CBS chief political analyst John Dickerson joined Stephen Colbert on Thursday for a special live edition of The Late Show, where the two fawned over President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address by claiming that simply by giving the speech, Biden “reknits those bonds” of democracy.
After Colbert asked why the speech was important, Dickerson waxed poetic:
Look, ringed around the Capitol where Joe Biden had gone to so many previous State of the Unions were 8-foot-high black fences as a result of the attack on January 6. This speech given in that place and that marble hall that was attacked on January 6, 2021, started his presidency. I mean, it didn't exactly, he wasn't inaugurated yet, but it started this period of time that we are in. So, every ritual of democracy that takes place in a healthy fashion reknits those bonds that were torn up on the sixth, and he was there to remind people that that happened and that those stakes are still real.
Biden began his speech by doing his best MSNBC-Michael Beschloss impression, which didn’t go unnoticed by Colbert, “He talked about a lot of stakes. He came in really hot tonight. He started off with FDR in 1941. What's the purpose there?”
Dickerson continued in his admiration, “You can’t-- if you are going to set the stakes for a political moment, you can't set them any higher than 1941 fighting before World War II. So, he set them immediately, he started in fifth gear.”
After a quick Colbert quip about Biden’s Corvette, Dickerson continued, “The only other historical moment that you would pick that has equal weight is the Civil War and he name-checked that too and why? He's calling on the ghosts of January 6, which aren't even ghosts. There are people in that room there who helped that happen.”
Dickerson also claimed that “one of America's leading political parties in a democracy has just nominated or is going to nominate in a democracy, to be their candidate, someone who has worked actively to undermine democracy.”
Earlier in the show, during his monologue, Colbert recapped, “On the Democratic side, they wore white. On the Republican side, they were white.”
He also took a shot at Justice Clarence Thomas, “Ahead of the president's arrival there, members of the Supreme Court filed in. Interestingly, Justice Clarence Thomas didn't attend. It's nice to know he's willing to recuse himself from something.”
It can be understandable why Clarence Thomas, of all people, didn’t want to attend a Joe Biden campaign rally dressed up as a stately "ritual of democracy", but Colbert rolled right along “Speaker of the House Mike Johnson got the privilege of standing next to Vice President Kamala Harris and because he was standing that close to a woman, his son got an alert on his phone.”
Despite all the pomp and circumstance, Biden's address was simply a Democratic stump speech, so of course CBS loved it.
Here is a transcript for the March 7 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
3/8/2024
12:00 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: On the Democratic side, they wore white. On the Republican side, they were white. Ahead of the president's arrival there, members of the Supreme Court filed in. Interestingly, Justice Clarence Thomas didn't attend. It's nice to know he's willing to recuse himself from something. Then the big moment, the president's entrance. He took his sweet damn time getting down the aisle. As the president made his way, the crowd chanted
DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
COLBERT: Four more years! Of walking to the podium! It’s getting late, just go. Then he finally got to the podium, where Speaker of the House Mike Johnson got the privilege of standing next to Vice President Kamala Harris and because he was standing that close to a woman, his son got an alert on his phone.
…
COLBERT: So, why for Joe Biden in this election year, was this an important moment?
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, it’s an important moment. Look, ringed around the Capitol where Joe Biden had gone to so many previous State of the Unions were 8-foot-high black fences as a result of the attack on January 6. This speech given in that place and that marble hall that was attacked on January 6, 2021, started his presidency. I mean, it didn't exactly, he wasn't inaugurated yet, but it started this period of time that we are in. So, every ritual of democracy that takes place in a healthy fashion reknits those bonds that were torn up on the sixth, and he was there to remind people that that happened and that those stakes are still real.
COLBERT: He talked about a lot of stakes. He came in really hot tonight. He started off with FDR in 1941. What's the purpose there?
DICKERSON: You can’t-- if you are going to set the stakes for a political moment, you can't set them any higher than 1941 fighting before World War II. So, he set them immediately, he started in fifth gear.
COLBERT: And he drives a Corvette. He knows that.
DICKERSON: Right, so he knows fifth gear. The only other historical moment that you would pick that has equal weight is the Civil War and he name-checked that too and why? He's calling on the ghosts of January 6, which aren't even ghosts. There are people in that room there who helped that happen including –
COLBERT: Including Mike Johnson over his shoulder who was trying to get the fake collectors allowed.
DICKERSON: And one of America's leading political parties in a democracy has just nominated or is going to nominate in a democracy, to be their candidate, someone who has worked actively to undermine democracy.
