Outside of the obligatory segments of unity during the State of the Union address Tuesday night (i.e. Ukraine and ending the opioid crisis), President Biden’s speech was filled with swipes at Republicans as he attacked them for passing tax cuts, opposing a federal takeover of elections, and being pro-life. But both ABC and CBS tried to gaslight their viewers by suggesting there was nothing partisan about it.
“Jon, you looked at me halfway through this address and took note that there were very few overt partisan moments where the President went after the other party or things they had done other than the tax cut from the previous administration, but he didn't mention the former president by name,” ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir said to chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl.
Karl seemed happy there was “no mention of the words Donald Trump in the speech” and asserted “it didn't have a partisan edge to it.”
He did admit “there's a lot in the speech that Republicans will disagree with on the policy, no question at all,” but Karl doubled down by insisting it “didn't have a partisan edge to this speech. In fact, the overriding message was one of unity.”
The gaslighting continued with Karl suggesting Biden was trying to meet Republicans in the middle on lifting COVID restrictions when it was purely a political calculation:
Cecilia [Vega] mentioned on COVID, I think very importantly, on COVID, he was echoing many of the things that Republicans have been saying on COVID, and the real frustrations that Americans have in red states and blue states. After two years of restrictions and dealing with this pandemic, saying flatly, it's time for Americans to be back at work, children must be back in schools. We are turning the page.
“He's promised we'll be prepared if there are more variants, but the message he was echoing there was one that was intended, I think, as much to speak to Republicans as to anybody else,” he said.
There was similar praise on CBS’s coverage where senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe shared the glowing response the address received from the people he spoke to at… the White House! And they apparently had a few to drink:
Yeah and speaking with aides at the White House watching this amid the pizza boxes and the empty beer cans, we saw them earlier, they are pleased with the bipartisan response, the bipartisan reception to this address. One aide texted me: “too many bipartisan applause points to stop for,” the president plodded through them. That unity agenda, especially at the end.
Maybe they were playing a State of the Union drinking game.
These fictitious claims about Biden’s address were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Angi on ABC and Xfinity on CBS. Their contact information is linked.
The transcripts are below click "expand" to read:
ABC State of the Union
March 1, 2022
10:23:04 p.m. EasternDAVID MUIR: Jon, you looked at me halfway through this address and took note that there were very few overt partisan moments where the President went after the other party or things they had done other than the tax cut from the previous administration, but he didn't mention the former president by name.
JONATHAN KARL: Certainly, no mention of the words Donald Trump in the speech. And it didn't have a partisan edge to it.
Look, there's a lot in the speech that Republicans will disagree with on the policy, no question at all. But he didn't have a partisan edge to this speech. In fact, the overriding message was one of unity.
Cecilia [Vega] mentioned on COVID, I think very importantly, on COVID, he was echoing many of the things that Republicans have been saying on COVID, and the real frustrations that Americans have in red states and blue states. After two years of restrictions and dealing with this pandemic, saying flatly, it's time for Americans to be back at work, children must be back in schools. We are turning the page.
He's promised we'll be prepared if there are more variants, but the message he was echoing there was one that was intended, I think, as much to speak to Republicans as to anybody else.
(…)
CBS State of the Union
March 1, 2022
10:22:47 p.m. Eastern(…)
ED O’KEEFE: Yeah and speaking with aides at the White House watching this amid the pizza boxes and the empty beer cans, we saw them earlier, they are pleased with the bipartisan response, the bipartisan reception to this address. One aide texted me: “too many bipartisan applause points to stop for,” the president plodded through them. That unity agenda, especially at the end.
(…)
