ABC’s Good Morning America felt warm and fuzzy inside on Thursday in reacting to President Biden’s Wednesday night Oval Office address about his decision to end his bid for reelection, calling the “historic address” a “love letter to the country he has devoted his life to” and one “for the history books...that not only will preserve his legacy, but now define it.”
Even the teases were syrupy. Co-host Robin Roberts boasted of Biden’s “historic address to the nation, passing the torch” to cap “more than half a century in politics” and then co-host and former Clinton flack George Stephanopoulos huffed that Donald Trump spent Wednesday night “repeatedly mispronounicing the Vice President’s name” at a rally.
Chief White House correspondent and lead Biden apple polisher Mary Bruce was in top form, calling it “truly...an address for the history books” with Biden “explaining to the American people...his remarkable decision to pass that torch” (which he did not, in fact, do).
“It is a move that not only will preserve his legacy, but now define it...Overnight, in the Oval Office, President Biden explaining directly to the American people his historic decision to bow out of the race, describing it as a patriotic necessity to preserve the country he loves so dearly,” she excitedly proclaimed.
Only later after giving Biden long soundbites did Bruce concede he “did make no mention, though, of how he got to this moment”, but wants to “make clear he still has a lot of work he wants to get done”.
In the second hour, Bruce reracked a lot of her lunacy, but added this humdinger: “Well, this address from the President last night did feel like Joe Biden’s love letter to the country that he has devoted his life to serving.”
She also deployed this rhetorical wet kiss on ABC’s Special Report Wednesday night:
This moment from ABC's post-Biden coverage was thrill-up-the-leg stupid.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2024
David Muir: “[I]n the end, President Biden believes that what is at stake here is actually larger than any title, larger than even staying in the race himself.”
Mary Bruce: “David, the President saying he… pic.twitter.com/redYoXAEdl
To their credit, Stephanopoulos and chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl tempered things with the reality that Biden never explicitly outlined why he dropped out and he’ll only be truly heralded as having done the right thing if Harris wins.
Pivoting to Trump, Stephanopoulos tossed to congressional correspondent Rachel Scott by lamenting “Trump ramped up his attacks on Kamala Harris at his first campaign rally”, which Scott concurred with by complaining “Trump repeatedly mispronounc[ed] Harris’s name”.
The liberal media can hurl invectives at Trump and argue he’s Hitler, but even mild criticism of Democrats like Harris are seen like Scott saw his ripping of Harris:
Less than a week ago, Trump called for unity during the Republican National Convention, saying he wanted to be a President for all Americans after surviving an attempted assassination. But, back on the trail, he returned to insults and false claims about the 2020 election....On Capitol Hill, some Republicans taking aim at her identity, naming her a diversity hire or DEI for diversity, equity, inclusion...Sources tell ABC News Speaker Johnson has privately warned Republicans to stop, urging members to focus on her record instead.
Later, Karl lamented what he saw Wednesday in Trump’s rally was “Donald Trump from 2016” in which “the notion of any sense of unity” was gone and his 2024 campaign would be about “running very enthusiastically to be the president of half of America”, not “all of America”.
Touching again on ABC’s Wednesday night coverage, Scott also fawned over what Biden stepping aside means for young, black girls and, at the end of their hour-long show, political director Rick Klein shared what it was like to watch the speech from the Oval Office (click “expand”):
SCOTT: Tonight, President Biden is that bridge to the next generation. He said tonight that it was time to pass the torch. He called it the best way to unite the nation. The President put it bluntly. He said that’s a time and a place for long careers and decades in politics and that there’s a time for fresh voices, fresh faces. And he said that time and place is right now. You know, David, as the President was speaking, I thought back to how President Biden once introduced Kamala Harris to the nation, saying that he was thinking about all the brown and black little girls out there were seeing a black and south Asian woman in a new way, a way they have not ever seen before. Tonight, Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, becomes the first black and south Asian woman on a major party ticket, David.
(....)
MUIR: Rick, as you know, the networks cover the White House — I’m just explaining for folks at home — there’s always one network that’s the pool — the pool network for these big moments. Tonight, ABC was the pool, which put you right in the room, right in the oval office, a witness to history tonight. What did you make of it?
KLEIN: Yeah, David, it was remarkably emotional and intimate. The Oval Office is not a big place. There were about 40 people in there, maybe about 10 or 12 members of the Biden family watching intently. To see the president’s daughter, Ashley Biden, watching with her eyes closed, grabbing her mother’s hand at one point. Jill Biden, Hunter Biden, the grandchildren, all watching intently and watching as they took in the gravity of the moment. And, when the President wrapped up his remarks, they broke into spontaneous applause. Many of hi own aides in the room just felt overcome by that moment. And the President stood next to his wife who came over to him next to the Resolute Desk and said, this was the honor of a lifetime.
MUIR: Rick Klein, our Washington bureau chief, in the oval office tonight. Rick, extraordinary to have witnessed that.
To see the relevant transcripts, click here (for July 24’s Special Report) and here (for July 25’s Good Morning America).
