Biden Earns Rave Reviews Across the Board on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News: ‘Just Hit a Home Run in the Bottom of the Ninth’

Former Vice President Joe Biden earned glowing commentary from all three of the big cable news networks at the end of his speech for the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

As CNN’s Jake Tapper broke down the contents of Biden’s address, he noted that he has covered the 2020 Democratic nominee’s speeches for a long time, but “I have to say this was one of the best if not the best performances I’ve ever seen.” He also said it was a “tactical mistake” for President Donald Trump’s campaign to set the bar so low for Biden since “giving a speech like this meant that he would naturally exceed expectations.”

After Tapper remarked on the “wide” gap between Biden and Trump in terms of expressing empathy and decency, Dana Bash followed up by speaking of how Biden used his speech to characterize himself as the light to the president’s darkness.

“It may have been the best speech Joe Biden ever delivered,” Wolf Blitzer chimed in. Gloria Borger agreed, saying “It wasn’t a convention speech written for applause lines. It was a presidential address, even kind of a fireside chat.”

“He didn’t look like a guy who was reading a speech,” said David Axelrod. “He looked like a president speaking to the country. He owned those words. It was clear he felt those words. He expressed confidence. He brought the indictment against Trump, but he spoke with confidence about the way forward and gave, I think, people watching the confidence that he had the energy and the vision to take them forward.”

On Fox News, Chris Wallace got the ball rolling when he called Biden’s speech “enormously effective” speech.

“Remember, Donald Trump has been talking for months about Joe Biden as mentally shot, a captive of the left, and I guess Biden was reading from a TelePrompTer in a prepared speech, but I thought he blew a hole, a big hole in that characterization,” Wallace said. “It seems to me that after tonight, Donald Trump is going to have to run against a candidate, not a caricature.”

Bret Baier agreed, noting Biden is “not known for his public speaking, but this, having seen him speak on the stump many many times, was the best he’s been as far as his delivery…This is what he needed to do for this crowd and for the crowd around the country.”

Former DNC interim chairwoman Donna Brazile pulled out a party whistle in response to Biden, saying: “He did what he was supposed to do. He connected with the American people, he shared his values, he outlined his vision, but most importantly he spoke from the heart.”

Dana Perino was similarly impressed, noting she was awed by Michelle Obama earlier in the week, but “Joe Biden just hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth.

“He had pace, rhythm, energy, emotion and delivery,” she said. “I think if he looks back, he’s got to say that was probably the best speech of his life. He really just took the moment and I love that.”

Karl Rove offered a certain degree of praise for Biden, saying he nailed his call for political unity, but Biden “fleetingly mentioned” policy. He offered further backhanded compliments, saying “While it was a strong performance for him tonight reading off the TelePrompTer, I wonder though, if you look at it, if it didn’t remind you, really, that he is 77 years old…Granted, he didn’t misstate, he didn’t lose words, the flow was pretty good — but you looked at him, you said: ‘That’s an old guy and he’s doing his best.’”

On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow gushed: “I’ve never seen a Joe Biden speech anywhere near as good as that,” and if the Trump campaign still wants to depict Biden as incapable of finishing his sentences, they’ll face an uphill battle now. Nicole Wallace said Biden’s biggest triumph was he “deprived Donald Trump of his shtick” by portraying himself as a president for the whole country.

Joy Reid got in by first knocking Trump for winking at QAnon, but then she alluded to Trump’s efforts to undermine Biden by trying to coerce Ukraine into investigating his 2020 rival.

“What Donald Trump has done is set up Joe Biden for this,” Reid said. “I think we found out tonight why Trump feared him so much.”

Reid continued by remarking that Biden might be in a position to chip away at Trump’s base enough by appealing to white working class voters while expanding the Democratic Party to new demographics.

Watch above, via CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC.