JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Lawmakers from Northeast Florida weighed in on President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech on Thursday night.
Republicans on Friday criticized President Biden for his tone.
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That includes complaints that the speech was more campaign-oriented than it should have been.
Meanwhile, the President’s campaign leadership called it “a home run.”
“If I had closed my eyes, I would have thought I was at the Democratic National Convention, not the State of the Union,” Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz said.
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“It was such a disappointment. If you tuned in to see our country being united by a leader, you were disappointed. If you thought you were going to tune in to hear about putting America first, you were disappointed,” Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean said.
Putting it mildly, they didn’t like the tone or the content.
“Look, the world is on fire, right now. Deterrence with our adversaries is crumbling. We’ve got sailors out of Mayport getting used as target practice by the Houthis with an undeclared war, apparently, so I just didn’t hear any solutions to any of those issues,” Waltz said.
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Democrats praised the President’s speech.
”Joe Biden delivered an incredible speech that was very well received by the American people beginning, middle and end,” Democrat and House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said.
Democrats also backed their presumptive nominee in a campaign newsletter.
“If you had eyes and ears, you saw a president that was tough, that was smart, that was ready for the fight, that took it to people and talked about the American people,” campaign co-chair Mitch Landreiu wrote.
“What he did was spectacular. He did it with vigor, with patriotism. I think it was one of the finest State of the Union addresses and I’ve seen many,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Senator Marco Rubio from Florida posted this on social media: “Biden screamed his way through a weird 68-minute “proof of life” speech aimed at calming down a very nervous Democrat base.”
President Biden left Washington for Philadelphia on Friday for campaign events.