Watch: 5 top moments from Biden’s SOTU address
President Biden delivered his State of the Union address on Thursday night and discussed a variety of issues that drew cheers and criticism from the crowd.
The liberal networks were unanimous in their praise for President Biden following his "energetic" State of the Union address, many anchors and reporters approvingly acknowledged it was more like a "partisan" campaign speech.
CNN's Jake Tapper kicked off his network's coverage by saying "his presentation, his enunciation" were "not as clear as it once was a decade or two ago" but that "his mind did seem fairly sharp," though he admitted Biden botched the name of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student murdered by an alleged illegal immigrant, calling her "Lincoln Riley."
When asked if Biden "met the moment," CNN's Dana Bash replied, "He certainly met the moment," telling Tapper that Democrats "wanted him to be a fighter and boy fight did he deliver."
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CNN's Dana Bash said President Biden "certainly met the moment" and that he delivered the "fighter" Democrats wanted. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)
"What's so striking to me is that Republicans – their whole thing right now is that Joe Biden is slow, that he's too old, that he can't do this. They walk into this trap every time that this White House sets for them," CNN's Abby Phillip said, later adding "He had a lot of moments where he was kind of trolling them. And that worked for him in this speech."
"This is the 36th of these for me, state of the unions or presidential addresses... never heard one so political, never heard one that is such a campaign speech," CNN correspondent John King reacted.
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The panel of MSNBC hosts were similarly gleeful of Biden's address with "Last Word" host Lawrence O'Donnell quipping "I've never brought that much energy to the 10pm hour."
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace boasted how "It was like a punch in the face to every Republican in the room" in the first "120 seconds" of Biden's address.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace called President Biden's opening of his State of the Union address "a punch in the fact to every Republican in the room." (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Everybody knows that this was a great speech and everybody knows that if this is the message going into the next eight months, the polls will soon reflect that and this will be a real, real fight," Wallace said. "I thought this was a really remarkable State of the Union."
Joy Reid called Biden's speech "very high caffeine" and joked how the president had a "cup of coffee" and "his Wheaties" that morning. Fellow host Chris Hayes said not only did Biden exceed his expectations but he "transcended" them, saying how he didn't realize how "aggressive" and "sharp" he was going to be in giving a "full campaign speech."
"Maybe this age thing was oversold!" MSNBC star Rachel Maddow exclaimed.
ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl declared it "a great night for Joe Biden." (Photographer: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On the broadcast networks, NBC News' Savannah Guthree called Biden's speech "energetic and optimistic" while "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker cited an unnamed Democrat who told her "This was a total 10."
"This was a great night for Joe Biden," ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl declared. "This was much more of a campaign speech than a State of the Union address."
"I don't know if it was a home run, but it certainly was a triple," Karl later added.
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CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe similarly said, "This may have been a partisan speech designed to be a campaign kickoff, a little different from most State of the Unions, but it meets the moment, the political moment we're in and it's the speech Democrats have been desperately waiting for him to give."