The PBS NewsHour team wore their Democrat donkey ears after the president’s speech on Thursday. Co-host Geoff Bennett touted Joe Biden in his first post-speech sentence: “That was a forceful and feisty State of the Union address!” Then the Republicans were criticized for…mostly not heckling.
By contrast with Biden's hour-plus of screaming at Republicans, PBS gave a demerit to House Republicans for...not listening? Overall, they were remarkably disciplined, so they had to hammer that from the other direction.
PBS congressional reporter Lisa Desjardins spoke from her cell phone with her personal opinion: “You may have seen this on the screen. House Republicans were not listening to that speech, by and large. Not just out of defiance, they just seemed not to be paying attention. They were almost only here physically, almost bordering on a disrespectful way, and is something I've never seen to this degree before.”
After Senator Katie Britt’s Republican response, they turned to Jonathan Capehart to dismiss it, and he did: “After watching senator britt, I am just sitting here thinking what in the Elle Woods was that?” That’s his catty reference to the Legally Blonde films with Reese Witherspoon as a ditzy but lovable blonde lawyer. Capehart trash-talked it next to Biden’s screamfest: “If you have to put the State of the Union up against the response, the State of the Union blows that one out of the water.”
You know what you're getting when you bring in The Washington Post for the Democrat talking points.
David Brooks of The New York Times completely disagreed: “I think she did a good job. A lot of people know somebody like that, you have the career politician versus the mom, the grand occasion versus the kitchen table. I thought it was a pretty strong set of contrasts....she's talking to a country that's upset, and I thought she reflected that decently.”
PS: Before the speech, PBS touted the president's insulting "Republicans hate democracy and freedom" talk.
On PBS, Capehart and Nawaz highlight Democrat points about "democracy at risk" as an issue. Amy Walter explains that their term "freedom agenda" is broad and includes January 6.
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) March 8, 2024
State-Run TV. pic.twitter.com/FahDjxzg7h
