Joe Biden gave a speech last week that went largely unnoticed in the press, and it's really too bad. It may have been the best speech he's ever given, and if people actually saw or heard it, it might set their minds at ease a little about his prospects in the next election. He's never been much of a speaker, but when he talks about the threat to democracy he's been excellent. This is his fourth such speech, reflecting a sincere effort on his part to which we should all pay attention. After all, while we're all painfully aware of the right's anti-democratic turn, he is the actual president. It stands to reason he sees this from a different perspective. The fact that he's so determined to sound the alarm should get much more attention than it does.

On the heels of a bizarre impeachment inquiry hearing last week in which Republican House members threw out outrageous smears against Biden without a shred of evidence and a GOP primary debate that had the candidates yelling at each other like drunken football fans, Biden traveled to Arizona to open the John McCain Institute and Library. He spoke at length about his long friendship with the former senator, reminding people of a time when the divisions between the two parties were not as uniformly bitter and hostile as they are now.

-Heather Digby Parton in Salon. com