan6-figure-as-speaker/#comment-1022596.
Another woman who falls into this category, imo,
is Amy Coney Barrett.
I found Piper’s substack. Today she writes about this topic:
The Fundie Baby Voice As soon as Senator Katie Britt started speaking, I knew exactly who she is. She is so many of the pastor’s wives and Sunday School teachers I knew growing up in an Evangelical church. Be sweet. Obey.
https://jesspiper.substack.com/p/the-fundie-baby-voice
Jess Piper March 8, 2024
The end of Piper’s piece about fundie baby voice:
The voice—and the smile. That smile in the inappropriate green dress, reminded me of the factory owners I used to deal with in S.E. Asia. They seemed to agree to any request with “yes,yes” and then that smile. Not really a true smile, more like just a bunch of teeth playing with your mind.
That is a very insightful post. I’m sure for everyone under the age of 50 who grew up in the American fundamentalist/evangelical milieu has a very similar reaction. It’s a little different for me because I’m just old enough (63) to know that the fundie baby voice was an innovation that wasn’t really ubiquitous before the late 1970’s. In my experience, it was part and parcel of the ascendancy of the “Religious Right” a movement spearheaded by Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler, the two men who first spearheaded the conservative takeover and political debasement of the Southern Baptist Convention and then, via the Council for National Policy, did the same thing to the Republican party. And Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler are, to use their own terminology, disgusting perverts. I would describe them as men who have publicly condoned sexual abuse and have been credibly accused of sexual assault.
I associate that voice with the men who created that culture more than the women who use it.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson brings that into focus in the 3/8/24 installment of her series: “Letters From an American” https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-8-2024
[I have become seriously addicted to this series.]
The male equivalent of the fundie baby voice for women is the soft speech of people like Dick Cheney or a Catholic bishop deflecting accusations against child abusing priests. It is as quiet but not nearly as breathy as Britt’s voice and allows such people to say the most outrageous things without seeming outrageous. My observation is that Catholics teach this voice to priests in seminary but I could very well be wrong (no offence meant to the Catholic religion itself).
[Welcome back to emptywheel. SECOND REQUEST: Please use the same username AND EMAIL ADDRESS each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You changed your email on this comment thereby creating a new identity. PLEASE STOP and revert to your previous email address unless you notify moderators of a necessary change. We don’t even require a working/valid email address, only that you use the same one each time you comment. Reply to this comment using your old email address to confirm your identity. /~Rayne]
Maximum effect in this snippet: https://mstdn.social/@[email protected]/112062118971513646
For context on this phenomenon, see Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s chapter in Strongmen on the seeming paradox of the women who support them and why they do. Ben-Ghiat’s brilliant and bracing analysis crystallized so much of what I’ve observed with growing frustrating (and dread) for years.
I cannot recommend it highly enough!
So, her White Nationalist Evangelical superhero identity is Kitchen Katie the TikTok TradWife!
Thing is, that’s not at all the way she normally talks. She was probably our best opportunity for a relatively normie Trump VP nominee. And then, she was coached in and practiced that delivery…because a group of old white guys thought it was a really great idea!
[That’s my third Senator Britt comment. I’m going to stop now.]
Nah, nah, nah, nah. If she is stupid enough to let someone force her into that fiasco she is too stupid to have a future as a politician. You have to stand up for yourself and how you want the world to see you.
So, she is either a push over, or she thought it was a great idea.
I dare you to find Democratic female politician who would ever go along with that idiotic idea.
I’ll grant you, relatively is doing a lot of work there.
I think it’s political consultants failing to rein her in. She thought it was a great idea.
Poor Alabama is often abused, but it sometimes gets what it deserves. Imagine having Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt as your two US Senators.
Thanks for the information. I had wondered if she always talks in that manner or if this was an aberration. I had enough trouble dealing with unwanted sexual advances in the workplace without engaging in such behavior that I shudder to think what it would be like for someone who does.
As a women myself, I found her whispering voice while lying about Biden imaginary faults really disturbing.
She acted like she was talking to cult followers as if the sentences didn’t need to be grounded in reality, what she wanted to narrate was enough to just trust her.
And she is the new face of the GOP.
What about the rest of the US population that is not part of the cult?
They don’t seem to care they are a minority trying to impose their ideology on the rest of us.
Actually, what I got out of the wierdness was a strong impression that she (and they) really do care to be stranded in a (shrinking) minority, that the America of which they feel a part is in decline (which it is, and the rest, which isn’t, somehow doesn’t matter). Which is why they react now in such increasingly anti-democratic ways. So much for her championing of “freedom”. The hypocrisy is tangible, but they just don’t see it (or are purblind).
and her almost crying, quivering voice!!! Listen, I have special sensory receptors when it comes to ‘falseness’ and that lady? was over the bar in hysteria. It was truly delicious.
It wasn’t just the lumpen Republicans that Biden shamed. While addressing those members of the SCOTUS who were sitting in the front row, he gave a very good rendition of a teacher reproaching a bunch of errant schoolkids. For once it wasn’t the jurists passing judgement. (Oh joy!)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1766086678261727263
Happy International Women’s Day!
Happy IWD! Ireland is voting to take out “barefoot and pregnant” language from our Constitution.
seriously? that’s fabulous Marcy!
(I know that this is dorky BUT, every time you reply to me and {who’s counting 3x’s!, LOL} my toes curl!!!) (I know, I know, you’re rolling your eyes but I sincerely mean it)
glorious. I love @emptywheel! k I’ll show myself out…………also? I wasn’t going to say anything but I just sent you a donation via snail mail. It is an honor to do so Marcy.
I’d love to see that language go, but the turnout has been apathetic and the replacement wording has caused nothing but confusion and talking-head bickering.
If the referendum fails, it will be misrepresented as Ireland going Handmaid’s Tale. But the real failure will have been the poor replacement wording and a very poor campaign by the government.
[Welcome to emptywheel. Please choose and use a unique username with a minimum of 8 letters. We are moving to a new minimum standard to support community security. Thanks. /~Rayne]
At the end they had to turn down the lights on Biden as he did not want to leave this party!
SOTU: Biden was back on familiar territory, Congress, where he spent many years, and as VP was the deciding vote in the Senate. No wonder he felt quite comfortable there.
Mike Johnson was at his squirmiest when Biden was defending IVF. I didn’t watch the speech live, only selected clips after the fact, but he also did a lot of head-shaking at other moments, mutely trapped in that chair next to Harris sitting behind the devil his-self and Jesus wasn’t coming to his aid. Wouldn’t be surprised if the Lincoln Project makes a highlight reel of his non-verbal reactions to most of the topics…
Thinking of Kevin McCarthy at the other SOTU speeches where his presence was much more goofy and detached relative to the goings-on in the room. (I guess that’s just the difference between a pretender like Kevin and an ideologue like Mike…)
MAGA Mike squirmed a lot, with good reason, occasionally tossing in head shaking and muttering for variety. Biden’s taunting on Social Security (Mike just revived the Catfood Commission) and the border bill (listing the stuff the GOP was against after being for it) made him scowl the worst.
I fully expect he practiced that gallery of head nods, smirks, sadly shaking of head, etc. in front of a mirror beforehand, probably with consultants watching and offering performance notes. God, what awful, awful people. If the speech highlighted anything, it’s the difference between decency and …. whatever those monsters are pushing.
Donald Trump has apparently posted bond in the E. Jean Carroll case for $91.63 million. The notice refers to annexed documents, which were not included with the document below. The court still has to accept the bond, as of a date not yet set, which would be routine, unless it’s not from a recognized issuer.
Fortunately, the monitor appointed by Judge Engoron will probably list it in her next report. A litigant can usually purchase a bond for a set, non-refundable fee, which a percentage of the whole, if it also has security for the balance. But because Trump will be on the hook for the full amount, should he lose his appeal, the monitor would track it.
Trump beat the Monday deadline by a few days. How Trump did it will be important, because he’s wrestling with minimum cash and net worth requirements. A bond constitutes an additional contingent liability, which could implicate both limits. He has a much bigger hurdle coming in a few weeks, regarding the bond he needs to appeal the judgment in favor of Letitia James.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790.317.0.pdf
Did he post a real bond? Or were there just more promises and pledges of security interests in various properties? Was it cash, or from a recognized surety? People are asking.
See comments below. But you can’t just post a fictitious bond. The judge has to approve it, which means it has to be from a recognized issuer or a financial institution with obvious means to make good on the bond, if called for.
According to Law and Crime, Trump filed a motion today to have a bond from the Chubb Corporation in the amount of $91 million approved.
That’s not the full $93 million, but maybe the judge will accept it.
The award, with interest, was about $83 million, so $91 million and change was the amount he needed to and did post in federal court.
The amount he would need for an appeals bond in NY state vs federal court is higher, about 120% vs 110% of a judgment.
“Trump beat the Monday deadline by a few days.”
How fitting that he did it on IWD!
The clown in the red suit seemed unusually desperate for attention.
Yikes, that rebuttal. I haven’t been talked down to that way since the second grade. I had to turn it off after two minutes the cringe was so painful. Didn’t I see that kitchen in Stepford Wives?
MTG’s attire (especially the MAGA hat) violated House rules, but MAGA Mike was too scared to kick her out (or George Santos who was there for some reason).
re dress violation is there a $ penalty like for no mask? (Did you see that SCOTUS said she must pay her $100k mask fines?)
Santos was there ’cause he’s filed papers to run for congress again. I kid you not.
Apparently there’s no rule to keep him off the floor though he was ejected from his office, perhaps because he hasn’t been convicted. I guess we should be petitioning our House reps to change their rules.
Continued floor access must be priced into the rates they charge for lobbying. So, absolutely, there should be no floor access for anyone not currently employed by the USG to work on Capitol Hill.
Can you imagine GM, Nvidia, Apple, Google, or MS allowing former employees – who work for a competitor – free access to their campuses and buildings? Me neither.
One of the male Rs was in a Trump tee, and flag-like bow tied, and a jacket. He did not look good in it.
Troy Nehls, according to TV.
And no one looks good in it.
The Republican response to Biden’s SOTU address was cringeworthy. Impossible to believe that the woman behind the persona that gave it is a US Senator. She portrayed herself as a caricature of a 1950s dream wifey: childish voice, demure, submissive, in figurative pumps and pearls, but kitcheny cute. She tapped into so many other cliches, it makes you wonder whether she was barefoot and pregnant.
It was like watching a mini Boebert.
“If you can fake sincerity you’ve got it made.”
–George Burns
Maybe not. Boebert gives the impression of someone for whom running a cowboy/trucker bar is a complicated business that requires her to put her whole body into it.
The Senator from Alabama creates the impression that the most her hubby will allow her to do outside the home is to attend church socials and occasionally write up the church’s annual report. Otherwise, she’s home attending to his and his family’s needs. Her own? Meh.
Those impressions may be pure theater and not accurate. But if so, the people creating them are more cynical than I give them credit for being.
I suspect the GOP was trying to cynically re-build a link to reach the moms that left once Roe v Wade was torpedoed. I don’t recall Britt saying anything about that or IVF which was just wiped out in AL by its supreme court.
All the GOP managed to do with their setting and the unprofessional relaxed look (it’s a national policy speech you idiot) is to advertise their expectation for the womenfolk: pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen.
Your impressions are correct. Alabama native here with a background in social psychology studying the upbringing of this particular subgroup. Deborah Ford’s 1997 book, GRITS (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life, is both illuminating and nightmare fuel.
Sweet Potato Queens, born, bred, and wed to their fate, eh? A different culture, but in a way, not much different from a wealthy wasp.
I noticed several of the D ladies had ‘153’ stickers, and I have no idea what that meant. Does anyone know?
It was the number of days hostages have been held in Gaza.
See https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/07/women-wearing-white-state-of-union/
Would really like to have a look at her pharmaceuticals to be honest. Not a negative shot – just an observation given her unique communication habits.
The Bond came from Federal Insurance Company, an arm of Chubb, so I assume it will be found acceptable. Impact on his remaining liquidity remains to be seen re: the larger judgment in James’ case.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/nyregion/trump-carroll-bond-defamation.html
LOL Chubb must need a loss to offset earnings.
https://www.google.com/finance/quote/CB:NYSE?window=5D
Thanks for that information.
It’s a significant, if contingent, liability. Given the low odds of Trump winning his appeal in the Carroll case, or even of lowering the amount of the award, it doesn’t look contingent at all. It’s essentially new debt of almost $100 million. That will have an obvious impact on his net worth and cash on hand.
I wonder what it cost. I also wonder if the issuer insisted on a third-party guarantor. It will be a big deal if the arrangement is duplicated for the much larger bond Trump will shortly have to post to appeal his loss to Letitia James. Thanks to Judge Engoron’s monitor, we may eventually learn some of those details.
The cost and risk of the appeals bond for the E. Jean Carroll case is Trump’s personally. It relates to his intentionally defaming her (a liability not ordinarily dischargeable in bankruptcy).
But Trump famously pretends to offload his personal liabilities onto various legal entities he owns, either to gain a fraudulent tax advantage or to protect his personal assets. The presence of Engoron’s monitor and compliance director – who have authority only over the Trump legal entities – should make that harder to do, especially without fully documenting it.
The judgment and, hence, the appeals bond related to the NY AG’s case involves the joint and several liability of individuals and Trump’s legal entity defendants. It will be interesting to see how that liability is divided among the defendants and how they account for it.
Brandi Buchman also has Trump’s notice of appeal, document 316, to the Second Circuit, in the Carroll case. (Doc. 317 was the motion to approve the appeals bond.)
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-posts-91-63m-bond-in-carroll-defamation-case-and-officially-files-appeal/
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24467615/trump-notice-of-appeal-e-jean-carroll-83m.pdf
Thanks to Axios, we have Doc. 318-1, a six page Exhibit A, with more details about the $91.63 million appeals bond Trump posted.
The bond issuer is on the hook only for Trump’s one appeal in this case to the Second Circuit, and not for any other or future appeals.
If the appellate court affirms the judgment, Trump has thirty days to pay. If he fails to do so, Carroll may inform the issuer, who would than have an additional thirty days to pay any outstanding amounts on that judgment, up to the bond limit.
Trump executed this notice regarding the posting of the appeals bond in Florida.
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24467616/trump-bond.pdf
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/08/trump-posts-nearly-92m-bond-to-appeal-e-jean-carroll-defamation-damages
I worked for the old Chubb Insurance 20 years ago and handled surety bond claims for 37 years. Chubb would likely have required at least a 100% cash collateral for this bond – bank letter of credit, CD etc., or a sliding scale of less liquid collateral. I’m checking my industry contacts to see if any other surety participated (shared the risk) on this bond.
It’s interesting to note that in 2018, Trump appointed Chubb’s CEO Evan Greenberg to a White House advisory committee for trade policy and negotiations. Evan Greenberg is the son of Hank Greenberg of AIG fame (or infamy).
Is it possible someone else (like, say, Orbán) could put up the collateral?
Yes. Trump would’ve been required to sign an indemnity agreement making him primarily liable for a payment by Chubb. Someone else could have co-signed on the loan, as it were. Chubb would not be required to release this information to the public. It would be reported to the monitor, so we might see it that way.
I doubt that Chubb would forego the collateral. As a publicly traded company, a $100 million loss would appear in it public financial reports, which would requiring some explaining. They might take some non-liquid collateral, which could take some time to sell off.
I agree that Chubb probably obtained collateral, even though Trump is good friends with its CEO. Trump, on the other hand, would have had to find collateral he could pledge, in a way that didn’t violate his loan commitments. He would probably have tried to create a template with this deal that he could repeat with other appeals bonds, like the one for the NY AG.
A well-heeled guarantor, such as Elon Musk, might have been acceptable. Trump might also have sweetened the pot with promises of future regulatory or other favors.
Normally, though, issuers demand cash or bonds for which there’s a large market. They do business electronically and don’t want to hold or sell valuable physical objects, such as art collections, cars, precious metals, real estate. Those need to be managed, insured, protected from prior sale. Reducing them to cash can take time and be expensive.
“Trump might also have sweetened the pot with promises of future regulatory or other favors.” BUT that would be illegal! Don’t tell me there is gambling going on here, too!
For special friends of Hank & Evan, Chubb might relax its collateral requirements. I’ve sold off art, cars, yachts and real estate. And yes carrying costs for all of that were a bit–!
Well. Trump probably has warehouses full of Trump shoes, water, steaks, vodka, autographed books, and game boards that his sugar daddies might vastly overpay for. Or he might claim that’s what they contained – and had contracts to sell at exorbitant prices – before the…fires wiped him out.
$600 million is a lot to invest in a ship when the waves are crashing over the gunwales! Wait is that Elon on the phone?
Depends on what’s in the hold – and how well-equipped you are at undersea salvage.
We’ll be picking up the flotsam and jetsam for years.
The real problem is that Trump’s a man who can’t be bought – only leased for a very short time for a very high price! He starts the bidding over and over for the same bum steer.
If only Elon decided to visit the Titanic…
Possible? Oh yea, i think probable that Trump is dialing for dollars with his wealthy potential benefactors, particularly in light of the next extra large bond due from him in a couple weeks. Saudi Sovereign Fund and Elmo also come to mind. Even Deutsche Bank has finally cut him off.
Isn’t there still some classified documents still missing?
You touch on a point I have had thoughts about recently – yes, the Orange Florida Man is a con man and a traitor without scruples who absconded with highly classified information – and has lots of debt.
That is a recipe for blackmail or ill gotten gains, however I wonder: is all of that information still valuable? Some, like hardware and capabilities may still be open for abuse/trade but what of the personnel or operational data taken?
Hardcopy still available or memory? Is he still in possession of any hardcopy or are there so many copies of certain documents out there that they are essentially worthless? The now three year old data may be outdated or superseded by the intelligence community, much in the fashion I change all the locks on my home if I lose my keys.
Some of the old news will likely still have value – but enough to secure him the cashish he will need?
Trump is a devious idiot. But he knew enough to destroy many embarrassing and incriminating docs while in the Oval Office, so he knew by taking as much as possible on the way out, there would be a market for some of it. Or as ‘get out of jail’ cards
Time diminishes most intelligence but not equally, depending on the intel. I assume that our intel services have made changes to mitigate known classified exposures. But Trump still has many friends and tentacles in high places. I believe he is an on-going threat to our country and leveraged somehow by Putin.
Some of this missing docs have great value to our enemies.
The Rainforest Action Network, an environmental non-profit, suggests that Chubb does substantial business underwriting the Russian fossil fuel industry. From a 2022 article:
Those examples also attract Chinese and other foreign and domestic investors. Chubb’s business creates the potential for it to act as a conduit for aid to Trump. In exchange, those aiding Trump could underwrite Chubb’s exposure to him, by giving Chubb new or newly lucrative old business. What Trump might give in exchange is anybody’s guess.
https://www.ran.org/the-understory/chubb-is-insuring-deadly-oil-and-gas-expansion/
Oooh…Chubb does reinsurance, too. If they have an offering of odd policies they could slice and dice it up on the reinsurance market and not carry the entire exposure to Trump. I wonder if they’d lump it in with some of those offshore policies.
I need to touch base with someone who did underwriting and ask how a policy on Trump could be hidden and buffered.
Here’s Doc. 319, in which Judge Kaplan asks E. Jean Carroll if she has any objection to the appeals bond Trump has requested Kapaln to approve.
Carroll has until Monday at 11.00 am to respond. Kaplan will hear any objections she may have the same day at 3.00 pm. That’s how a federal court moves a case along, Judge Cannon.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790.319.0_1.pdf
The main reason Judge Kaplan set the hearing for this coming Monday afternoon – assuming one is needed before he approves the bond – is that Monday is the last day before the existing stay expires.
Posting the bond alone is not sufficient to extend the stay. Judge Kaplan also has to approve it to do that. So Monday will be a big day, and Trump might have a long weekend before he gets there.
It seems like Trump has plowed ahead and already defamed Carroll *again* in the nonce.
Would Roberta Kaplan just be taking notes, or might this affect Carroll’s decision on Monday?
As I watched Mike Johnson, I kept thinking about how small he looked in that big chair. Perhaps, he’s a perfect metaphor for his party.
Chair is extra large to hide his puppet master.
I think this is the first BIDEN ad from the speech:
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1766115018506957095
9:53 AM · Mar 8, 2024
Another great ad – 4 more years!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFO-avZGQhM
Uff…sniffling because it struck me Biden said toward the end was intensely personal as well as political and public. When he got knocked down by the deaths of his first wife and daughter, knocked down again by the death of his son, and battered by the attacks on his second son and himself, he’s gotten back up and kept on going. In spite of his personal tragedies there’s been nothing which exceeded his capacity.
The question isn’t whether he’s up to the job again — it’s whether we’re up to his challenge, to pick ourselves up and keep on going.
Brava.
Yes, Rayne…BRAVA!
Very poignant. If we somehow get out of this crazy thing with democracy intact, and the MAGA movement totally discredited, history will indeed remember this speech and this president right up there among the best.
I wonder if Lin-Manuel gave Biden’s speechwriters a bit of a tip there?
Excellent point, and yes. That’s our
cue to get out and work for this…
Had it not been for his being stricken with polio, and developing the resilience to fight back from it, arguably FDR might never have become the transformative figure he was and is now seen to be. The number of tragedies that Biden has been through has given him the character traits that are the most appealing things about him. The positive was on full display last night. The negative we know.
Now there’s a choke in my throat.
Joe should inspire us all to put our shoulders into this fight to save democracy at home and not back away from Ukraine abroad, either.
He was reassuring when he had to be. Created a contrast between Biden and Trump. Democrat and Republican.
The president made his case squarely — defining the state of our nation with humor, humility, and honesty and a quick wit. He was downright personable.
Did ever a Speaker of the House look so small as the smarmy smirker seated in the big chair behind him?
Reminiscent of JFK on January 20, 1961. Honestly, that’s when I knew for sure I was a Democrat, when I listened to that speech as a child. It had a profound impact on my life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxa4HDgfWFs
“JFK’s Famous Inaugural Address Passage”
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/ask-not-what-your-country-can-do-for-you
Thought from the beginning of his term that Biden was the last gasp of Camelot. Having a bust of RFK in the Oval Office is just one indication of that.
[Moderator’s note: please see your comment at 5:38 pm today in this thread. /~Rayne]
Pretty sure that’s overreading the symbolism.
I heard that speech as a four-year-old, after “campaigning” for Kennedy in kindergarten, an activity that got me literally tarred (with actual tar) in our suburb up north. By the time of the inauguration we had moved to Raleigh, NC, where my parents wisely sent me to Catholic school. The combination of my skin color and personality did not bode well in public school in the early Sixties.
Kennedy and Dr. King were my North Stars. People like us grew up finding heroes and then witnessing their assassinations. It’s so hard for me to understand others our age with our shared history–because we come from an era when history was, in fact, shared–breaking MAGA.
“Ask not what your country can do for you…”
“I am your retribution.”
This Biden campaign ad is good, but then again, they had good material to work with!
Very good. It’s from the end of the SOTU speech, when I thought this would be an ad.
Biden did a smart twofer by refuting the press obsession on competency by demonstrating so much competency on policy.
A lot of the pre-address chatter by pundits was hung up on whether he could deal with the age issue with his posture, a quips, or tone of voice, but Biden correctly understood that showing mastery of policy was the right avenue.
The press fears the campaign revolving around real issues almost as much as the GOP does. Typical political reporters barely understand any issue in depth, and their source networks don’t either. But Biden was smart not to settle for superficiality, but insist on being judged on where he and Trump stand.
Sadly, the media are committed to promoting a horse race. This, they hope, will keep viewership up and that translates to higher rates they can charge for adverts. Expect to see them magnify any future verbal mis-steps by President Biden.
They’re still covering campaigns the way they covered Bush-Dukakis, and Joan Didion’s “Insider Baseball” shows how the bothsides sausage gets made.
I think what’s interesting is that at least parts of the GOP are signalling a switch to a message of Biden being too aggressive, which of course undercuts the idea that he’s incapacitated. The press may well follow, and I think the mixed messages end up being a problem for both the GOP and the press.
I don’t share your optimism on the matter of the GOP’s ‘mixed messages’ causing them any problems, as they’ve been engaging in doublethink for years. The Alabama IVF decision + its aftermath is only the latest example of the GOP holding two contradictory positions at the same time, and making up justifications that cannot be sustained under any kind of critical evaluation.
The inherent contradiction of ‘Joe Biden is a doddering, senile old man and he was wrong to use the SOTU address to vigorously attack the GOP’ won’t trigger any cognitive dissonance; they won’t even notice. Critical thinking & self-evaluation is for losers.
Edited to add: last sentence is how I interpret their attitude.
The Republicans were shamed, but they are not ashamed. I don’t think they are capable of that anymore.
Mitch McConnell publicly supporting Trump is all you need to know – it’s checkmate. The GOP is no longer a legitimate political organization – it’s now the new grifting operation for one individual who has openly used violence against the USA. Now is the time for every citizen to speak up!
From CNN: “Americans who watched on Thursday said, 62% to 38%, that the policies Biden proposed will move the US in the right direction, rather than the wrong direction. In a survey conducted before the speech, just 45% of those same people said Biden’s policies would move the US in the right direction.”
The independents broke big for Biden:
“Before the speech, 51% of independents expressed at least some confidence in Biden’s ability to carry out his duties, and that rose to 68% among the same group of independents after the speech.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/08/politics/cnn-poll-biden-sotu-speech-reaction/index.html
Ummm….wow, these are just incredible numbers. Time for Biden to blanket the airwaves with his message of hope. It is a stark contrast to Trump.
The icing on the cake is that the GOP response was so disastrous that even GOP pundits are going on the record to distance themselves from it.
Couldn’t ask for a better distinction than that.
I can’t wait for the SNL version of the Katie Britt response!
Meanwhile, from The Guardian, the headline reads:
“Republicans baffled by Katie Britt’s State of the Union response: ‘One of our biggest disasters’.”
The story includes these comic gems…
“What the hell am I watching right now?” an unnamed Trump adviser told Rolling Stone.
“It’s one of our biggest disasters ever,” another unnamed Republican strategist told the Daily Beast
Lara Trump running the RNC probably has a bigger affect on the GOP this year, ‘cause she’ll run it into the ground, but for right now, I luxuriate in the cries of the consultants, advisers, and strategists who have to deal with this self-inflicted wound.
The Guardian has an iffy reputation IIRC, but here is the link:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/08/katie-britt-sotu-reaction
When CNN introduced their poll results last night, they first explained that the audience skewed Democratic (just as GOP Presidents’ SOTU speeches skew GOP). We should expect lower numbers in a broader sample.
Yes. And even if the polls are accurate, they’re gonna come back down to earth a bit as this SOTU address fades.
However, is this the beginning of the poll numbers climbing out of the gutter? Possibly.
538 just dropped Rasmussen from the collection of polls they use to track approval/disapproval after too many egregious self-serving “polls” and their refusal to disclose details.
About time. Rasmussen has been a joke (and a dangerous one) for years. This is really soft squishy data and can be molded into any form you want – if you have a predilection.
Even if the “independents” were all secretly Democrats, their change in perception of Biden’s abilities seems to me to indicate that undecided Democrats were very positively impacted by the speech.
Yes, things like the SOTU speech and party conventions have a bump that tends to come back down to earth. However, while this particular bump may fade a bit, I’m sure people have gotten past the “Sleepy Joe” image. Now, a decent portion of formerly undecided voters are moving into Biden’s camp.
I normally find SOTU speeches a little boring. But I knew JB needed a big performance last night and he did not disappoint. If he can find the power to keep fighting for what’s right, we have to as well.
I feel inspired. Smokin’ Joe is back and I’m proud to support him! Especially considering Don the Con’s desire to flush the American Experiment down the toilet. All hands on deck!
https://imgflip.com/memetemplate/179718406/Smokin-Joe-Biden
I liked the speech, many policy points, and comebacks. Joe has lost a step but when considering the mental processing a stutterer must deploy to not stutter and remain articulate, I have much respect.
This analysis might change your mind about “lost a step.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/08/biden-sotu-speech-ad-libs/
Thanks for the link and the salient reply.
I’m trying not to log into my subscription at WaPo, but was happy to read Philip Bump’s column.
I would say he picked up a step. Not to mention that Trump wouldn’t have gotten past the first paragraph of Biden’s hour and a half speech, let alone understood it.
In true Republican fashion, the story about the immigrant girl who was repeatedly raped was told in great detail but what was missing was any thought for the actual person (if there even was one). What happened to her? Did she get sent back to the Mexican cartels, the preferred outcome for Republicans? Did she get help? Is she able to ask for Asylum based on this? Did Senator Britt take her in to her home to help her, you know, the “Christian” thing to do? Katie Britt can’t talk about that because the only use the current Republican Party has for crime victims who are also immigrants or other people they don’t think belong in this country is for political stunts.
And God forbid she became pregnant and did not want continue the pregnancy.
According to journalist Jonathan Katz she was forced into slavery and raped in Mexico 15-20 years ago. She told her story to Congress in 2015.
A Republican being dishonest? Say it ain’t so!
My question for mini MAGA Mike is can I claim my frozen embryos as dependents when I file my taxes in April?
Do you live in Alabama? Don’t know that frozen embryos are people in other places (yet).
Forget Alabama. What does the IRS say?
What do you enter as date of birth on the return?
The future due date, of course!
You can only do that on manually prepared returns as computer software ones won’t accept a future date.
What about the census? Not just the decadal one either. Should they be counted as well?
If they are, it will likely be under a three-fifths compromise.
Thanks for the recap and analysis, Marcy.
I am recovering from emergency surgery and decided not to watch the SOTU address having anticipated the Republican “small men and women”.
This gives me hope (Marcy wrote):
“ Joe Biden gave tribute to the possibility that government can work. He laid out one after another policy that makes sense, and often as not, saves money. He talked about real policy successes. He promised to fight against past policy disasters”
Grateful.
Clare, I pray that you are recovering quickly and feeling better. Based on my own experience of persistent depression and grief following the shocking and premature death of a close family member, I would recommend watching the speech in its entirety.
I have felt exhausted lately. I’ve been crawling through each day. But from the first minute Joe spoke I was utterly riveted. This is something I have never experienced before during a State of the Union speech, even the better ones. Usually I struggle to stay awake. This time I had to force myself to turn off the TV (something made easier by the bizarre GOP response), I was so filled with adrenaline and hope.
This is just a suggestion. I still feel energized by Joe’s speech, and it’s been great to see other people’s positive reactions to it. I think it just might give you a boost too. Best possible wishes to you!
Similar to the chants in Chicago, 1968: “The whole world is watching!”
The trials and tribulations of Trump taking his Truth [sic] Social public and cashing out enough to pay the judgments against him.
There may be regulatory and legal issues concerning whether investors are making indirect campaign contributions, especially given the stratospheric prices that are being mooted. There are political and national security issues concerning who’s coming up with the money and what they expect in return.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/donald-trump-truth-social-media-merger
Needless to say, making an investment in Truth Social is NOT investing in a social media company. Truth Social’s business volume is minuscule. It is making an investment in Donald Trump.
From that perspective, the Saudis giving the inexperienced Jared Kushner $2.0 billion to invest was just a proof of concept.
And whoever gave the bonding company collateral is making an investment as well.
Does monitor Barbara Jones have the ability to review the inner workings of the bonding transaction?
If a third-party gave Chubb financial support to issue the bond for Trump, of course, they would expect something from Trump. What and how he would repay would likely be things they would all work hard to hide.
Engoron’s monitor, and financial and accounting compliance director are there to report to the court and ensure that the Trump entities conform to the law and GAAP accounting principles.
That would include monitoring various issues, including their overall financial picture, movements of large amounts of cash or other assets (which require pre-approval), and maintaining the financial posture required to avoid defaults on their loans. The latter could be a major issue, if Trump has to sell assets or borrow heavily to pay for large judgments or appeals bonds.
I am wondering something along those lines. Did Chubb just give him the bond, or have the filed their liens o get in line if the whole empire crashes?
Is Trump the only shark, or is his weakness attractive to other metaphorical sharks who can select the pieces they want when the end comes?
Nobody knows yet. I doubt that they filed liens: those are public and could have put Trump in default of one or more loan agreements. Whatever support Chubb obtained was almost certainly off the books.
Yes he’s a con. But if he was legit he’d have to put those in his SoFC or whatever he gives banks these days. So somehow or other the monitor would find him lying if he doesn’t show them. I wonder who his CFO is these days and are they willing to be a Weisellberg or McConney for him?
It may not be relevant to this bond, but I have to wonder about the big one for 454 M$ and counting. EoH’s point about collateral is apt, since there will not be many things that Defendant-1 owns which are not subject to confiscation by sheriffs, leveraged to the hilt or worthless like Trump steaks or NFTs.
That makes me wonder what the quid will be for this pro quo. It’s a small chance Defendant-1 gets back to the WH, and that’s a pretty poor risk for a big investment because only as POTUS can their investment be paid off.
I for one am interested in whether Christopher Steele’s lawyers will padlock Turnberry to get their fees.
It’s not a small chance; it’s a big one.
For starters, Republicans control the House. But the big thing is how much more unrestrained lawlessness there is in both the GOP and the thousands of think-tank professionals, who will fight an order of magnitude more election results than they did in 2020.
There’s the even less restrained Supreme Court majority, which seems deeply committed to using its once-a-century opportunity to revolutionize America and make the Lochner-era court look progressive. It may be called upon to decide crucial election-related issues.
Keep an eye on voter-roll purges. One of the main ways the GOP makes a small chance much bigger.
I gather a few of those GOP voter roll purges have unintentionally tossed quite a few GOP voters from the rolls. Sad.
Thank you, Marcy. Yours is the savviest take I’ve seen yet. We could use more public shaming of Republicans indeed. Biden and Democrats also showed themselves to be the adults in the room, intent on governing, not games (such as Republicans’ brinkmanship wrt defaulting on the US debt); with serious, smart policies that benefit the most people and the country as a whole, not only the rich and powerful (as Biden said, to leave no-one behind) and that “promote the general welfare” as the Preamble to the Constitution states; while Republicans pouted or heckled him like unruly children.
He shamed them brilliantly, and they also shamed themselves by refusing to clap or stand for the most bipartisan statements Biden made, such as America is strong and getting stronger, and that children should have clean drinking water. They looked as petty and undeserving of power as they are. I’m glad Biden also dished out some well-deserved shame to the conservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe.
Yes. Shame has a purpose. The purpose of shame is literally a protection for the group. In this case, the majority of people whose paradigm is linked to truth and the welfare of our lives. Sexist, racist, violent behavior should be shamed as it harms all of us. Shame is power and control when not linked to truth that benefits all. (Shaming someone for skin color, for being gay or trans, or for being a child who doesn’t yet know how to behave). Then shame is evil. It’s always about the truth that sets us free!!
Yes, we should be shaming behavior that is validly harmful to us as a whole. That is the highest purpose of shame. Powerful because it is delivered by the group. And Biden as the leader. Chef’s kiss for effectiveness. Biden possesses emotional intelligence on a deep level precisely because of the tragedy he has survived.
My favorite aside was Biden’s commiserating remark to Chief Justice Roberts:
“God love you.” Um, yeah.
A very Southern sentiment.
Bless his heart!
I loved when our President, Joe Biden, made this simple statement about his career and turned to VP Harris who nodded, smiled genuinely, and applauded. It so deeply embodies the concept of democracy. Or as Joe Biden has been known to say, “America is an IDEA.” And we know he lives it, understands it, supports it, and wants it to thrive:
“I got elected to the United States Senate when I had no intention of running at age 29, then vice president to our first Black president, now president to our first woman vice president.”
State of the Union Cold Open – SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCfLpuLdF8Q&t=3s
LOL! Thanks for the link, Jenny!
Johanssen is perfect.
What a gift to have her and her impeccable comic timing this of all weeks!
Rayne, I contributed here once before and don’t remember my user name. I got roundly trounced for my remark at that time, and have since remained a lurker. I will try once again to express some views.
All, of course I watched the SOTU, and was more or less pleased with Biden’s remarks and presentation, in the sense of no gaffes and even some effective ad libs. I was energized by what he said much more than how he said it. I subsequently caught his remarks in Pennsylvania, which were roughly the same script. Teleprompter. Not a lot of affect.
I decided in fairness to watch Donald Trump’s speech Saturday in Georgia. It is available on Youtube. I am very much concerned. Here and elsewhere there is a lot of patting Biden on the back over his SOTU. But compared to Trump, in my opinion, he (Biden) came across as a limp dishrag. Trump energized and excited his crowd; he kept bragging over the size of the crowd; I have no independent estimate of his crowd size compared to Biden in Pennsylvania, but facts don’t matter. He (Trump) rambled and digressed but he did it with vigor. He makes an argument that was well received by the audience that he is being persecuted in the courts for his views – unfairly, by biased Democrat judges, racist prosecutors. All this because he is the presumptive opposition candidate. The audience ate it up. He spent multiple minutes on the trial in Fulton County with the lovers who take multiple vacations together. Making fun of the pronunciation of Fani Willis’ name. Making great fun of Nathan Wade. Audience loved it. He spoke for a good two hours. Call outs to Jim Jordan and others in the audience. And he did it with strength and vigor that, in my. opinion, far outweighed Biden’s at the SOTU and even more in Pennsylvania.
Substantively, He argues that America is at a tipping point. And only he can save us. He had zero inflation, Biden 15%. In his administration gas was $2; jumped to $4. Biden was focusing only on Snickers bars. We have the greatest oil fields in the world in ANWR; we have gone from energy independence to energy importers. Drill, bayb Drill. Applause. Ticking off one after another of the failures of the Biden administration. We have low-polluting planes so that we won’t pollute the enemy’s skies. Electric tanks that will run out of juice. Call out to Elaine Stefanic for impaling the plagiarist Claudine Gay, whose only qualifications for president of Harvard were her glasses. Applause.
Why am I saying all this and to this audience? Because I hear a lot of congratulations of Biden on his speech without a reference frame or comparison to Trump’s. My feeling (grave concern) is that an appeal to emotion is stronger than an appeal to reason. The amygdala triumphs over the frontal lobe.
Trump challenges Biden to a debate, anywhere, any time. And I think with good reason on his part. He can spew lie after lie, mis-statement after mis-statement, and Biden would be playing catch up, but not enough time till Trump comes out with the next one on the next subject.
So what is my message here and for this readership? Don’t take it for granted that reason will triumph over emotion. Just the opposite. Don’t smugly say Biden did a great job without listening to (watching) Trump’s speech. (And don’t think that Britt’s rebuttal is of any relevance at all.) The question broadly is how to turn things around so that reason can triumph over emotion.
[Moderator’s note: You have one published comment to date under username “Worms_crawl_in“; make a note of it because you will not be able to comment in the future here without using that name or using the far-from-unique “Don’t remember” a second time. /~Rayne]
I’ve let your comment through in spite of the fact it is more than 2X too long at 603 words, and it parrots and amplifies right-wing talking points.
Many of the folks here have already heard/watched Trump’s speeches — not one but many speeches — and he is not what you’ve described. If Trump did well in one speech it’s not going to be enough to overcome the body of speeches in which he has repeatedly displayed dementia-like symptoms
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkHShhTSMeA
Try reading live transcripts of Trump’s speeches. I have no worries about Biden competing against the person those words represent. I worry far more about the bigoted base which believes they need only vote for Trump to assure their xenophobic dreams come true. I worry more about the current system which suppresses voters who can’t assure they won’t be lead by a cognitively-impaired white supremacist.
ADDER: LOL sure, here’s an analysis of the Georgia speech — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xp_D9gHpW0
“Character matters.” Stark contrast between President Biden’s SOTU and Trump’s babbling rant in Rome, Georgia, last week where Donald Trump, a shameful, bumbling buffoon who wants to be king, went obviously off the rails — increasingly.
Fascism really is the insistence upon supremacy of the stupid.
I’m sorry. I noticed long ago that just hearing the sound of Trump’s voice makes me physically ill. As to using a teleprompter, they all do, and before there was such a device they used paper. The STOU speech was done for a number of reasons, besides the obvious one, a push back against the narrative the President is feeble minded. This type of speech is usually done in the convention, but because this Presidential election is more unique than others, they started the major campaigning early. Naturally he will repeat major issues he’s running on in his reelection bid. Oh I forgot to mention, Trump babbles, a lot. (though I’m sure that’s not the trigger to my discomfort)
“The audience ate it up.”
Worms, The element you omitted from your analysis renders your argument moot: Audience. Of course Trump connected *emotionally* with his rally audience in Georgia–every member of it had come for the sole purpose of adding wind to his sails. They were just waiting to feed off of each other. Have you ever performed in public? If you have you may know the neuro-chemical surge that comes when you feed off your audience’s energy.
If not, maybe think of how it feels to go out with someone you have a crush on who has signaled that they feel the same way about you…that cascade of reciprocal momentum?
Now, think about why Biden didn’t elicit similar “preaching to the converted” fervor. Roughly half were GOP members who desperately want to depose him in the upcoming election. He could promise them the moon and they wouldn’t answer with “Applause.” Biden might put it in his ads.
Democrats do need to reach voters on an emotional level. They know that. They’re up against a massive disinformation industry that appeals to voters’ emotions using lies and fear. They know that too.
The next time you compare/contrast, do apples to apples. Not tangerines to SOTU speeches.
LOL half of the audience to which Biden addressed his SOTU speech. Can’t understand why they didn’t applaud and cheer more loudly.
“(And don’t think that Britt’s rebuttal is of any relevance at all.)”
Biden’s surrebuttal of it was elegant and pointed
“I saw a little of it [Britt’s rebuttal] on television. She is clearly a very talented woman. But I just didn’t understand the arguments she was trying to connect with”
FWIW I don’t think Biden should dignify Trump’s campaign by agreeing to allow Trump the privilege of participating in a debate with him – Trump is a serial liar, unfit for office, and a bad faith abuser of any and every opportunity to present facts and arguments.No real or reasonable debate could take place with Trump in the absence of a rigorous fact checking process to prevent his usual abuses of truth and decorum.
Trump demeans himself and the electoral processes every time he opens his mouth, and he should be told the President is not interested in being present while Trump whines and wallows in his usual shitshow.
Hello Rayne, thank you for your tolerance of length of post and of username. And admiration for your ability to call up previous username and more generally for maintaining the respectful tone of this blog.
I did not mean to parrot or amplify right-wing talking points. I was simply expressing my impressions and concerns. I haven’t systematically followed Trump’s speeches and rallies; perhaps, as you suggest, this one in Georgia was an exception.
I fervently hope you prove to be correct in your assessment of Biden’s ability to stand up to Trump in a debate, and more broadly in your hope in the triumph of reason over emotion in the forthcoming election. I am afraid I find here, especially in the current thread, and elsewhere, a lot of what I would characterize as whistling past the graveyard.
You’re going to have to try harder if you think you deserve more cred for your effort.
As the kids say, you’re sus AF because the first and only comment I can find you made did not receive a trouncing you claimed you received.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/06/09/the-flavors-of-trumps-obstruction/#comment-996105
Speaking of “how government can work” I was surprised there was no mention of the I-95 repair in Philly, which I understand was the result of coordination by his admin.
ScarJo absolutely nailed it as Britt on SNL. In fact I honestly think she did a better job than Britt did as the Stepford Wife senator…