Someone should have talked Joe Biden out of giving a speech at Pointe du Hoc. His people knew that it would draw unfavorable comparisons. Joe Biden is not a great speaker. He has a speech impediment, a stutter, don’t you know. The New York Times wrote that Biden’s speech sought “to Echo Reagan’s Legacy of Leadership”. If it did echo anything, it was a sad echo.

Before writing this, I watched Reagan give his “Boys of Pointe du Hoc” speech. You couldn’t ask for a better backdrop. Pointe du Hoc overlooks Omaha and Utah Beaches from a 100 foot cliff on the English Channel. As Reagan walked to the podium with the dignitaries a military band played. The veterans of the battle sat in two lines across from each other on either side of the stage. Reagan returned the salute of those veterans and began to speak. Measured and respectful. There is a reason Reagan was called the “Great Communicator”.

Joe attempted the echo with the same backdrop. Unfortunately for Joe, his speech writer is Jon Meacham, not Peggy Noonan. You not-nerd types may not remember this: “MSNBC reportedly lets Jon Meacham go as contributor after not disclosing he was a speechwriter for Biden”. Meacham writes what he thinks will sound good, rather than what will sound good coming out of Biden’s maw. Meacham cribbed directly from Noonan’s speech for Reagan:

Joe Biden essentially plagiarized Ronald Reagan’s famous 1984 speech at Pointe du Hoc today in Normandy. Watch these clips side by side. Wow: pic.twitter.com/jeGgTS2Nnm

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 7, 2024

Plus Meacham had help from Steven Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg Assists President Biden in Preparing Historic Speech at Pointe du Hoc https://t.co/CkQrwBkO1G pic.twitter.com/n78VvGA8fw

— TDPel Media News (@TDPelNews) June 7, 2024

Sad, really.

Reagan’s live military band sounded better than Biden’s pre-recorded movie music:

Joel B. Pollack in Breitbart noted:

Unlike Reagan before him, who criticized the Soviet Union while also recognizing the Russian contribution to victory in the Second World War, Biden focused on the challenge of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Similarly, at Pointe du Hoc, Biden focused on criticizing Putin.

After declaring that democracy required sacrifices in its defense, and praising the Army Rangers who stormed the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, he said: “Does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against Putin’s aggression here in Europe today?”

Later, he continued: “They fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the thirties and forties. Does anyone doubt they wouldn’t move heaven and earth to vanquish [the] hateful ideologies of today?”

Biden has often connected Trump, falsely, to Nazi rhetoric of the 1930, notably in the debunked “fine people hoax.”

It might have sounded better, if Biden hadn’t shouted at us. He thinks anger and passion are the same thing. Russians have died in Ukraine and average Americans are doing enough. Since none of the Rangers who climbed Point du Hoc are still with us, Biden couldn’t respect and honor them. He seemed angry that they are dead:

“We’re the fortunate heirs of the legacy of these heroes, those who scaled the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc,” Biden said. “But we will just also be the keepers of their mission.”
“To come here simply to remember the ghosts of Pointe du Hoc isn’t enough,” he went on. “We have need to hear them. We have to listen to them…. We need to make the solemn vow to never let them down.”

Biden noted that he was “the first president to come to Pointe du Hoc when none of those 225 brave men who scaled this cliff on D-Day are still alive — none.

“But I’m here to tell you, with them gone, the wind we hear coming off this ocean will not fade, it will grow louder,” he said.

Hard fail and typical Biden. Plagiarize and still get it all wrong. He’s mad the Rangers are dead and we are lazy. Just a sad echo.

Featured Image: Jeremy Polanski/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons