Delusions of Grandeur

“I was so excited by how Biden presented himself and what he said. The [State of the Union] speech showed that America is strong and Biden is strong. And anyone who sat in that room would have no doubt that Biden is ready for a great second campaign and, even more, a great second term. He was filled with focus and enthusiasm.” —Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

For the Record

“The true, unvarnished state of our union begins and ends with this: Our families are hurting; our country can do better.” —Senator Katie Britt (R-AL)

“Ukraine and potato chips were more important to the President than Laken Riley.” —Erick Erickson

“Biden sounded like a 45 rpm record playing at 78. It was an old record — it had scratches at several places that caused it to skip the groove.” —Scott Johnson

“The number of Americans who watched the whole speech, beginning to end, is considerably smaller than the number who will see brief excerpts on the television news, or YouTube, or other social media. By shouting through almost the entire speech, Biden maximized the odds that any clip or segment that went viral would have him looking fired up and impassioned rather than like the sleepy, whispery, mumbling octogenarian that Americans have soured on so thoroughly.” —Jim Geraghty

Dumb & Dumber

“We were shocked to hear the president echo the words of anti-immigrant extremists in his #SOTU speech… Manipulating a personal tragedy for political gain in this way is dangerous. Conflating immigration status with criminality is racist and dehumanizing.” —National Immigrant Justice Center

“There was a lot of good in President Biden’s speech … but his rhetoric about immigrants was incendiary and wrong. … The rhetoric President Biden used … was dangerously close to language from Donald Trump that puts a target on the backs of Latinos everywhere. Democrats shouldn’t be taking our cues from MAGA extremism.” —Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX)

“As a proud immigrant, I’m extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal.’” —Congressman Chuy García (D-IL)

“Let me be clear: No human being is illegal.” —Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN)

“He probably should’ve used a different word.” —Biden senior adviser Mitch Landrieu

“He should have said ‘undocumented.’” —Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

“An ‘undocumented person.’ I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal.’ It’s ‘undocumented.’” —Joe Biden

Who’s Gonna Tell Him?

“I kinda wish sometimes I was cognitively impaired.” —Joe Biden

The BIG Lies

“The average American now has seen an increase in their wages that exceeds the increase in prices since the pandemic and can afford the same basket of goods with $1,400 left over. … The average American household is better off.” —Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

“We can confidently say that wages are going up faster than prices. … But of course it takes a while for that to flow through. … We are still in many ways psychologically recovering from a pandemic.” —Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

The Bottom Line

“Facts are stubborn things. When inflation has increased over 17%, household debt is at its highest and families have to spend an additional $11,400 to make ends meet — you can’t convince the American people the economy is thriving.” —House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)

Dezinformatsiya

“[Trump’s J6] actions killed cops.” —Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA)

Useful Idiot

“I told him, Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu] — don’t repeat this — ‘You and I are going to have a come-to-Jesus meeting.’” —Joe Biden

“In my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel. … I want to see a ceasefire.” —Joe Biden

Leftmedia Lob

“Do Americans Have a ‘Collective Amnesia’ about Donald Trump?” —The New York Times lamenting the fact that Trump is polling better than Biden

Food for Thought

“To say that a couple of hundred yahoos were insurrectionists who nearly toppled the U.S. government is offensively laughable when we’re facing an invasion of nine million illegal aliens across Biden’s open border.” —Nate Jackson

“Learning that state officials aren’t empowered to simply toss leading presidential candidates off ballots came as a great surprise to many incredulous left-wingers. Once you’ve convinced yourself Trump led a Hitlerian putsch that nearly overthrew democracy, every crackpot legal theory aimed at stopping him sounds not only morally justified but legally sound.” —David Harsanyi

Political Futures

“Democrats hate democracy and harbor immense disdain for normal Americans’ beliefs. Put simply, they don’t want to leave the country’s fate in our hands. … Those Americans who want their border secure, their communities safe and their wages spared suppression by illegal alien labor are the ‘rubes’ whom liberal elites are so passionate about denying from the democratic process that they will invert democracy itself to do so. Destroy democracy in order to save it — don’t you see?” —Josh Hammer

“Most Americans are just going to get through this election year with the enthusiasm of someone headed to a colonoscopy. They will not be voting for the moral claims of either party because they see both parties complicit in $34 trillion in national debt and squandering America’s leadership of the Western world. Both parties have made the nation vulnerable to our enemies.” —Erick Erickson

Upright

“No, SCOTUS doesn’t get every case right. … But it is wrong within the contours of normal. Congress, on the other hand, has handed its responsibilities on war, spending and governing to the executive branch. At this point, we are far more likely to see a congressman dunking on someone on social media than acting to defend the document he swore to uphold.” —David Harsanyi

And Last…

“Biden does not even KNOW my child’s name — it’s pathetic! If you are going to say her name at least say the right name!” —Laken Riley’s mom, Allyson Phillips