Biden's speech today was indeed a winner, in part because I think he's finding his theme of "soul."

[Music Man]

He has alluded to running primarily to restore the soul of America, but his remarks today were the most clear and passionate in this area as I've ever seen.

Great campaigns need themes, and I think he can drive more and more of his issues through the prism of soul, heart, and decency. We will stop gun violence, support working people, fight white supremacy, and stand with our allies against dictators because we are a *decent* people. Donald Trump is the antithesis of these causes because he is an indecent man.

Obama had "Hope" and Biden needs something along the lines of "Soul."

Biden has not been my first choice, but boy did I like this version today. A fighter, when I have so far felt him trying to equivocate and be a non-threatening candidate. He had a Truman-esque flair today. Being argumentative is no vice if you're doing it for the right reasons.

Give 'em hell, Joe.

[Skya Rhen]

1. Well said - well said!

[Music Man]

2. Joe Biden has character. Donald Trump is a character.

[emmaverybo]

3. Now that's a great slogan. NT

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. You could not come up with a purer ANTITHESIS of

Dipshit if you went to a lab and created one.

[Cha]

4. Soul is brilliant.. this isn't

just any bad president for our country.. it's the one who's trying to steal our soul.

And, Joe Biden has known that from the start.

Joe Biden: “We are living through a battle for the soul of this nation”

https://www.vox.com/2017/8/28/16211422/joe-biden-trump-charlottesville

[BigmanPigman]

5. I liked his use of the phrase "low energy"

when describing the Racist Rapist's heart felt and sincerely sad speech to heal the nation's wounds.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. Yes! That was perfect. Yet trump surely, with his

media background is 100% aware of how numb and robotic he sounds on teleprompter. My guess is that it is a dog whistle. "When you see me reading like that...don't believe a word of it...they are telling me I have to say this stuff."

Otherwise there would be zero explanation for the difference between prepared speech and his ad lib routines.

[gordianot]

9. It would be interesting to know if there are any consultants who dare tell Trump the truth.

He did appear to be particularly listless in his demeanor. The growl in his voice and snarl were particularly weak when delivering attacks lines on Beto.

[maddiemom]

11. "Low energy" and "sleepy": two truly bizarre descriptions Trump has used to disparage rivals.

But, of course, they're "projections," as is everything else that Trump uses to insult his perceived enemies. Riding in a golf cart when other world leaders walk; his demeanor and speech when he's forced to read a teleprompter to give a speech he doesn't really mean. He shows energy only when arousing hatred in his "rallies" in front of his "base." Only insults and hate speech arouse his energy, or lining up a golf shot after climbing down from his cart (and then climbing back in). Meanwhile he's ballooning in weight to near the size of his famous balloon caricature. Soon someone will have to invent a golf cart that raises up and lowers back down, like those recliners for the elderly and disabled.

[BigmanPigman]

15. Yes, I think Biden said this as a jab at tRump's

nicknames for everyone he doesn't like. He even used tRump's own nickname for others and turned it back against him! Zing!

[Gothmog]

8. Biden makes the best case against trump

Link to tweet

[Bayard]

10. tRump would never get this close,

Or look someone in the eye. Of course, if he looked one of his people in the eye, he'd see his craziness mirrored back.

[not_the_one]

12. great speeches can be made without

injecting "religious" or "spiritual' phrasing.

That is just pandering.

[Music Man]

14. I do not see it as a religious/spiritual approach at all.

I am an atheist and am naturally skeptical of such things, so I get the concern, but I think "soul" in this case is just an emotionally charged synonym for "conscience" or "character." I truly don't believe Biden is intending this as a religious pander.

[LakeArenal]

17. Huh? Pandering, eh?

New to DU...

[Gothmog]

13. Joe Biden reminded all of us of what a presidential president would sound like

Link to tweet

In a fiery and blunt speech slamming the tenor, tone and words of President Trump as the nation reels from white nationalist domestic terrorism, former vice president Joe Biden reminded all of us of what a presidential president sounds like. His words were stirring. His delivery was passionate. And they were befitting a man who kicked off his campaign with a video decrying Trump’s shameful response to Charlottesville....

Sure, some of that authority has to do with Biden having served side-by-side with the still-popular former president Barack Obama. His voice providing comfort for those of us who long for the days when a grown-up was president of the United States, acted accordingly and wielded the bully pulpit of the Oval Office with moral authority. Instead, in Trump, we have a bully with a pulpit and no moral compass.

“Days before the mid-terms,” Biden said of Trump, “he fomented fears of a caravan heading to the United States, creating hysteria. saying ‘look at what is marching up, that is an invasion…An invasion’.” The Democratic front-runner continued through a litany of examples of Trump hurling red meat to his supporters. “At a rally in Florida, when he asked a crowd, ‘How do we stop these people?,’ meaning immigrants, and someone yelled back, ‘Shoot them.’ He smiled,” Biden recounted. And then Biden drew a straight line from Trump’s embrace of white supremacy to the hate-inspired violence we’ve endured.....

Biden wasn’t blind to the shortcomings of our nation and the men who formed it. He talked about them. But he demonstrated that the vision of America was perpetuated by Democratic and Republican presidents alike throughout its history. Ending his speech, Biden slipped off his prepared remarks in an emphatic way. “This is the United States of America! Period! May God protect our troops,” Biden said pounding the podium, ending a speech that everyone knows he believes in his bones.

[coeur_de_lion]

16. He was only saying what we've all been thinking

Why oh why are the others not doing the same?

[LakeArenal]

18. Be sure to parse every single word Joe says.....

be sure to check every dictionary, every colloquialism, every regional meaning, every vernacular, every poetic license, every dialect, to make sure his every word is dissected and second guessed and duly report back...

[Princetonian]

19. This speech and his CNN interview are Joe at his best. No way anyone I know could do it that well.

[Gothmog]

20. Joe Biden-we are fighting for the soul of our nation

Link to tweet