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Why the White House Is Celebrating

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Playbook notes President Biden had a few goals last night:

  1. Remind his audience of his accomplishments over the last two years.
  2. Reiterate his positions in the spending debate (no negotiations over the debt ceiling and no touching Social Security and Medicare).
  3. Detail the most popular highlights of his 2023 agenda.
  4. Expose his congressional GOP opposition as unreasonable and chaotic.

“The speech accomplished the first three goals if you listened or read it carefully. But it will be best remembered for the dramatic clashes with jeering members of the GOP which may have done more than Biden ever could have hoped to accomplish goal No. 4.”

John Harris: “With boos, taunts, groans, and sarcastic chortles, the opposition party effectively turned themselves into prime-time props for President Joseph Biden.”

Democrats Win Three Special Elections in Pennsylvania

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“Democrats won control of the Pennsylvania House in special elections Tuesday, wresting partial power from Republicans for the first time in a dozen years in the competitive swing state,” the AP reports.

“Democrats won all three vacant Pittsburgh-area House seats to claim a slim edge over Republicans, finally securing a majority they first appeared to have won in last November’s General Election. Republicans still hold the Senate, creating a political division that could make it difficult for lawmakers to send priority bills to new Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.”

“The special elections capped several months of electoral drama.”

My Reaction to Biden’s State of the Union Address

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Here’s what I texted to friends immediately after President Biden’s State of the Union address last night:

“For a guy who can’t really speak, that was a great speech.”

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The Hunter Biden Laptop Hearings Begin

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“House Republicans are set Wednesday to launch hearings into what they describe as collusion between social-media companies and Democrats—starting with their scrutiny of the 2020 episode involving Hunter Biden‘s laptop,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Members of the House Oversight Committee plan to question former Twitter Inc. executives over their decision to limit the reach of two 2020 New York Post articles that contained disclosures from the president’s son’s laptop that was dropped off at a Delaware repair shop.”

Republicans Jeered Biden

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Punchbowl News: “It was, to say the least, an unusual SOTU speech, even shocking at points, yet also a mostly effective one for the president. The focus was very heavy on domestic issues and there was little discussion of foreign policy.”

“Despite being warned by Republican leaders to behave themselves, there were constant jeers, boos and interjections from rank-and-file GOP lawmakers in the audience.”

“Yet Biden – who has more than 50 years in politics – rolled with it. At one point, Biden had a sort of call-and-response exchange with Republicans over preserving Social Security and Medicare. Biden sarcastically agreed with them that the hugely popular programs are off the table in any budget talks.”

Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Biden’s 72-minute address was interrupted several times by Republican lawmakers. One GOP representative was caught on camera calling the president a liar, and another yelled, ‘your fault,’ when Mr. Biden spoke of the rise in fentanyl-related deaths.”

The State of the Union

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President Biden is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address at 9 p.m. ET.

The speech, along with the Republican response, will be broadcast by the major television networks and cable news TV channels. It will also stream live on C-SPAN.

Leave your reactions in the comments.

Mark Warner Unloads on Biden

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Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the Chinese spy balloon over the weekend, Punchbowl News reports.

Emerging from a briefing, Warner said China “would not have allowed a balloon that was visible to its citizens to drift all across the whole mainland of China.”

Chinese Balloon Part of Vast Aerial Spy Program

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“The U.S. intelligence community has linked the Chinese spy balloon shot down on Saturday to a vast surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army, and U.S. officials have begun to brief allies and partners who have been similarly targeted,” the Washington Post reports.

“The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China’s south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.”

McConnell Insists No ‘Reprisal’ in Bumping Scott Off

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denied that any “reprisal” or “animus” played a role in his decision to remove Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) from the Commerce Committee, The Hill reports.

Said McConnell: “He had a temporary assignment on the committee, the way we do things, for two years. He could have traded in one of his permanent committees for Commerce and stayed on it.”

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Will Highlight Age Difference

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“Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, one of the relatively few high-profile Trump administration officials who bolstered their careers through the experience, will step into the national spotlight again on Tuesday night when she delivers the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address,” the New York Times reports.

“Ms. Sanders was still editing her address on Tuesday morning, but a spokeswoman said the speech would lean into the contrast in age between Ms. Sanders, who at 40 is the nation’s youngest governor, and Mr. Biden, 80, who in 2021 became the oldest president to be sworn into the office.”

Trump Rips Club for Growth After Snub

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Donald Trump lashed out at the Club for Growth after he was left off the guest list of its annual donor retreat, The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “The Club For NO Growth, an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers, fought me incessantly and rather viciously during my presidential run in 2016. They said I couldn’t win, I did, and won even bigger in 2020, with millions of more votes than ‘16, but the Election was Rigged & Stollen.”

He added: “They asked to get together on Endorsements of candidates, we did, and had MANY WINS & NO losses. Relationship broke up over my Endorsement of certain great people in Alabama & Ohio. I won them all!”

Ron DeSantis to Step Up Attacks on News Media

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“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is signaling plans to ramp up his attack on the news industry ahead of his likely 2024 run for president,” Politico reports.

“DeSantis on Tuesday held a roundtable discussion with media libel law experts and critics on a stage mirroring a typical cable-news show, with the GOP governor setting behind a desk with a screen behind him with the word ‘truth’ displayed prominently.”

About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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