After last night

I thought the flight of the Chinese spy balloon across the United States was a national embarrassment, but it was nothing compared to President Biden’s State of the Union performance last night. I thought he hit the high point with his congratulation of Kevin McCarthy for ascending to the Speakership in the first few seconds of his speech. The speed of the descent varied, but it was downhill all the way from there. That means it was a long, long way downhill.

The Washington Post has a useful set of corrections on subjects other than those I mention below (the link is to the accessible version published by Jewish World Review). David Harsanyi adds a stylish touch in his Federalist column “Don’t Fall For Joe Biden’s Economic Fairy Tale.”

Biden wants to “finish the job” he has started. The phrase appears in the text of his speech 12 times. I think that has an ominous ring. Finishing the job will finish us off.

Regarding the Chinese spy balloon, he gave us nothing. It’s apparently no big deal, but it did fit weirdly with his comments about China: “Before I came to office, the story was about how the People’s Republic of China was increasing its power and America was falling in the world. Not anymore.” Shouldn’t someone have bothered to rework that passage?

He gave us angry old man Biden shouting for reasons known only to himself. He gave us phony old man Biden with his obnoxious stage whisper. He slurred his words like a drunken sailor. The White House has posted the text of his remarks “as prepared for delivery” so you might be able to ascertain what he was attempting to say. Both as prepared and as delivered it was a bizarre speech.

And Biden gave us the standard Democratic/democratic demagoguery of the current screwball variety. To take just one example, Democrats have “invested” massively in “climate change.” They are going to change the climate, or increase their control over our lives. Something like that.

Abortion, advances in LGBTQ orthodoxy, price controls on medicine, taxes on the rich and famous, “infrastructure” (say it fast three times), more spending like the sailors whose speech he emulated — all are on the horizon. Woo hoo!

A few lowlights. Biden allowed that oil would be necessary for at least a few more years. The derisive laughter was genuine and well-earned. Give the guy credit. This line is not in the text as prepared for delivery.

Biden may be giving China a pass, but he is conducting a war on noncompete agreements. No more will the McDonald’s cashier be wedded to McDonald’s! This is a story that Biden has been retailing for at least three years. During the 2020 presidential campaign he was called out on it both by FactCheck.org and PolitiFact. It’s that bad. As Biden says, look it up!

On the other hand, McDonald’s has that high-speed Internet that so many parents have turned to for their kids: “No parent should have to drive by a McDonald’s parking lot to help them do their homework online with their kids, which many thousands are doing across the country.” Biden has retailed this line at least eight times since the start of his presidency. The Free Beacon comments: “The president, evidently, has made little progress in addressing this national problem.” (The video at the Free Beacon link includes previous iterations of this statement.)

This impression of a sailor in his cups certainly warranted a standing ovation.

This passage must have been written well before the events of last week. Somebody get me rewrite! I don’t think I’ve ever heard a statement in a State of the Union speech that jars so baldly with the news of the day. This isn’t funny. It is pathetic.

Why is the geezer so angry? What the heck does this mean?

Biden pretended to care about the fentanyl crisis that his open border policy has amplified. If he really cared, he’d be angry with himself. Is there anybody who doesn’t understand his contribution to the fentanyl crisis?

A few side notes. C-SPAN cut to Senator John Fetterman when Biden addressed the worries “if your spouse gets cancer, your child gets sick, or if something happens to you.” Putting his health issues to one side, Fetterman is a weird dude. He is the neck of the Democratic Party.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley looked like she might have dropped in from the set of Star Trek.

I caught a glimpse of Rep. Rosa DeLauro during the speech, but I can’t find a photo of her there this morning. I didn’t know she had blue/purple hair. On average, the Democratic congressional contingent struck me as an unusually unattractive crew.

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