Speaker 1: At the end of last week, President Joe Biden addressed the nation and the world in prime
time about what's going on with Hamas and Israel, about what's going on with Russia and Ukraine and
more generally, what is going on with the role of the United States in the world as a as he sees it,
defender of democracy. This speech was actually so good by the standards we have for how these
speeches go. The speech was so good that even on Fox News, they praised Joe Biden
and it was a good speech. Now it's you know, I got a bunch of these emails about Biden,
doesn't even know what's going on, sort of sort of thing. I will remind people,
Joe Biden is 80 years old and he has struggled with a stutter his entire life. So you really
have to understand that we're listening to the message Joe Biden is giving us. And when you
listen to that message, you didn't have to like it, but it was coherent. It was strong. It made
sense if you understand the foreign policy of Joe Biden. And so we go to Fox News in
the moments after the speech. Here are Brett Baker and Martha MACCALLUM interviewing Brit
HUME. This is not the attitude of Fox News hosts typically after a Democratic president gives a
speech. Let's take a listen to this. Speaker 2: This is the president's
second Oval Office address. Your overall thoughts about him tonight?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it may be remembered as one of the best, if not the best speeches
of his presidency. He was firm. He was unequivocal. He was strong, as he has been,
particularly in recent days when he was before he went to Israel. And while he was over there,
I was struck by the fact that he spent as much time as he did on Ukraine. And I think it was a
good thing that he did because the aid for Ukraine package that he's talking about and further aid to
Ukraine beyond that is in jeopardy. And I think that he was hampered a little bit in that effort
by the fact that he did not really mention the best reason. I mean, he mentioned, broadly
speaking, the best reason for sticking with it in Ukraine, which is that what would the rest of the
world and its evildoers think if we pulled out of there? Because that comes on the heels of his
having pulled out of Afghanistan, which arguably emboldened all of the all of our adversaries
around the world, particularly Vladimir Putin. He didn't make that. He he can't really make
that case and you wouldn't expect him to. But he made a strong case for it nonetheless. And I think
it's I think it's important that he did. And also, of course, you're right, Bret, to wonder whether
as Republicans will, there will be a follow up to his statement about holding Iran accountable. But
at least he talked about Iran. He had been loath to do so in these remarks regarding this Israel
atrocities since they happened. But tonight there was so on two important counts. I think he did did
remarkably well and was quite strong, quite firm. Speaker 1: Remarkably well, quite strong and quite
firm. Not the sort of review you expect from Fox News of a president Democratic president's
speech. Now, I generally agree that it was quite a good speech. There was an exception.
There was a moment where Joe Biden talked about how. Lots of American companies are basically
like making the bullets that are being sent over there. It's I get the point, which is, listen,
if these are causes worth supporting, if it's a cause worth supporting to support Ukraine's
defense against the invasion by Russia, then isn't it better if it also provides American jobs by
virtue of the U.S. manufacturing the bullets and the ordnance and, you know, whatever else? It's
a little too military industrial complex. So for me, it's sort of like, hey, we're sending over our
rockets painted in the gay pride flag for them to use sort of thing. It's like, okay, is this
actually what we want when it comes to that, that sort of imagery? But regardless, overall, it was a
good speech. I do think it was extremely smart and accurate for Joe Biden to even though the
impetus for the speech was the terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel. I think it made sense to talk
about Ukraine, particularly because there is a sort of fatigue taking place among some in the
American public about the support for Ukraine. And that makes sense. It's understandable that there
is fatigue. I do think it's important not to miss the reality that it's an extraordinarily good deal
to support Ukraine in the way that the U.S. is supporting Ukraine. It's a tiny sliver of a slice
of the military budget. It's preventing boots on the ground. And if Russia were to successfully
steamroll Ukraine, it is almost certain that those desires would then extend beyond Ukraine,
and it might invariably force American boots on the ground to get over there, which I don't
want. I don't want the U.S. getting involved in that way. So I think it was intelligent for Biden
to wrap this all together as as always, this sort of nationalistic, patriotic imagery and the stuff
about the bullets and the bombs or whatever. Not my thing at all as a guy who's extremely
skeptical of the military industrial complex, but I agree with Fox News. It was quite a good speech.