Insight

“It is a part of the function of ‘law’ to give recognition to ideas representing the exact opposite of established conduct. Most of the complications arise from the necessity of pretending to do one thing, while actually doing another.” —Thurman Arnold (1891-1969)

Re: Biden’s SOTU

“Unable to read or process the contents of the Teleprompter, Biden talked [Tuesday] night about ‘a pound of Ukrainian people,’ confused ‘Ukrainian’ with ‘Iranian’ (provoking a mouthed correction from Kamala Harris), referenced ‘other freedee loving nations,’ and praised the Ukrainian ‘mall of strength.’ And those were just the highlights.” —Charles C.W. Cooke

“The president spoke for over an hour but only mentioned China twice. Neither time had anything to do with national security or military modernization. The president only mentioned Iran one time, and it was literally by accident.” —Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell

“Biden is such a hypocrite. [Tuesday] night he said we shouldn’t engage in partisanship over Covid. How then does he explain why he called GOP governors ‘Neanderthals’ due to their mask policies?” —Ari Fleischer

“[Biden] told us eight weeks ago we were entering a winter of death and demanded that every person who didn’t get vaccinated lose their jobs. [He] made kids wear masks in schools. All of it was anti-science and designed specifically to divide us.” —Clay Travis

“Amazing. Every Democrat applauds funding the police after spending two years trying to defund them.” —Matt Walsh

“Beau Biden’s death was a tragedy but I’m so sick of Biden using it as a prop and pretending he died on the battleground. That’s pure garbage.” —Caleb Hull

“Kind of amazing that white supremacist terrorism is apparently America’s BIGGEST threat, and Biden didn’t mention it once.” —Allie Beth Stuckey

“Still wondering who’s the dude we are all supposed to ‘go get.’ Did we figure that out?” —Mollie Hemingway

Fact-Check: False

“Per @CBSNews poll, 78% of voters approved of [Biden’s State of the Union], and a strong majority believe that the President’s agenda to attack inflation will work!” —White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain (“Looks like someone choosing fiction over science… We conducted a poll of self-reported speech watchers across the country, not voters. So no, 78% of U.S. voters didn’t approve. 78% approved among people who tuned in.” —CBS News’s Kabir Khanna | “As we’ve seen with previous presidents’ State of the Union speeches, those who watched [Tuesday night] are more likely to be from the president’s own political party, boosting approval of the speech.” —CBS News)

Intraparty Squabbles

“With all due respect, Mr. President. You didn’t mention saving Black lives once in this speech. All our country has done is given more funding to police. The result? 2021 set a record for fatal police shootings. Defund the police. Invest in our communities.” —Congresswoman Cori Bush

Yellow Journalism

“In a different era, a congresswoman shouting and heckling the president at the SOTU while he was talking about US soldiers Killed In Action — and was about to invoke his own dead son — would be widely condemned across the political spectrum. Starting with her caucus leader.” —CNN’s Jake Tapper (“Lot of people making fun of Boebert for shouting about the 13 dead servicemembers on Joe Biden’s hands. Not one is actually explaining why Biden spent zero words on them, given that his disgusting surrender led to their deaths.” —Ben Shapiro | “In a different era the president would have honored 13 servicemen who died for their country rather than ignoring them for political reasons.” —David Harsanyi | “Trump was heckled, walked out on, and had the speaker of the house rip his speech up on camera, for [goodness] sake. History didn’t start yesterday.” —Noam Blum)

The BIG Lies

“The economy has now grown at the fastest rate in a single year since the 1980s. We have added back the most jobs in a single year than in any president’s term ever — six million jobs. … This first year has been a very, very large success.” —Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

“We’re going to lower the deficit by a trillion dollars this year. These guys talk about how they always are worried about us spending — we’re lowering the deficit. No one’s ever done that.” —Joe Biden

Pathologically Delusional

“I am very, very grateful Joe Biden is our president in these challenging times.” —Hillary Clinton

“Things are so much better. You were right to put your faith in Joe Biden a year ago.” —First Lady Jill Biden

“It’s just not accurate to say that Trump’s behavior somehow deterred the Russians.” —former National Security Advisor John Bolton

A Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut

“We have the ability in this country to produce enough oil for this country and energy for this country that we can depend a hell of a lot less on Russia. Can we not at least do this temporarily in the cause of freedom?” —MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud

“I was at the State Department, the president was the vice president the last time Russia invaded Ukraine. This is a pattern.” —White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (“Truer things have never been said by a White House press secretary.” —Ian Haworth)

Thanks, Captain Obvious

“Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine so basically that’s wrong.” —border expert Kamala Harris

And Last…

“Americans under 40 have only witnessed how the West conducts a largescale mechanized war: anti-septic, precise, and with utmost concern for local and global sentiments. The Russian war is more historically familiar: brutalize the population until they submit.” —Noah Rothman

“In 1945 the USSR was given a permanent seat and veto on the UN Security Council. In 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, there was never a vote to give that seat and veto to Russia. Why not have that vote today in the General Assembly?” —Eli Lake