ABC’s Jon Karl Declares SOTU One Of Biden’s ‘Best Speeches’ — Made Republicans Look ‘Bitter Rude Angry’
ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl declared President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech one of his best and ripped Republicans for looking like bitter, rude, and angry hecklers.
Biden delivered his first State of the Union address under the new GOP House majority Tuesday night, and pretty much everyone agrees the moment of the night was when the president found himself flat-out arguing with Republicans screaming “LIAR!” in the middle of the speech.
On Friday’s edition of ABC’s Good Morning America, anchor George Stephanopoulos hosted Karl and correspondent Rachel Scott for an analysis of the speech, and Karl praised Biden’s handling of the hecklers while also panning Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s response as “harshly negative”:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And, Jon, the president had a balancing act last night, pleading, pleading for bipartisanship, yet also showing that he’s got a lot of fight in him. Did he do what he needed to do?
JON KARL: I really think he did. Look, this was a highly unusual State of the Union address, but this is one of the best speeches that Joe Biden has delivered as president. He came across as optimistic, hopeful. He seemed to be having a good time up there. And even when he was delivering some of those harsh attacks on Republicans, he was doing it with a smile, not the name calling he’s done in the past. There was no talk of MAGA extremists, ultra MAGA Republicans and the reaction to the, from the Republicans, or at least the backbench Republicans who were heckling him and jeering him played exactly into his message. They made the contrast. He was able to for a moment any way, George, portray the Republican opposition as a bunch of angry hecklers, people that were bitter and rude. You can see Kevin McCarthy obviously didn’t like the image. He was literally shushing Republicans in the chamber.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And Jon, the official Republican response, a familiar face from the Trump era.
JON KARL: Yeah, Sarah Sanders. Literally going to Trump’s old spokesperson. Her message was very much in keeping with Trumpism. It was a harshly negative, almost a bit of American carnage that we saw from Trump in his inaugural address. But one interesting thing, George. Sarah Huckabee Sanders may have invoked Trump, but she never once mentioned his name in that speech. Right.
Watch above via ABC’s Good Morning America.
