Biden's speech was 'sharp and urgent' or 'pretty ridiculous.' Cable news couldn't decide

President Joe Biden's Wednesday speech about the dangers facing democracy as the midterm elections approach was described as either “sharp and urgent” or “pretty ridiculous,” depending on which cable-news network you were watching.

Biden never mentioned Arizona in the speech from Union Station in Washington, D.C., but there’s no doubt it was one of the states on his mind.

“As I stand here today,” Biden said, “there are candidates running for every level of office in America, for governor, for congress, for attorney general, secretary of state, who will not commit to the results of the elections they’re running in.”

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Biden didn't even have to mention Kari Lake or Arizona

He could have been talking about Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor in Arizona who has suggested that she would accept the results of the election only if she wins or if she deems the election fair.

Phil Mattingly, a CNN reporter, called the address “sharp and urgent” and the Union Station location “very intentional.” It’s a couple blocks from the U.S. Capitol, which was attacked on Jan. 6, 2021, by Trump supporters trying to overthrow results of the election.

Mattingly is right about the sharpness and urgency — Biden didn’t mince words when he laid blame for the current political dangers the country faces. Matthew Dowd said on MSNBC that it’s been interesting to watch Biden transition from a president who thought he could work with both sides of the political aisle to a president willing to go on the attack, as he did Wednesday.

And boy, did he.

Biden went on attack against the 'MAGA Republican Party'

“American democracy is under attack because a defeated former president of the United States refused to accept the results of the 2020 election,” Biden said. “He refused to accept the will of the people. He refuses to accept the fact that he lost. He abused his power and put loyalty to himself before loyalty to the Constitution. And he’s made a big lie an article of faith in the MAGA Republican Party, a minority of that party.”

Not in Arizona, where the candidates for all three major statewide offices — governor, secretary of state and U.S. Senate — are election deniers.

“In this moment we have to confront those lies with the truth,” Biden said. “The very future of this nation depends on it.”

He’s not wrong.

“We can’t ignore the impact that this is having on our country. It’s damaging, it’s corrosive and it’s destructive.”

Sure, but why this speech at this time?

Depends on whom you ask.

“I don’t think this is going to move Republicans and I don’t think that was the President’s goal at all in this,” Dowd said on MSNBC. “I think this speech … was something from his heart that he believes completely.”

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CNN, Fox News and MSNBC all weighed in on Biden's speech

On Fox News, Karl Rove — who noted that Biden won the 2020 election fair and square — thought it was a misfire.

“This is a failing effort at the end of a campaign,” Rove said. “It should have been about inflation. It should have been about the economy. It should have been about the border and crime. They didn’t wake up to that fact till too late.”

But it was Jesse Watters on Fox News who made the “pretty ridiculous comment.” Biden had barely left the stage before Watters, never shy about playing the MAGA stooge, said Biden need not worry.

“No one is going to question the results of this election, Mr. President, because it’s going to be a blowout,” he said. “It’s not even going to be close.”

He may be correct, but it doesn’t mean he’s right. Taking the vote away from the American people destroys democracy.

“I’ve said before, you can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said.

To do otherwise poses great danger.

“That is the path to chaos in America,” Biden said. “It’s unprecedented. It’s unlawful. And it is un-American.”

That doesn’t sound pretty ridiculous. It sounds pretty damn important.

'SNL' flays Kari Lake: 'Just a regular hometown gal … lit like a ’90s Cinemax soft-core'

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How Biden's speech was covered differently by Fox News, CNN, MSNBC