The exuberance began even before Joe Biden was officially sworn-in. The night before the Inauguration, CNN’s David Chalian claimed the light staging along the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool was like “Joe Biden’s arms embracing America.”
Biden’s arrival at Andrews Air Force Base literally gave a New York Times editor “chills.”
By the time Biden delivered his address, liberal journalists were in a tizzy. CBS correspondent Major Garrett proclaimed Biden was “like a priest.” His colleague MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell exclaimed the “poetic” Biden had delivered the “speech of his life.” ABC Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos effused there were “echoes of Lincoln.”
This was a far cry from the reception Donald Trump’s inaugural address received four years ago. His speech was derided as “dark” and “shockingly divisive.” There were no comparisons to Lincoln for Trump then. He was compared to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini by then-MSNBC host Chris Matthews.
The following is a compilation of liberal journalists getting excited at Joe Biden’s Inauguration:
Biden’s Big Hug of America
“Those lights that are, that are just shooting out from the Lincoln Memorial along the reflecting pool….It’s like almost extensions of Joe Biden’s arms embracing America. It was a moment where the new President came to town and sort of convened the country in this moment of remembrance, outstretching his arms.”
— CNN Political Director David Chalian on CNN’s Inauguration coverage, January 19.
“Just listening to the words and the song and seeing the lights, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Harris pulled the grief and regret out of the privacy of our hearts, if just for a moment, so that we all could share it....What a first step. What a beautiful step....I’m reminded of the Psalmist, you know? ‘He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.’ Maybe the dead will speak to us now. Maybe they can rest now.”
— MSNBC contributor Eddie Glaude during live coverage, January 19.
Biden Cleaning Up the Viruses Left By Trump
“He [Joe Biden] gave kind of inaugural address our Presidents used to give, as hopeful as the man delivering it, yet an honest reflection of a great country at its modern-day low point: Beset by two viruses, one a pandemic, the other a sickness that has flowed into our politics....The message has gone out that the United States is back and under new management.”
— MSNBC’s 11th Hour host Brian Williams during MSNBC’s live coverage of Joe Biden’s Inauguration, January 20.
Biden “Like a Priest”
“The beginning had a soaring rhetoric. A tiny bit at the end. The middle it sounded like a homily. A breaking down of all this big language to simple colloquial terms. ‘I’m just talking to you. I’m in this vaunted position.’ But like a priest explaining something from the Bible or something. ‘I'm breaking it down for you so we can all have a common language and a common understanding.’”
— Chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett during CBS News’s live coverage of Joe Biden Inauguration, January 20.
Biden Gave the “Speech of His Life” That Was “Astonishing,” “Poetic”
“Joe Biden had to deliver the speech of his life, and he did. In my lifetime, I have never seen a more challenging inaugural address. Joe Biden’s message had to be about unity, and it had to be delivered at a time when unity was — it seemed impossible in this country….The unity Joe Biden was talking about was both poetic and realistic at the same time. What he did in about 21 minutes was absolutely astonishing under these incredibly challenging circumstances.”
— MSNBC’s The Last Word host Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC’s live coverage of Joe Biden’s Inauguration, January 20.
Biden Might Be Too Forgiving!
“He is the better angel President….Joe Biden is a forgiver. And it’s going to frustrate some Democrats at times. Because I think some of the – he is going to be more – he is going to want to figure out a way to put his arm around some of these folks in a way – even frankly when they don’t deserve it.”
— NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd on MSNBC’s live coverage of Joe Biden Inauguration, January 20.
Shades of Chris Matthews Getting a Thrill for Obama
“Biden landing at Joint Base Andrews now. I have chills.”
— January 20 tweet by New York Times editor Lauren Wolfe.
“Echoes of Abe Lincoln” “A Moment to Reclaim Truth,” Like a “Church Service”
Co-anchor George Stephanopoulos: “Most of us will remember where we were when we heard Joe Biden take the oath of office, give his inaugural address....Echoes of Abe Lincoln.”
Correspondent Cecilia Vega: “It’s not about a candidate. Democracy has prevailed. But he also used this moment to attempt to reclaim truth.”...
Correspondent Byron Pitts: “Watching this moment, today’s inauguration felt more like a church service, right? And we see there, right after the sermon, the congregation doesn’t want to go home. People are hugging, shaking hands. I thought from Joe Biden today, certainly he was commander-in-chief, but he was also papa-in-chief. He gave a speech to comfort the nation.”
— ABC News’s live coverage of Joe Biden Inauguration, January 20.
John Harwood —> Honest News
“Trump —>Biden
Lies —>truth
ignorance—>knowledge
amorality—>decency
cruelty—>empathy
corruption—>public service”
— January 20 tweet by CNN White House correspondent John Harwood.
Biden Has Banished the “Idolatry and False Religion” of Trump
“We’ve gone from indecency to decency….We’ve gone from what can only be called idolatry and false religion under Trump, this worship of greed and this lust for conquest, one American over another, to really what the religion, the true religion is supposed to be, at least when I grew up in church….We try to love our fellow man, we try to be brothers and sisters, we try to care about the poor, the immigrant, we try to care about those in need. That’s the creed. That is the Christian creed. It’s what it was supposed to be before it was about stealing the children of migrants.”
— MSNBC’s The ReidOut host Joy Reid on MSNBC’s live coverage of Joe Biden’s Inauguration.
Biden Inauguration “Cleansed” the Earth of Trump’s “Putridity”
“It was interesting as Trump’s plane was taking off, it started to snow exactly at that moment where I am, and it was almost like the Earth was being cleansed of this putridity.”
— Co-host Joy Behar on ABC’s The View, January 21.
