In a speech that has gone viral, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries showed the world that American oratory did not die with Barack Obama (not that Obama is dead, but you knownwhat I mean). Using an alphabetic concept, Jefferies earned a standing ovation for his his farewell speech on handing over the Speakership to less-than-stellar Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Here is the main section:
"House Democrats will always put:
- American values over autocracy,
- Benevolence over bigotry,
- Constitution over cults,
- Democracy over demagogues,
- Economic opportunity over extremism,
- Freedom over fascism,
- Governing over gaslighting,
- Hopefulness over hatred,
- Inclusion over isolation,
- Justice over judicial overreach,
- Knowledge over kangaroo courts,
- Liberty over limitation,
- Maturity over Mar-a-Lago,
- Normalcy over negativity,
- Opportunity over obstruction,
- People over politics,
- Quality-of-life issues over QAnon,
- Reason over racism,
- Substance over slander,
- Triumph over tyranny,
- Understanding over ugliness,
- Voting rights over voter suppression,
- Working families over the well-connected,
- Xenia over xenophobia,
- "Yes we can" over "You can't do it",
- Zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation."
Perhaps Q, X and Z are (understandably) a little awkward, and M a little trite (although it did elicit the loudest cheers and boos), but I think that's pretty good. Incidentally, "xenial" means hospitable to strangers and foreigners, i.e. the opposite of "xenophobic".
Over to you, Kevin. Do your worst.
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