SOTU 2024

The speech:

More fitting for a campaign speech than a SOTU address.

Okay, that's fair.

Joe Biden did what was once unthinkable: directly challenge Supreme Court justices about one of their opinions, addressing them personally.

Biden brought up the conservative majority’s landmark reversal of Roe v. Wade. He had begun to read an excerpt of the decision when he began a brief aside, looking right at the justices sitting in the front row.

“With all due respect, justices, women are not without ... electoral or political power," he said.

Then, in what appeared to be an ad-libbed moment, he added, "You’re about to realize just how much …” before Democrats in the chamber jumped to their feet and cheered.

  NBC

With all due respect, Joe, what can women do about the Supreme Court at this point? Nada. And they know it.

It rare to see any interaction between a president and the Supreme Court justices, but in 2010, conservative Justice Samuel Alito appeared to mouth "not true" or "simply not true" when President Barack Obama criticized the court's ruling in Citizens United, removing corporate campaign spending limits.

Alito has not attended a State of the Union address since then.

Baby.

That accounts for only eight, Kyle.

Was Coney-Barrett there?  And why is Brown-Jackson in the row behind the others?  

And who is in a robe beside her?  I think it's retired justice Anthony Kennedy.  A little ridiculous to wear his robe.  Could be Breyer.

Five or six.  Count 'em yourself, I guess.

Biden comes into the speech with an exceptionally low approval rating of 37%, according to recent NBC News polling. That's lower than the approval rating of his predecessors Trump in 2020 (46%), Barack Obama in 2012 (48%), George W. Bush in 2004 (54%) and Bill Clinton in 1996 (46%) in January of their re-election bid years.

[...]

Biden didn't take long to zero in on one of his central campaign themes: protecting American democracy. And he looked at Republicans in the crowd and confronted them.

"The insurrectionists were not patriots. My predecessor — and some of you here — seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6. I will not do that," he said. "This is the moment to speak the truth... Here's the simple truth. You can't love your country only when you win."

"As president, my predecessor failed the most basic presidential duty that he owes to American people: The duty to care," he said. "I think that's unforgivable."

[...]

Biden also pitted President Ronald Reagan's famous "tear down this wall" line against Trump's recent promise to let Russia "do whatever the hell they want" to European countries that don't pay their dues to NATO.

  NBC

Again, not strictly SOTU info, but OK.

He took on Republicans and Trump directly, saying that "many of you in this chamber — and my predecessor — are promising to pass a national ban on abortion" that could amount to "forcing survivors of rape and incest" to carry the pregnancy to term.

[...]

"In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote, 'Women are not without electoral or political power.' Clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America," Biden said as several justices who wrote the Dobbs decision watched. "If you the American people send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you, I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again."

[...]

What Biden didn't specify was that if Republicans hold control if either chamber, it's a lost cause. At a minimum, codifying abortion rights nationwide would require a Democratic trifecta and 50 votes to pierce the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule.

Again, not exactly SOTU info, but I don't recall how previous presidents addressed the country in this event during an election year.  And, as Dan Pfiefer says, this way the speech will get more coverage.

The most regular shouter was the far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who yelled “Laken Riley!” as Biden discussed immigration.

[...]

At another point, Greene yelled “liar” as Biden spoke.

[...]

Riley's murder has been taken up by conservatives pushing for stricter immigration policies. The 22-year-old woman was killed while jogging at the University of Georgia last month; an undocumented immigrant has been charged with her murder.

We can always count on Marj. Did Boebert help at all? I didn't watch.

I tried to give some immigration and crime facts to a person on Facebook, and the response I got was, "Tell that to the woman in Georgia." One case they can point to, and it justifies their entire immigrant hate stance.

Biden called her “an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal” — a term generally avoided by Democrats — and told Republicans to pass the bipartisan border security bill to resolve the situation at the border. He said they’re blocking it on orders from Trump to deny him a political win.

[...]

Democratic women wore white outfits and pins reading "Fighting for Reproductive Freedom." Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other Republicans wore white ribbons that included Riley's name.

[...]

“No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher or a sanitation worker," Biden said, as Democrats broke out into applause and Republicans barely reacted, many of them looking bored and or staring at their phones.

He also accused Republicans of wanting to cut Social Security, which prompted a few shouts and boos.

Not so much an accusation as just pointing out a fact.

He also mocked Republicans in the audience, saying he notices some of them voted against his infrastructure package but are “cheering on” the money that it brings to their districts.

“You don’t want that money in your district, just let me know,” Biden said, to laughs from his allies.

Toward the end of his speech, Biden alluded to his age: “I know it may not look like it but I’ve been around a while. When you get to be my age certain things become clearer than ever. I know the American story. Again and again, I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation.”

Good to tackle the elephant in the room.

“Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population like cowards — under hospitals, day care centers and all the like."

Some of that is propaganda.

There’s also a fundamental responsibility, though, to protect innocent civilians in Gaza,” he said. “Thirty-thousand Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas,” he said, adding that they’re “ministers, women and children, girls and boys,” while many more are without food or medicine. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Yeah, so how about you pressure Bibi for a ceasefire?

The rebuttal:

Sitting in a kitchen, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt — a rising star in the Republican Party — delivered an intense speech hammering Democrats on immigration, abortion, crime and other issues.

She talked about how "we are steeped in the blood of patriots" and called Biden "a dithering and diminished leader" who is "not in command."

Which he had just disproved.

“[Nursing student Laken Riley] was brutally murdered by one of the millions of illegal border crossers President Biden chose to release into our homeland,” Britt said. “As a mom I can’t quit thinking about this; this could been my daughter. It could’ve been yours.”

And your daughter has a far, far greater chance of being murdered by a native-born American. And in elementary school.

Katie was wearing her cross necklace and giving off "creepy Sunday sermon vibes." (h/t Stephen) 

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 09:03 am:

UPDATE 03/09/2024:

Under George W Bush.