Joe Biden Attends Shiva To Mourn And Pay Tribute To Norman Lear
President Joe Biden, on a West Coast fundraising swing, attended a shiva to mourn Norman Lear, who died this week at age 101.
Biden attended the shiva at the Lear residence, according to the White House.
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The president and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime friend of Lear’s, also paid tribute to him at a Hollywood-centric fundraiser for the Biden-Harris reelection campaign.
Biden said at the event, “His cast of characters painted a — a fuller picture of America, of our hopes and our hardships, our fears, our resilience, and changed the way we look at ourselves.
“In explaining his approach to getting the laugh — to get us to laugh and think, Norman Lear said, and I quote, ‘You stand a better chance if you can get them caring first’ — ‘if you can get them caring first.’ Folks, at our best, we’re a nation that cares.” The president, referring to the coming 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026, also noted that Lear bought an original copy of the Declaration Of Independence.
“And he shared it with schools and museums so people could feel the patriocy that comes from being moved by its words,” said Biden.
“I don’t believe, in our 250th year, this nation is going to turn to Donald Trump,” Biden said.
The president paid tribute to Lear earlier this week as a “transformational force in American culture,” and also noted his decades of political advocacy, saying that he “fought directly for free speech, a woman’s right to choose, the environment, voting rights, and more.”
Lear’s political impact went well beyond the influence of his shows. In the early 1980s, he founded People for the American Way, an advocacy group that countered the emerging power of the religious rights. The organization has been part of some major political battles, including the opposition to the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court in 1987.
Biden was attending private fundraising/campaign gatherings with high dollar donors through the day on Saturday, including one in Beverly Hills, and he is scheduled to headline an event with First Lady Jill Biden on Saturday evening.
On Saturday afternoon, the first lady attended a fundraiser at NeueHouse Hollywood hosted by Matthew Crowley and Martha Leon De La Barra. Actress Connie Britton introduced her, per a pool report, and she also did a Q&A with actress Elizabeth Banks.
The first lady said, per the pool report, “I wish that this election were about simple policy differences. I wish it were about differences of character or merit. But fundamentally, what this election is about is democracy.”
“We are the party defending it, not the one tearing it at its seams….We are the party protecting the right of this nation’s people to live freely, not the one praising the oppressive thumb of dictators.”
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