Former Vice President Joe Biden's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday received rave reviews from the likely sources in left-wing media — but surprisingly earned praise from some conservatives, too.
First, the liberal reactions
CNN anchor Jake Tapper called the speech perhaps "the best" of Biden's decades-long career in politics.
"I've heard Joe Biden give I don't know — dozens, hundreds of speeches over the years," Tapper said Thursday night on air, according to The Hill. "I have to say this was one of the best if not the best performance I've ever seen."
Speaking on "Anderson Cooper 360," CNN political analyst Van Jones gushed over the speech, calling it "extraordinary." Jones would later post on Twitter that Democrats "went from 'anyone but Trump' to 'THIS GUY IS FOR US!'"
After @JoeBiden's incredible speech tonight, Democrats across the country EXHALED. We went from “anyone but Trump”… https://t.co/SNQ73Id53I— Van Jones (@Van Jones)1597981878.0
CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta quipped in a tweet that Biden's speech "did not seem very sleepy," poking fun at President Donald Trump's "Sleepy Joe" nickname for his political foe.
MSNBC host Joy Reid added that Biden's speech was "why Donald Trump feared him so much ... his super power is who he is ... he is a regular Joe and that's what he needed to be tonight."
New York Times writer David Brooks also called it Biden's "best speech."
Best Biden speech I’ve seen. Fascinating volleying between the personal and the political.— David Brooks (@David Brooks)1597979335.0
Fox News panel also offers praise
More surprisingly, several panelists on Fox News, including Brit Hume, Chris Wallace, Dana Perino, and Karl Rove, also spoke positively about the speech.
Wallace was the most forceful, calling the speech "enormously effective," and adding that it "blew a hole" in Trump's characterization of Biden as feeble and "mentally shot."
"It seems to me that after tonight, Donald Trump is going to have to run against a candidate, not a caricature," Wallace suggested.
Dana Parino said Biden "just hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth," followed by Karl Rove saying "it was a ver… https://t.co/o9r7Z3BVmz— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar)1597981093.0
Perino then called the performance a "home run in the bottom of the ninth."
"He had pace, rhythm, energy, emotion and delivery. So I think that if he looks back, he's got to say that's probably the best speech of his life," Perino went on to say.
Hume echoed the sentiment, saying that it was a "very good speech" delivered with "force and clarity." Rove agreed, too, calling it "very good."
Others were less blown away
Some on social media noted it was not that the speech was not particularly strong, but rather that the bar was so low.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said as much in a pair of tweets following the event.
The bar was being alive. Joe Biden clearly surpassed it. So that means he had a good night.— Ben Shapiro (@Ben Shapiro)1597984272.0
The good news for Biden is that he looked pretty good tonight. The bad news for Biden is that he will have to inter… https://t.co/6U78TC8gSJ— Ben Shapiro (@Ben Shapiro)1597985359.0
National Review's Jim Geraghty tweeted: "Biden is capable of walking to a podium and emphatically delivering a speech he's reading from a teleprompter. Low bar cleared."
Despite a lot of talk from the Trump campaign that Biden is senile, drooling, and must be hidden away from the publ… https://t.co/VPx1rUazWj— Jim Geraghty (@Jim Geraghty)1597978768.0