By now I'm sure you've all heard that Obama picked Joe Biden to fill out the ticket. Great move, I think. He reminds me of Lloyd Bentsen: conviction, pragmatism, experience. Of course, there are some negatives -- saying Obama wasn't ready to be president jumps to mind -- but, hey, if there were a perfect choice it probably wouldn't have taken til the weekend before the convention to name him/her.
Speaking of which, I was pleased to get an email from Sen Clinton Saturday saying she thought Biden was a great choice and she'll support the ticket fully at the convention. No doubt there will be some dissent amongst her die-hards but I just don't see them getting much traction with the leaders presenting a united front.
The Repubs were up early Sun morning getting the spin out -- if Obama got 50% of the vote and Clinton got 50%, not picking her as a running mate was bad/weak/whatever. This sound-byte didn't have much oomph to it, especially from Giuliani -- c'mon, dude, your election strategy opinions are suspect at best. You could almost feel that their better ammo would've come if he had picked her (It's 3 a.m., we don't want either one of them answering the phone...)
22 comments:
i actually agree with guliani on this one -- obama-hilary would have been a stronger ticket. it would have given his campaign a much needed spark and, more importantly, won over all of the democratic and independent hilary supporters that polls suggest may now vote for mccain or sit the vote out. true, such a ticket would have energized the republican base, but those people would not have voted for obama anyway. the ticket would have also required obama and hilary to mend fences, which i'm not sure is possible anymore. but, i think it's all about winning over the independents, and right now it looks like it's a dead heat; biden does not add much.
Joe Biden is the kind of status quo we can believe in. Keep telling yourself otherwise long enough, and it might come true. He is a plaigiarizng blowhard, and I predict he will cost Obama the election. I do think he is clean and articulate, though.
I am not surprised Republican ads aimed at swing voters didn't sway someone already convinced. I think McCain's ads have been great and are largely responsible for erasing Obama's lead in the best environment Democrats could ever hope for politically.
Hillary would have been a better choice. She would have solidified the ticket and brought some much needed experience. Name one thing Obama has ever accomplished in his life. One.
Bayh would have been better too. I fear Bayh as a Dem candidate, because I don't actually think he has a Che Guevara t-shirt in his closet. Bayh must have something else in his closet, though, for him not to have run for the top ticket yet.
Richardson would have been the best choice for the country. He has more experience than anyone and is more qualified than any Dem to answer the phone at 3am.
But the parental generation will likely be more comfortable with Biden by Obama's side. And McCain is masterful at sabotaging his own campaign. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to seen H on the ticket but found it hard to see, practically speaking. I've been a die-hard Hilary supporter but have been coming around to Obama, esp thinking about her having a role in the Supreme Court, instead!
This is a great Biden clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1j0FS0Z6ho&feature=related
Not only does he tell you his IQ is higher than yours, but he tells 4 lies in the first 40 seconds.
1 - He did not have a full scholarship to law school.
2 - He did not win the poli sci award.
3 - He finished 76th out of 85 students at Syracuse Law.
4 - He graduated with one degree from his undergrad days - U.Delaware.
Oh, and he plagiarized his law review note.
The left leaning applause and laughter from the press corps is discouraging but not not surprising.
Go Michelle! She's an awesome speaker at the convention.
I just noticed that Don called Joe Biden "clean."
I agree w/ Kath on this one.
Don - that video is rather odd...Biden seems to be suffering from the same New Hampshire induced mania that caused the infamous Dean scream. In any case, it's all out there now so ... is that all you got?! I'll take his record of public service any day. And Bill 'Pooh' ''Bear'' Richardson would've been great too but he'll get a cabinet post, don't worry.
i think that was in reference to biden calling obama 'clean and articulate'
-Ed.
ok - I get it. Somehow I missed that news story. Anyway, using this video to prove how awful Joe Biden is is just silly. So, he's combative and the guy who was questioning him was probably asking some dumb-ass thing or saying something enraging.
Joe Biden's voting record should be how we are judging him as a partner for Barack Obama in the campaign, not a video that was obviously cut and then circulated by the RNC to discredit him.
So, for those of you who are interested here is his voting record in the Senate:
http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=53279
And we all know Don won't approve already so no one really has to make that point.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=127383&title=finding-memo
Here's Joe Biden giving John Ashcroft hell. Let's go to this video instead ...
First of all, that is 8 unedited minutes of Joe Biden from CSPAN. You heard the question from a left leaning journalist (redundant I know). He snapped that he knew his IQ was higher than the journalist's and then told 4 lies in support.
It is not the only video out there. I would show some more (the one about how Indians are in every 7-11 is another classic), but most are so long that you'd never finish it (like his 30 minute "questions" in Senate hearings).
You did not hear about the "clean and articulate" comment, because the media did not make much of it. But if McCain had said that....
And, yes, I know Biden would make a consistently socialistic vice-president in line with leftist philosophy based upon his voting record. I do not dispute that. If you agree with those policies, fine. He is your man.
But the fact is that Biden has a history of lying and blowing up, and I look forward to the next time he does.
My point is that Hillary would have been a much better choice. Gallup poll has McCain up 2 after the Biden pick. The Biden bounce was non-existent.
Now, if McCain just picks Sarah Palin like I want him to.....
She's another person the media has told you nothing about.
and let's not forget his plagiarism
http://www.slate.com/id/2198543/
I guess my personal theory on this (I tried to talk to Will about it at the Phils game last night but he was more interested in the baseball game - imagine it!) is this: that Biden was chosen as a running mate because he's got the potential to attract the same crowd as Hillary (the white working/middle class voters to whom this off the cuff way of speaking may be appealing in the same way that John McCain appeals if you take away his voting record) but without the Clinton baggage. I personally think the media is making too much of women voters wanting Hillary so badly that they won't vote Obama. I mean, what is important when it comes down to is is "are we going to lose the right to chose" "are we going to have equal pay for equal work" and other issues. And Obama will protect those things. A woman leader would be nice but the issues are the bottom line when push comes to shove.
BTW, Biden's record is really considered middle of the road, not utterly leftist.
I can see how I would be pointing these things out if it were a vice pres Republican candidate, just to further my cause, but frankly, as a Democratic voter, I don't care about these half-truths and plagarism issues that Biden has.
I don't expect to sway the minds of the people posting on this board, and I know I will always be the only one in opposition. But in our self-selected cocoons of political sameness, you have to hear dissent from somewhere. How can you say McCain does not appeal to white middle class voters because of his voting record? Republicans have beaten Dems consistently in so-called middle America. I don't think Joe Biden will get you one vote in West Virginia. Only to Philly urbanites could Joe Biden look like Joe Sixpack. I also don't care all that much about plagiarism. My point is that he will have to become a completely different person not to have an episode embarrassing Obama. At least he is qualified to be president, though, which is more than you can say for Obama.
Thank you for the dissenting voice.
What is so Joe Public about John McCain?! Other than stealing elections, the other great Republican tactic to sway middle America is to convince them that Republicans stand the higher moral ground! They have managed to equate moral issues with political policies! Republicans do not work for or care about middle America and try to crush them out of existence.
BTW, I thought the "clean and articulate" comment was covered quite a bit by the sinister lefties in the media, fear not.
If you don't understand why Middle America supports John McCain and the Republicans, perhaps you should ask them. I have my ideas, but I won't go into them at length here. The fact is that they do. So, you can either find a way to win their votes or write them off as unsophisticated knuckledraggers who don't even know what a Whole Foods is.
"Republicans do not work for or care about middle America and try to crush them out of existence." So long as that is your sole reasoning on the topic, you will never understand why middle America votes Republican. I'd expect deeper thoughts from my Yankee betters.
Considering the fact that Julie had not heard of the "clean" comment, the media obviously did not do their job. Had a Republican referred to Obama as "clean" we'd still be hearing about it today. They did report it, though, I confess. They have to report any attack on a lefty, but they're torn when it is lefty on lefty violence.
I didn't say that McCain doesn't appeal to middle class white voters because of his voting record. Yes, it may have been convoluted, but I said that his willingness to speak "off the cuff" appealed to white middle class voters. And I think Biden's tendency to do that might be an appeal to the same sorts of undecideds.
Also, at least CNN, ABC and Time covered the "clean and articulate" story and Time apparently had it on their cover so I don't think that saying the mainstream media swept it under the rug is accurate in the least.
I have big swaths of time where I am lost in changing pee-soaked sheets, getting someone ready for school, packing lunches, doing homework, trying to teach manners to a sassy 6 year old, reading books out loud, answering the question "can I use the DS Lite" and other sundry time killers (as well as working on my paying job). There are a lot of news stories that I miss, much to my dismay.
kudos for not mentioning dealing with a sassy 35-year-old
-Ed.
Yes. I did think I heard Owen say "I learned it from you" in a plaintive voice recently.
I didn't say they swept it under the rug. But I am saying that it would have gotten a lot more press if a Republican had said it.
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