My take on the night: if anybody watched the speech, Huckabee Sanders stole the show and won the night. I doubt anybody watched it though. She was smart, articulate, brief, and compelling. She had a simple message: stop the insanity and return to normalcy. This is an ironic message from somebody who was a spokesman for Trump, but she pulled it off extremely well. Her story about visiting Iraq with Trump was a tearjerker and seemed quite sincere, while Biden’s stories were shorter and seemed more pro forma. He did all right with them, but Slow Joe is just not a compelling speaker. It is not what he does well.

Overall I think Joe overperformed expectations, including for those who thought he would do OK. He gave a “B” grade speech, which is not bad for a SOTU. But I am not sure that anybody’s mind could be changed. He is facing huge headwinds, and after decades in the public eye nobody is changing their mind. Even if he gets a bump, it will be brief.

Sanders, on the other hand, just elevated herself to a high status in the Party. She came out strong and built momentum throughout the speech. She is good at this politics stuff.

11:00 PM–Man, she killed it. Very strong, well delivered, far more emotionally compelling than Biden’s. SOTUs always suck, and usually the responses do too. This is the first response that I can remember where the response was memorable.

10:59 PM–SHS’ story about going to Iraq is amazing. She really is killing it.

10:56 PM–Education on the table. Republicans can win on this issue, for the first time in generations Republicans have a good shot at owning the issue. COVID and the woke madness have shifted the terrain on education.

10:54 PM–Going hard against woke, the alphabet people, big tech. Censorship. Hitting on the crazy angle. Leading with the culture war.

10:52: The border, fentanyl–this is music to Republicans’ ears. Police, national defense. Biden is weak.

10:52: She’s killing it. She is going for the jugular. Woke, inflation, spending, race-baiting. Calling the Biden Administration radical.

Choice is between normal and crazy. This is a new type of Republican along the lines of DeSantis.

10:50 PM: Going for the throat–SHS basically calls Biden a liar. Transitions quickly to a personal story about her own cancer.

10:45 PM: More Trump takes on the event

10:44 PM–Sarah HS coming up–youngest governor in the country. Symbolic, I guess. Seems a stretch to me.

10:40 PM–Sarah Huckabee Sanders will speak as soon as Slow Joe leaves the room.

10:34 PM–If I were writing Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ speech it would be short and sweet:

My fellow Americans,

That was a load of BS.

Goodnight. God Bless America.

10:30 PM–My take, microwaved quickly:

Biden didn’t flop, and his stumbles and slurred words weren’t too awful. I was joking about his being on coke or meth, but only sorta. He sorta raced through parts of the speech, slurred words together because of it, and did the whole shout/whisper thing a few times. But he held it together.

He played up his bipartisan cred, which really rings false to most people. Nobody believes he wants to work with Republicans, but it sounded good to people who want to pretend that it is possible.

I would be shocked if it moves the needle in any way. Americans know what they think of Biden. They feel in their guts that he is not up to the job, and nothing he said will change their minds.

For people worried about the border, they heard precisely nothing to assuage their fears.

These speeches can never be judged on the night they are given. Polls 2-3 days later give you an idea of what people really think. Or rather, what they absorbed from the commentary about it.

Up next: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is likely to turn the page away from all the spending talk and get to Biden’s weaknesses.

Trump Hits Biden and Republicans in Play-by-Play of State of the Union https://t.co/ntsJWDe31x via @wsj

— Lindsay Wise (@lindsaywise) February 8, 2023

10:23 PM–Donald Trump’s take:

10:21 PM–He’s closing up. Joe Biden’s version of soaring rhetoric. Not too bad. Generic, but not horrible.

Joe Biden blames Donald Trump and January 6 objectors for the attack on Paul Pelosi, calling them peddlers of "hate and extremism."

CNN and MSNBC are going to get weak knees over this. Referring to half the country is domestic terrorists is pornography for them. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/qAvQdL44K5

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 8, 2023

10:15 PM Dead on:

It took 58 minutes and three seconds for Joe Biden to talk about China, the country the poses the single biggest threat to the U.S. and just spent a week spying without consequences on our most sensitive military installations.

Instead, Biden says this is a "competition" #SOTU pic.twitter.com/arZY7ZCxvU

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 8, 2023

10:13 PM–Biden goes on about fentanyl while he is keeping the border open. Chutzpa!

It’s a grotesque joke that he’s talking about fentanyl addiction when he’s left the border open

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) February 8, 2023

.@mehdirhasan: 400 Americans died from Covid-19 yesterday, but tonight President Biden spoke of Covid deaths as a thing of the past. His statement is not only illogical – it’s insulting. https://t.co/risN79DZxz

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 8, 2023

10:08 PM–China. Biden is looking to stand tall after being humiliated by Xi.

10:05 PM–The alphabet people are now in there. Then Putin. Odd transition.

Is Ukraine about Alphabet people, or was that a throwaway line?

Biden: "Let's also pass the bipartisan Equality Act, to ensure LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity." pic.twitter.com/8tEUOOxbh8

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 8, 2023

10:04 PM

Biden is doing baby-killing now.

*cringe* https://t.co/xqagbKTyra

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) February 8, 2023

Are you listening to Joe Biden's speech? pic.twitter.com/iK7M5xtcm1

— Andrew Malcolm (@AHMalcolm) February 8, 2023

10:00 PM–

Mike Lee can’t believe what he’s hearing. Bill Cassidy loves what he’s hearing. Rick Scott dropped acid and is currently hearing colors. pic.twitter.com/QUG4U75mme

— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) February 8, 2023

9:58 PM

POTUS wants congress to give Big Pharma a lot more of our tax dollars to keep developing vaccines for COVID, after he just finished excoriating Big Pharma for their "greed"…this is the silliest SOTU I've heard in a long time #sotu2023

— Kira (@RealKiraDavis) February 8, 2023

9: 54 PM–I screwed up the timeline. Fixed

Man, he just turned like 20 pages at once!

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) February 8, 2023

9:59 PM–I was this year-old when I learned that workers at McDonald’s sign noncompete contracts.

9:58 PM–It is time for Pew Charitable Trust to lose its nonprofit status. They are doing partisan work for Biden, totally coordinated.

Banking fee trend:

States and cities are looking at opening government-run banks—many of which say they’d limit or ban overdraft fees. #SOTU https://t.co/4EAsAlbLIm

— The Pew Trusts (@pewtrusts) February 8, 2023

9:47 PM–I just learned how to make money on Twitter by reading Truth Social:

Actually, I was watching Celebrity Wheel of Fortune on Hulu with the kids. It is comforting to still have Pat Sajak and Vanna White hosting the show. And man, is Pat Sajak good at what he does.

— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) February 8, 2023

9:40 PM–Trump is not impressed. I am shocked!

9:37 PM–Pew and the Biden Admin seem like they coordinated a bit…

59% of Americans say they're bothered “a lot” by the feeling that some corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes, according to a 2021 @pewresearch survey.

An equal share says some wealthy people don't either. https://t.co/46owte59Mw #SOTU

— The Pew Trusts (@pewtrusts) February 8, 2023

⛽️ Fuel taxes provide nearly 40% of the revenue that states direct to their transportation funds.

Much of that could vanish as electric vehicle sales grow. #SOTU https://t.co/mfdSBw5TwZ

— The Pew Trusts (@pewtrusts) February 8, 2023

9:35 PM–CLIMATE CHANGE: Pew is all in. Coincidentally they tweeted this exactly when Biden is pushing his climate BS

Funds from the Inflation Reduction Act present a big opportunity to boost climate change resilience using nature-based solutions—such as protecting wetlands. #SOTU https://t.co/333oaZpHbE

— The Pew Trusts (@pewtrusts) February 8, 2023

9:30 PM: Yep!

https://t.co/njLWT50jUN pic.twitter.com/ITK0mg4Pqp

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) February 8, 2023

backdrop to all of this: https://t.co/835tHFuwIs

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 8, 2023

"That’s why a year ago, I offered a Unity Agenda for the nation."

😂😂😂😂😂😂

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) February 8, 2023

9:26 PM–I’m not the only one who thinks Biden is probably on drugs. He is speaking like he is on speed. Maybe he and Hunter partied before the speech:

So far, it’s coked up squirrel with a heaping side of Hunter’s amphetamines by a mile. https://t.co/1ORvmNJ0PZ

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 8, 2023

Joe Biden's speech is one long word, punctuated by occasional iterations of "I'm not joking."

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 8, 2023

9:25 PM–Biden’s first shout. Now we need a whisper. It’s of course about spending money.

BTW–he is on Meth.

9:20 PM–Two different versions of America

The opening of this speech is Biden at his most politically formidable. A kind of liberal version of America First. Jobs, infrastructure, working together, American competitiveness.

— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) February 8, 2023

Why are Democrats wearing more Ukraine flags than American flags at the State of the Union?

— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) February 8, 2023

9:19 PM–Trump is being a nice guy:

9:17 PM–Keifer Sutherland in 2023

Designated Survivah https://t.co/tNVgAg0tZZ

— Ross Keith (@r_keith_) February 8, 2023

9:15 PM–

Even the NYT isn't buying the "I created 12 million jobs" claim.https://t.co/FZEOSxBzFp

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) February 8, 2023

9:11 PM–From Trump, get a free Gold Bar!

9:08 PM–Here we go. The excitement across the world is palpable. I have a thrill running up my leg!

9:06 PM–Does Joe have to worry about something here?

Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff share a kiss right on the lips at SOTU pic.twitter.com/qImsdTezVw

— Gabe Kaminsky (@gekaminsky) February 8, 2023

9:05 PM–Joe Biden’s body double has arrived.

9:04 PM–Truth from an MSNBC reporter

“President Biden’s super power is that he’s a normal person”

–@MSNBC reporter

— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) February 8, 2023

9:02 PM–Trump is going to be nice to Sleepy Joe.

8:56 PM–Jill Biden is not wearing a couch cover!!

8:55 PM–still waiting for the Prevaricator in Chief, but I will also be giving you a bit of former POTUS Trump from his Truth Social feed.  He wishes Biden well.

Uh-huh!

—————ORIGINAL POST————–

We here at the (virtual) office all ran for the hills when Ed ask which one of us was willing to live blog the president’s State of the Union speech.

Everyone was suddenly busy. Very busy. I think Beege took a hammer to her toe or something to generate a convincing excuse. Jazz said something about a date with cyanide if he had to do it, and John reminded us that he had a lot of guns and knew how to use them. Karen? She’s far too nice to make something up, so I think that gall bladder surgery scheduled for tonight at 9 P.M. Eastern has to be genuine.

Yes, I did force Beege to come up with a title for the post. I am not that clever, and you all know that she is the headline master.

Ed has some real excuses. I know it is real because he is the boss and would never lie. So, as a low man on the totem pole, I got the duty.

I am going to kvetch all night about Biden’s stumbles, lies, and glitches. There should be at least one WTF?! moment, and if not I will be disappointed.

Worse, I have to cover Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ response. I have nothing against her, but SOTU responses are simultaneously considered to be a great honor for the speaker and a terrible bore for the rest of us. I have never watched one and left impressed. At least I can’t remember doing so and don’t have the inclination to try.

Expect Biden to blather on about how great things really are, despite nobody actually buying what he is selling. He will be the master economist, Maverick in Top Gun, Santa Claus, and…actually, he will be Slow Joe.

Biden has to find a way to deal with the elephant in the room, and I don’t mean the loyal opposition. Almost nobody in the country thinks he is remotely competent at his job, even Democrats hope he doesn’t run for president next year, and Americans are in a really foul mood. His defense will be: “Trump.” But even Trump’s polling looks better than Biden’s.

People would be throwing eggs at him, but nobody can afford to except the rich, and they are the ones who still support him.

John has an excellent post from earlier today about how even Biden’s supporters want him off the stage. He is old. Very old. And not that “wow that guy is vital” kind of old. More the “is it time for Grandpa to get live-in help or go to assisted living?” kind of old. My 88-year-old father-in-law is much more vital than Biden, and his leg was shattered in a car accident decades ago. He gets around better than Biden and is much sharper.

As per usual, there are lots of leaks about what Biden will say, but I will spend little time tonight focused on critiquing it. I will try to make fun of him while pointing out the worst lies. I will also try to find funny takes and post them if I do.

Steal content: the way to make it while blogging!

So stick with me tonight and I will try to find an amusing take. It will be my only defense against total boredom.

If I gained 200 lbs over the last 18 months and then lost 30, I could characterize it as "six months of weight of loss" and the "fastest weight loss" in my life. But I'd still weigh 170 pounds more than I did at the start. pic.twitter.com/5mWokpNrQz

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) February 7, 2023