"High standards." Yeah, sort of like Claudine Gay's high standards of academic integrity....
On MSNBC's Deadline White House on Friday afternoon, Ian Bassin, a former Obama aide, dug dutifully deep into his bag of superlatives to extol President Biden's campaign speech in the general vicinity of Valley Forge.
Enthused Bassin:
"I have high standards when it comes to people talking about democracy. And I thought the president was absolutely outstanding today."
Among the four things for which Bassin praised Biden:
"The president was alive, he was passionate, he was articulate. "
Yup! Major props to Biden for being "alive," and not pitching forward into the teleprompter!
Bassin concluded his Biden tongue bath by proclaiming the speech "terrific" and "incredibly important."
Yes, that's the kind of hard-hitting take on Democrat pols that we've come to expect on MSNBC! This is how a "news" network sounds more like an advertising service.
Note: Bassin is co-founder of Protect Democracy, billed as non-partisan despite being peopled by Democrat operatives. In 2021, our Tim Graham caught Bassin bragging in a Time magazine story about how he and his fellow Democrats defeated Trump in the 2020 election, and thus supposedly "saved" democracy.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Deadline White House
1/5/24
4:00 pm ETALICIA MENENDEZ: From the president today, a reminder of the stakes for our country in the next election, and an existential question for us. The president asking all Americans, who are we? Close to the historic Revolutionary War site of Valley Forge, and on the eve of the third anniversary of the January 6th attack, the president, describing democracy as a sacred cause and the central issue of the 2024 election.
JOE BIDEN: This is not rhetorical, academic, or hypothetical, but is democracy America's sacred cause is the question is the most urgent question of our time. And it's what the 2024 election is all about.
The choice is clear. Donald Trump's campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He's willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power. Our campaign is different. For me and Kamala, our campaign is about America. It's about you. It's about every age and background that occupy this country.
. . .
MENENDEZ: Ian, your reaction from what we heard today from President Biden.
IAN BASSIN: I have high standards when it comes to people talking about democracy. And I thought the president was absolutely outstanding today.
And I think he did four things incredibly effectively that were important. Number one, he made clear, unquestionably, that this election is about preserving democracy in the United States. And he said again, that is the central issue at stake in 2024.
Second, he just repeated Trump's own words. He didn't even necessarily need to make an argument so much as repeat what Trump has said—that he would be a dictator on day one, that he would terminate parts of the Constitution, that he, that his opponents are vermin. And, and importantly pointed out that trump's invocation of the phrase, "poisoning the blood of our country" with reference to immigrants harkens back to language you heard in Nazi Germany.
Third, I thought the president did a good job of telling people why democracy matters. That it's about freedom, and it's about who we are, that we're decent to one another, how it matters in our daily lives.
And finally, the president was alive, he was passionate, he was articulate. He was everything that the character Trump and his followers have tried to paint of him is not. He is disproving that character. I thought it was a terrific speech and one that was incredibly important.
