President Joe Biden achieved -- in public and on national television -- a seemingly-impossible feat this week, as he vocally unified all of Congress in support of the long-held Democratic goal of protecting Social Security and Medicare from having their budget slashed by Republicans. That was pretty astonishing to see, you have to admit, since Republicans have been attacking Social Security since before Joe Biden was born (which is really saying something, considering he's about as far from a spring chicken as you can get). But suddenly they decided en masse to take exception with this fact, and loudly protested when Biden pointed out what they've essentially been saying for decades and decades. So Biden welcomed them into the fold of politicians who do fight to preserve the safety net, gleefully proclaiming he had achieved "unanimity." This was a warning to the Republicans that the subject of cuts to Social Security and Medicare were now officially off the table. Rarely has so major a bit of political bargaining worked so effectively during a State Of The Union speech. Which is why it was all so astonishing to watch.

Biden got some rave reviews for his speech, which had the theme "Let's finish the job" (a not-so-subtle 2024 campaign slogan tryout). One line from a Politico review seemed to sum the evening up perfectly: "At times, Biden seemed to take delight in ribbing lawmakers on the other side of the aisle -- wearing a Cheshire cat grin when he did so." After leaving the chamber, Biden even tweeted a challenge to the Republicans: "Look: I welcome all converts. But now, let's see your budget." Chuck Schumer had some warm words for Biden afterwards, saying: "Joe Biden was so deft. He let them walk into his trap. He rope-a-doped them. And now all of America has seen the Republican Party say, 'No, we're not going to cut Social Security and Medicare.' He did a service."

You have to imagine that some Republican members of Congress walked out of the chamber wondering what had hit them. Outright denial of reality finally stopped working, in a very embarrassing and public way. Since Republicans have been talking about gutting Social Security and Medicare for so long, there are just oodles of examples of dozens and dozens of Republicans saying so. And now they're trying to get all of America to forget it all exists. Senator Mike Lee was the poster child for this, as he appeared shocked and incredulous that President Biden would dare say that Republicans wanted to get rid of Social Security. Later, however, a clip emerged of Lee campaigning for office by saying: "It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it up by the roots, to get rid of it... Medicare and Medicaid are of the same sort and need to be pulled up." And he's certainly not the only one with quotes like that on the record. Wherever could Joe Biden have gotten the idea that Republicans wanted to gut the safety net? Heaven forbid! Well, from Republicans calling to gut the safety net, all the way back to F.D.R.'s time, that's where.

Even conservatives had to begrudgingly admit Biden had a good night. Ross Douthat wrote an article with a very accurate title: "Biden's Message: What Trump Promised, I'm Delivering." Trump's "infrastructure weeks" turned into a punchline, while Biden is now visiting groundbreaking ceremonies.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the Republican response, which accurately framed the political landscape in America as a "choice between normal and crazy." Of course, she got the labels backwards, but then she is part of the crazy bunch, so that would have to be expected. As Paul Krugman put it, in a column titled: "War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Democrats Are Radicals":

Delivering the Republican response, Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that the United States is divided between two parties, one of which is mainly focused on bread-and-butter issues that matter to regular people, while the other is obsessed with waging culture war. This is also true. But she got her parties mixed up -- Republicans, not Democrats, are the culture warriors who've lost touch with ordinary Americans' concerns.

Sanders spoke to the core MAGA audience in her speech, while Biden spoke to ordinary American families. The difference was stark and could not be missed.

The House Republicans set about trying to prove just how crazy they could be this week, by beginning what (according to them) were supposed to be blockbuster hearings proving that the F.B.I. has become the Politburo and that Hunter Biden's laptop is the biggest problem America now faces. This went about as you'd expect it to go -- disjointed beclowning by the Republicans scurrying down their QAnon rabbit holes, while Democrats yanked everyone back to reality every once in a while.

One of the first hearings was supposed to uncover dastardly dealings between the federal government and Twitter, who supposedly colluded to kill the story about Hunter Biden's laptop. Since this never actually happened, there was nothing to uncover. Except for one instance of the White House trying to pressure Twitter into taking down a tweet -- when Chrissy Teigen called Trump a nasty name. Then the White House sprung into action, and attempted to actually censor free speech for political reasons. In other words, the entire hearing backfired on the Republicans.

So far -- thankfully -- none of these hearings has really escaped from the confines of cable news. The mainstream media hasn't obsessed over them, probably because of the deranged and reality-defying nature of them. Which is quite likely to spur the extreme GOP lunatics to double down on their craziness, so sooner or later there will doubtless be some explosion of idiocy so hilarious that it'll break through the news cycle. That's our guess, at any rate, although we have no idea when it might happen. The best write-up we've read yet began with the following:

Already, it is safe to say that the brand-new House Republican majority is off to an awful, abysmal, amateurish and appalling start. And those are just the applicable adjectives that begin with the letter A.

There are a few other write-ups of the hearings available, which dismantle the Republican's conspiracy theories item by item, if you are interested. There are just too many of them to list here.

Oh, speaking of cutting things out of our weekly round-up, we've made the editorial decision that we simply don't care about the constant stream of shocking revelations about George Santos anymore. So while he was accused of a few more heinous crimes and ethical lapses this week, we're just going to take a pass on it all. Except for one tidbit that involved someone else -- Mitt Romney apparently went up to Santos on the House floor right before the speech and told him he didn't belong in Congress. Later, Romney called Santos "a sick puppy," while a fellow Republican House member from Long Island characterized Santos as "a sociopath," and "an embarrassment and a distraction to Republicans in the House." So that's what his own party members are saying about him, which feels like enough for now.

Romney was also in the news for exiting the classified briefing about the Chinese surveillance balloon and defending both Biden and the military:

"I believe that the administration, the president, our military and intelligence agencies acted skillfully and with care," said [Senator Mitt] Romney, according to CNN's Manu Raju. "At the same time, their capabilities are extraordinarily impressive," the senator added.

"Was everything done 100% correctly? I can't imagine that would be the case of almost anything we do. But I came away [from the briefing] more confident," Romney told reporters.

Asked if he agreed with the decision to wait to shoot down the balloon until it was over the ocean, where it was less likely to pose a risk to people, he responded: "Yes," Raju reported.

Today, we got the news that a second "high-altitude object" was shot down over Alaska, although it was said to be much smaller than the first one and as of this writing there weren't a whole lot of details about it, other than that it was flying at about 40,000 feet which (unlike the first one, which was up at 60,000 feet) would have been a hazard to commercial aviation.

This week, Mike Pence was in the news twice, first because it was revealed that he has been subpoenaed by the special counsel looking into Donald Trump's possible crimes -- and unlike congressional committee subpoenas, this one can't be ignored. Also, today the F.B.I. searched Pence's house and lo and behold found yet another document marked classified. The search, as the searches on Biden's homes and office, was consensual. Neither Pence nor Biden resisted the idea of a search, so no subpoena or search warrant was necessary, unlike with Trump.

Speaking of Trump, it appears he's already actively funneling donor cash into his own pockets -- to the tune of a cool million bucks already (and his campaign's just getting started!). File that one under "grifters gotta grift," as usual.

But we're going to end on a nice note today, by noting that First Lady Dr. Jill Biden made a splash this week by handing out two Grammy awards including Song Of The Year. It's good to see a first lady being gracious in public again, isn't it?

Representative Nancy Mace went for funny rather than gracious this week, and it was indeed so funny we saved it for the end here. Mace was invited to do some roasting at the Washington Press Club Foundation Congressional Dinner, and she used her time to rake a few of her fellow Republicans over the coals:

And [Representative Nancy Mace] managed to bash House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and ex-President Donald Trump in the same one-liner about McCarthy's contortions to win the speakership last month.

"I haven't seen someone assume that many positions to appease the crazy Republicans since Stormy Daniels," said Mace, referring to the adult film actor who accused Trump of having an affair with her in 2006.

Mace later made a jab at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who she recently branded a "fraud." Gaetz helped lead Freedom Caucus radicals who opposed McCarthy's speakership until he promised concessions.

"Well, let's be honest. We all knew that Matt Gaetz would never let the vote get to 18," said Mace. The joke about Gaetz's alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old drew shocked reactions from the crowd.

"I do have a message for Matt this evening. He really, really wanted to be here tonight, but he couldn't find a babysitter -- to be his date, I mean. Come on."

Apparently the "only member of GenZ in Congress" (this appears to be his unofficial title, now) is doing a great job on the GOP's Tinfoil Hat Committee. He makes his point with his questions, and by doing so undercuts the entire Republican house of cards (especially on the border issue). He also got the insulting phrase that Chrissy Teigen called Donald Trump (which we decided not to reprint here, for the language used) into the congressional record. Which he then tweeted about, naturally. For his efforts, and for having to represent his entire generation until some other whippersnapper gets elected to Congress, we hereby award Representative Maxwell Frost an Honorable Mention.

But the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week goes without question to President Joe Biden. Biden knocked his State Of The Union speech out of the park. He handled the hecklers with aplomb. And he portrayed the "happy warrior" image throughout it all.

Biden laid out all the themes he plans to run on in 2024 this week. None of them were much of a shift from positions Biden has long held, as they centered on the dignity of work and boundless optimism for America's future. Biden laid out his own record of accomplishments so far and told the Republicans he was more than willing to work with them on the areas they could agree upon. They howled and (literally, at one point) cursed at him in return. America got an eyeful of the difference between (as Huckabee Sanders put it) "normal and crazy."

We wrote at length about the State Of The Union speech twice this week (the first a review and the second detailing how masterfully Biden played the Republicans like a fiddle), so we're not going to go into it all again. Besides, we've got excerpts later, so we're going to keep it short here.

Joe Biden rose to the occasion, we will leave it at that. And he removed all trace of a doubt in anyone's mind that he will indeed be running for re-election. He was clearly the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week.

[Congratulate President Joe Biden on his official contact page, to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]

We would have given the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week to Senator Kyrsten Sinema for her bizarre sartorial choices for the speech, but she's no longer a Democrat so she avoids the dishonor.

We could also give it to Senator Joe Manchin, who sat on the Republican side of the aisle for the speech and did his impression of "guy who just sucked on a lemon" for most of it. But since the Republicans were so unhinged, we don't feel that this rose to the level of the MDDOTW award.

Instead, we're going to leave it on the shelf this week. Not only Biden but Democrats in general had a pretty good week all around.

Volume 694 (2/10/23)

This week our talking points section is going to consist of excerpts from President Biden's State Of The Union speech. The text was taken from the official transcript at the White House website, although we have removed all of the "(Applause)" and other extraneous markings from it.

These excerpts are presented in the order they were delivered, and are the ones we feel will likely be a big part of Biden's 2024 stump speeches (in one form or another). There were plenty of other good segments of Biden's speech, so we heartily encourage everyone who hasn't already done so to either watch the speech or at least read the full transcript.

President Biden began by painting a broad and optimistic picture of the country:

Folks, the story of America is a story of progress and resilience, of always moving forward, of never, ever giving up. It's a story unique among all nations.

We're the only country that has emerged from every crisis we've ever entered stronger than we got into it.

Look, folks, that's what we're doing again.

Two years ago, the economy was reeling. I stand here tonight, after we've created, with the help of many people in this room, 12 million new jobs -- more jobs created in two years than any President has created in four years -- because of you all, because of the American people.

Two years ago -- and two years ago, COVID had shut down -- our businesses were closed, our schools were robbed of so much. And today, COVID no longer controls our lives.

And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War. And today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.

As we gather here tonight, we're writing the next chapter
in the great American story -- a story of progress and resilience.

He then reached out a hand to the Republicans, and contrasted what they now seem to stand for (endless chaos) with the way he's handled things:

And to my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there's no reason we can't work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well.

I think -- folks, you all are just as informed as I am, but I think the people sent us a clear message: Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict gets us nowhere.

That's always been my vision of our country, and I know it's many of yours: to restore the soul of this nation; to rebuild the backbone of America, America's middle class; and to unite the country.

We've been sent here to finish the job, in my view.

That last line, obviously, is going to appear on a whole bunch of campaign signs in the very near future. Biden then returned to his "small-town average Joe" theme (which he's always run on, this is really nothing new for him), with a few economic milestones he has been able to achieve along the way:

For decades, the middle class has been hollowed out in more than -- and not in one administration, but for a long time. Too many good-paying manufacturing jobs moved overseas. Factories closed down. Once-thriving cities and towns that many of you represent became shadows of what they used to be. And along the way, something else we lost: pride, our sense of self-worth.

I ran for President to fundamentally change things. To make sure the economy works for everyone so we can all feel that pride in what we do. To build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not from the top down. Because when the middle class does well, the poor have a ladder up and the wealthy still do very well. We all do well.

I know a lot of you always kid me for always quoting my dad. But my dad used to say, "Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck." He really would say this. "It's about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, 'Honey, it's going to be okay' and mean it."

Well, folks, so let's look at the results. We're not finished yet, by any stretch of the imagination. But unemployment rate is at 3.4 percent -- a 50-year low. And near record -- and near record unemployment -- near record unemployment for Black and Hispanic workers.

We've already created, with your help, 800,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs -- the fastest growth in 40 years.

And where is it written -- where is it written that America can't lead the world in manufacturing? And I don't know where that's written.

For too many decades, we imported projects and exported jobs. Now, thanks to what you've all done, we're exporting American products and creating American jobs.

This, as opposed to the flimflammery from Donald Trump and other Republicans, is actual populist appeal, rather than rage-based populism. More Democrats should pick up on the theme of "the dignity of work," in fact, because the concept is indeed quite popular. And again, Biden was able to point to his own record in this regard, which is a good thing because so far the public hasn't really realized what an explosion of infrastructure projects is already beginning to happen as a direct result:

And, folks, as you all know, we used to be number one in the world in infrastructure. We've sunk to 13th in the world. The United States of America -- 13th in the world in infrastructure, modern infrastructure.

But now we're coming back because we came together and passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law -- the largest investment in infrastructure since President Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System.

Folks, already we've funded over 20,000 projects, including major airports from Boston to Atlanta to Portland -- projects that are going to put thousands of people to work rebuilding our highways, our bridges, our railroads, our tunnels, ports, airports, clean water, high-speed Internet all across America -- urban, rural, Tribal.

And, folks, we're just getting started. We're just getting started.

And I mean this sincerely: I want to thank my Republican friends who voted for the law. And my Republican friends who voted against it as well -- but I'm still -- I still get asked to fund the projects in those districts as well, but don't worry. I promised I'd be a President for all Americans. We'll fund these projects. And I'll see you at the groundbreaking.

That last bit was an amusing taunt, since many Republicans have actually already tried to claim credit for local projects that they did not vote for. Biden is gently ribbing this hypocrisy, and the line went over well. He followed this with yet another very broadly popular idea:

And when we do these projects -- and, again, I get criticized about this, but I make no excuses for it -- we're going to buy American. We're going to buy American.

Folks -- and it's totally -- it's totally consistent with international trade rules. Buy American has been the law since 1933. But for too long, past administrations -- Democrat and Republican -- have fought to get around it. Not anymore.

Tonight, I'm also announcing new standards to require all construction materials used in federal infra- -- infrastructure projects to be made in America. Made in America. I mean it. Lumber, glass, drywall, fiber-optic cable.

And on my watch, American roads, bridges, and American highways are going to be made with American products as well.

Biden's message, once again: others talked about it, I am making it happen, which is a pretty good theme for a political campaign. He then returned briefly to the "dignity of work" theme just to reinforce the message:

Folks, my economic plan is about investing in places and people that have been forgotten. So many of you listening tonight, I know you feel it. So many of you felt like you've just simply been forgotten. Amid the economic upheaval of the past four decades, too many people have been left behind and treated like they're invisible.

Maybe that's you, watching from home. You remember the jobs that went away. You remember them, don't you?

The folks at home remember them. You wonder whether the path even exists anymore for your children to get ahead without having to move away.

Well, that's why -- I get that. That's why we're building an economy where no one is left behind.

Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of choices we made in the last several years.

You know, this is, in my view, a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives at home.

Biden then taught a little "modern history" lesson, to Republicans who live in non-reality-based headspaces. This is where all the indignant yelling began:

In the last two years, my administration has cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion –- the largest deficit reduction in American history.

Under the previous administration, the American deficit went up four years in a row.

Because of those record deficits, no President added more to the national debt in any four years than my predecessor.

Nearly 25 percent of the entire national debt that took over 200 years to accumulate was added by just one administration alone -- the last one. They're the facts. Check it out. Check it out.

How did Congress respond to that debt? They did the right thing. They lifted the debt ceiling three times without preconditions or crisis. They paid the American bill to prevent an economic disaster of the country.

So, tonight I'm asking the Congress to follow suit. Let us commit here tonight that the full faith and credit of the United States of America will never, ever be questioned.

Biden gets out in front of the upcoming debt ceiling fight and frames the issue perfectly: you did this multiple times for Donald Trump, so what's your big problem now? And, as mentioned, this is where the big dustup over Social Security happened. But the end of this is going to be the big takeaway from this particular speech, as Biden reveals how completely he has trapped the entire Republican Party:

Look, folks, the idea is that we're not going to be -- we're not going to be moved into being threatened to default on the debt if we don't respond.

Folks -- so, folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the -- off the books now, right? They're not to be touched?

All right. All right. We got unanimity!

Social Security and Medicare are a lifeline for millions of seniors. Americans have to pay into them from the very first paycheck they've started.

So, tonight, let's all agree -- and we apparently are -- let's stand up for seniors. Stand up and show them we will not cut Social Security. We will not cut Medicare.

Those benefits belong to the American people. They earned it. And if anyone tries to cut Social Security -- which apparently no one is going to do -- and if anyone tries to cut Medicare, I'll stop them. I'll veto it.

And, look, I'm not going to allow them to take away -- be taken away. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.

But apparently, it's not going to be a problem.

Nice ad lib, at the end, there.

In this final except, Biden takes on some very specific things big businesses have been getting away with for years and urges Congress to pass laws reining such practices in. Many pundits sneer at this sort of thing as being so lowly and small-ball as to be beneath the dignity of the president, but they couldn't be more wrong. Look at the outrage that happened over Taylor Swift concert tickets if you need convincing how annoying stuff like this is to millions of Americans. And it's not just concert tickets, either, as Biden points out:

My administration is also taking on junk fees, those hidden surcharges too many companies use to make you pay more.

For example, we're making airlines show you the full ticket price upfront, refund your money if your flight is cancelled or delayed. We've reduced exorbitant bank overdrafts by saving consumers more than $1 billion a year.

We're cutting credit card late fees by 75 percent, from $30 to $8.

Look, junk fees may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter to most other folks in homes like the one I grew up in, like many of you did. They add up to hundreds of dollars a month. They make it harder for you to pay your bills or afford that family trip.

I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it. Not anymore.

We've written a bill to stop it all. It's called the Junk Fee Prevention Act. We're going to ban surprise resort fees that hotels charge on your bill. Those fees can cost you up to $90 a night at hotels that aren't even resorts.

We -- the idea that cable, Internet, and cellphone companies can charge you $200 or more if you decide to switch to another provider. Give me a break.

We can stop service fees on tickets to concerts and sporting events and make companies disclose all the fees upfront.

And we'll prohibit airlines from charging $50 roundtrip for a family just to be able to sit together. Baggage fees are bad enough. Airlines can't treat your child like a piece of baggage.

Americans are tired of being -- we're tired of being played for suckers.

So pass -- pass the Junk Fee Prevention Act so companies stop ripping us off.

Again: this is real populism, not the fake kind the Republicans have been pretending to support for the past few years. And our guess is that this sort of message is going to go over pretty well with the voters back home.

OK, that's it. And once again, this isn't a comprehensive overview of Biden's speech, it was just the bits we feel will resonate the deepest out on the campaign trail. Because make no mistake about it, Joe Biden is already running for re-election.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground