Biden’s ad libs
Biden deviated from his prepared remarks many times, most notably at the very end, when he wrapped up and then added with a clenched fist: “Go get him.” Get… Vladimir Putin? Luke Russert shared this reaction: “My father used to say ‘Go get ’em!’ It’s an Rust Belt Irish Catholic kind of way of saying, ‘Give ’em hell!’ It’s not meant to go after Putin, it’s more of a ‘let’s go forward, try hard and win America!'”
Here are some of the other notable ad-libs:
— After Biden talked about isolating Russia and squeezing their economy, he spoke over applause in the chamber and added an unscripted message to Putin: “He has no idea what’s coming.”
— As he touted the American Rescue Plan, he said it “helped put food on the table,” then ad-libbed a memory of TV coverage of needy families: “Remember those long lines of cars waiting for hours just to get a box of food put in their trunk?”
— After he said that “4,000 projects have already been announced” through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, he ad-libbed, “Many of you have announced them in your districts.”
— He added quite a few asides during the inflation section of the speech. While his prepared remarks said the “prices of automobiles went up,” he said prices went “way up” and added, “Especially used vehicles as well.”
— When Biden argued for changes to the tax code, he ad-libbed a challenge to Congress: “I may be wrong, but my guess is if we took a secret ballot in this floor, that we’d all agree that the present tax system ain’t fair.” Then he returned to his prepared line: “We have to fix it.”
— As he pivoted to the pandemic and said “I know you’re tired, frustrated, and exhausted,” he ad-libbed, “that doesn’t even count close to a million people who sit at a dining room table or kitchen table and look at an empty chair because they lost somebody.”
— The word “folks” wasn’t in the script at all, but Biden used it as a transition and an attention-grabber at least 19 times.
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