Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Biden's Classy, Poignant Handoff




Last night was President Biden's night to receive deserved praise for his record of accomplishments, not only those of the last four years, but his 50 year public service career. His presence was warmly welcomed by speakers preceding him, who contrasted his career with the dangerous and mentally unfit Malignant Loser's threat to democracy. Some excerpts, ICYMI:

"Folks, let me ask you. Let me ask you: Are you ready to vote for freedom? Are you ready to vote for democracy and for America? Let me ask you: Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz President and Vice President of the United States?

My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, nearly four years ago in winter on the steps of the Capitol, on a cold January day, I raised my right hand and I swore an oath to you and to God, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and to faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States. In front of me was a city surrounded by the National Guard. Behind me, a Capitol just two weeks before had been overrun by a violent mob. But I knew then, from the bottom of my heart that I knew now, there is no place in America for political violence. None.

You cannot say you love your country only when you win."

Addressing his decision to run in 2020 against the Malignant Loser:

"I ran for President in 2020 because of what I saw in Charlottesville in August of 2017. Extremists coming out of the woods, carrying torches, their veins bulging from their necks, carrying Nazi swastikas and chanting the same exact antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany in the early ’30s. Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the Ku Klux Klan, so emboldened by a President then in the White House that they saw as an ally. They didn’t even bother to wear their hoods."

 One of several times he credited his Vice President:

"As a young senator beginning to fight, beginning to fight for 50 years, to give Medicare the power to negotiate low prescription drug prices, we finally beat big Pharma. And guess who cast the tie breaking vote? Vice President soon-to-be President Kamala Harris. And now it’s the law of the land. Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes will pay $35 a month. The law we passed already includes, starting in January, every senior’s total prescription costs can be capped at $2,000 no matter how expensive the drugs they have.[snip]

Folks, how can we have the strongest economy in the world without the best infrastructure in the world? Donald Trump promised Infrastructure Week, every week for four years, and he never built a damn thing.

And now because of what Kamala and I have done—remember, we were told we couldn’t get it done? Remember, when we came into office, we couldn’t get anything passed?—but right now, we’re giving America an infrastructure decade not week. We’re modernizing our roads, our bridges, our ports, our airports, our trains, our buses, removing every lead pipe from schools and homes so every child could drink clean water. We’re providing affordable high speed internet for every American no matter where they live, unlike, not unlike what Roosevelt did with electricity."

One of several tips of the hat to the labor movement:

"You know what it’s like when that factory closed where your mother, your father, your grandmother, grandfather worked. And now you’re back, providing once again, proving that Wall Street didn’t build America, the middle class built America, and unions—unions—built the middle class."
There's more at the link, and many observers are saying it was one of his finest moments and addresses. He showed what a true patriot and great President looks like.

(photo: Eric Lee / NY Times)
 

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