After beginning the morning by dismissing President Trump’s first official State of the Union address as an event that would be quickly forgotten, the stacked liberal panel on ABC’s This Week was overjoyed that the Democrats had selected Congressman Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) to give the party’s response. They were excited about his good looks and his “moral voice,” because if the Kennedys are known for anything it’s a “moral voice.”
ABC’s Cokie Roberts kicked off the Kennedy love-fest by praising the Democrats for doing something intelligent against Trump. “I think the Democrats are doing something smart and having Joe Kennedy give the response not that people pay that much attention to the response,” she touted. “He's not only a Kennedy, he's young. And that's been a big rap against the Democratic Party, that their leaders are too old. And he's a young, attractive guy, whose name is Kennedy.”
Just before host Martha Raddatz ended the show, anti-Trump resistance fighter, and ABC commentator Matthew Dowd glorified Kennedy. “And he’ll have a moral voice! And he’ll use a moral voice, which I really think is important today,” he declared. The idea of praising a Kennedy as moral was laughable considering that a movie (Chappaquiddick) was set to be released that was about how Senator Ted Kennedy killed Mary Jo Kopechne and the family involved campaign to keep him out of prison.
Before they got to overly excited for Kennedy, the panel spent some time tearing down the President’s address ahead of time. Raddatz and Roberts seemed deeply skeptical of White House billing that the speech would be positive. “I know heard from White House officials on background that it will be more uplifting and unifying,” Raddatz scoffed. “We heard that before the inaugural, too,” Roberts chided.
“What we know for sure is, whatever President Trump says it will begin and end that night that something else different will happen the following morning,” spat Dowd, repeating the liberal media narrative.
Politico’s Chief International Affairs Columnist Susan Glasser claimed she was “hard-pressed to say we're going to remember this speech a few weeks from now” and asserted Trump didn’t have many achievements to flaunt or a real plan for the future.
“But in the end, Trump actually is facing a big problem, which is aside from tax reform, what's on his agenda,” Glasser wondered. “But in practical terms, there're very few deliverables that most people expect that he and the Republicans Party are going to be able to take to the voters this fall.”
Clearly, the liberal media are champing at the bit to get past the State of the Union as quickly as possible and seem almost nervous about it. They want to get in their insults about it and move on to degrading the President on other topics.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below:
ABC
This Week
January 28, 2018
9:55:00 AM Eastern [2 minutes 32 seconds]MARTHA RADDATZ: Speaking of the republic-- Tuesday night, State of the Union. President Trump will give his first State of the Union. He was before Congress last year, but not officially the State of the Union. I know heard from White House officials on background that it will be more uplifting and unifying.
COKIE ROBERTS: We heard that before the inaugural, too.
RADDATZ: Will it be different?
PERRY BACON: I do think he's going to try to say, morning in America, look at how well the economy is doing, look at the tax bill, look at all the hiring and the bonuses going out. I do think this will be more—this will not be “American carnage.” This will be look at my first year and how we did. But I do think no matter what he says, impressions about him are very set. Since about September, about between 35 and 40 percent of people approve of him. And about between 50 and 55 percent of people disapprove of him. And I think those numbers are kind of stuck where he is.
(…)
MATTHEW DOWD: And what we know for sure is, whatever President Trump says it will begin and end that night that something else different will happen the following morning.
ROBERTS: That’s right. With a tweet.
RADDATZ: And for 2018, what is your take on what this speech will mean?
SUSAN GLASSER: Well look, I think you know in this relentless news cycle, I'm hard-pressed to say we're going to remember this speech a few weeks from now. We remember “American carnage” because it was so dramatically different from previous inaugurations. But in the end, Trump actually is facing a big problem, which is aside from tax reform, what's on his agenda? He’s going to talk about infrastructure, he’s going to talk about Immigration—[cross talk]—National security.
But in practical terms, there're very few deliverables that most people expect that he and the Republicans Party are going to be able to take to the voters this fall. And so, I think that's where having no real content, even if it's somewhat more reassuring, means politically it might be a wash.
ROBERTS: I think the Democrats are doing something smart and having Joe Kennedy give the response not that people pay that much attention to the response.
GLASSER: Joe Kennedy III.
ROBERTS: He's not only a Kennedy, he's young. And that's been a big rap against the Democratic Party, that their leaders are too old. And he's a young, attractive guy, whose name is Kennedy.
DOWD: And he’ll have a moral voice. And he’ll use a moral voice, which I really think is important today.
