You may have heard of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, but Wednesday’s edition of The ReidOut on MSNBC right as well have been entitled Joy’s Ode to Biden, as host Joy Reid attacked Republicans for trying to sully “Joey from Scranton” and “some members of the mainstream media” for allegedly playing along.
Reid began her monologue by trying to portray Republicans as hypocrites, “So here’s the thing, [Oversight Committee Chairman James] Comer abandoned an investigation opened by Democrats into Trump improperly profiting off the presidency. He also killed a separate inquiry into the business dealings of Jared Kushner with the Saudis. Because they don't care about actual corruption. They only care about hurting Joe Biden politically ahead of the next election because as Simon Rosenberg pointed out on this program last night, they clearly don't think they can beat him without making him as dirty as Trump.”
As for Biden himself, “But here's the problem: they're not starting from scratch with some unknown politician. They're starting with Joe Biden, you know, Joey from Scranton who likes ice cream, corvettes, Ray-Bans and his family. Biden has been around for decades. His brand ain't new and that's precisely why Barack Obama picked him as his vice president.”
Reid proceeded to recall various moments from Biden’s career, “He’s the 29-year-old who was sworn in as a senator in a hospital next to his two young sons after their mother and sister were killed in a tragic car accident. A major, major news story at the time. He is the guy who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas, that’s in the '90s by the way.”
Of course, the fact that Biden chaired the Clarence Thomas hearings does not exactly endear him to Republicans, but Reid continued:
He’s the guy who pressured Republicans back in 1993 to help pass an assault weapons ban. He's the guy who back in 2007 destroyed Rudy Giuliani's presidential ambitions by saying, quote, ‘there's only three things Rudy mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11.’ He’s the guy who helped President Obama pass one of the most important pieces of health care legislation in American history and then whispered goofily into an open microphone ‘this is a BFD’ but he didn't use the initials.
On the specific allegations leveled at Joe and Hunter, Reid found it inconceivable that accusations could be true:
Joe Biden has lived, practically, his entire adult life in the public eye, this impeachment inquiry is Republicans trying to rewrite history because they don't like the current reality. They’re trying to gaslight you into believing a guy who was once mocked for being one of the poorest guys in the Senate, hatched some sort of nefarious, decades-long campaign to fatten the Biden family coffers without a single journalist noticing. I mean, how could we have missed it?
Reid wrapped up her thoughts by curiously going after the media, “What they are trying to do, with not too small amount of help from Fox and some members of the mainstream media, too, who ran this same playbook with Hillary Clinton and her emails, is to get you, to somehow forget who Joe Biden is and replace that reality in your minds with the MAGA fan fiction that he is a master criminal, just like Donald Trump, minus the gold toilet.”
With that, Reid came full circle after starting by accusing Republicans of not caring about corruption, she herself says corruption or wrongdoing by her side is no big deal.
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript for the September 13 show:
MSNBC TheReidOut
9/13/2023
7:06 PM ET
JOY REID: So here’s the thing, Comer abandoned an investigation opened by Democrats into Trump improperly profiting off the presidency. He also killed a separate inquiry into the business dealings of Jared Kushner with the Saudis. Because they don't care about actual corruption. They only care about hurting Joe Biden politically ahead of the next election because as Simon Rosenberg pointed out on this program last night, they clearly don't think they can beat him without making him as dirty as Trump. But here's the problem: they're not starting from scratch with some unknown politician. They're starting with Joe Biden, you know, Joey from Scranton who likes ice cream, corvettes, Ray-Bans and his family. Biden has been around for decades. His brand ain't new and that's precisely why Barack Obama picked him as his vice president.
He’s the 29-year-old who was sworn in as a senator in a hospital next to his two young sons after their mother and sister were killed in a tragic car accident. A major, major news story at the time. He is the guy who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas, that’s in the '90s by the way.
He’s the guy who pressured Republicans back in 1993 to help pass an assault weapons ban. He's the guy who back in 2007 destroyed Rudy Giuliani's presidential ambitions by saying, quote, “there's only three things Rudy mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11.” He’s the guy who helped President Obama pass one of the most important pieces of health care legislation in American history and then whispered goofily into an open microphone “this is a BFD,” but he didn't use the initials.
Joe Biden has lived, practically, his entire adult life in the public eye, this impeachment inquiry is Republicans trying to rewrite history because they don't like the current reality. They’re trying to gaslight you into believing a guy who was once mocked for being one of the poorest guys in the Senate, hatched some sort of nefarious, decades-long campaign to fatten the Biden family coffers without a single journalist noticing. I mean, how could we have missed it?
What they are trying to do, with not too small amount of help from Fox and some members of the mainstream media, too, who ran this same playbook with Hillary Clinton and her emails, is to get you, to somehow forget who Joe Biden is and replace that reality in your minds with the MAGA fan fiction that he is a master criminal, just like Donald Trump, minus the gold toilet.
