Day: October 22, 2015

Prepare yourself for a nauseating display of shameless grandstanding by the GOP's most hypocritical Hillary-Haters, otherwise known as the Benghazi hearings, which begin today. Paul Waldman explains why the whole project may make backfire in a big way on the Republicans. "In hearings like this one, the members of Congress often think that the fantastically clever line of questioning they've prepared is really going to trap the witness and reveal her for what she is; it'll be like Perry Mason breaking a witness down until she shouts, "Yes, I did kill him, and I'd do it again!" But that's not how it usually turns out. More often, the witness looks like the one in command, someone being pelted with unfair and hostile questions from a bunch of partisan clowns who barely know what they're talking about...A respectful and informative hearing that does no damage to Clinton will be a terrible disappointment."

This photo is from Peter Souza, the White House photographer, might just confirm Margaret Hartmanns' story that I posted about earlier today. It shows Biden reviewing his remarks yesterday morning with the President prior to his announcement. After that announcement, Delaware's Democrats rushed to be the first to endorse Hillary Clinton. Gvernor Markell in an interview with Jonathan Starkey had this to say:

Markell shifted his support to Clinton after Biden's exit, citing her "advocacy for the middle class." "At this point, I think Secretary Clinton has certainly established herself as someone who will be a strong candidate and who will do the job well," Markell said. "I will support her campaign. I think it's important that we continue to build on the foundation that's been laid. I think she's the strongest candidate. I also think she'll be in the best position to be the strongest president."

Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams had an more interesting Hillary endorsement story.

According to Margaret Hartmann of the Daily Intelligencer, Vice President Biden did not make up his mind until the last moment.

Politico reports that finally, advisers who wanted him to run said he needed to give an answer before Thursday, when Hillary Clinton will testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. They felt that if Biden waited, it would look like he was waiting to evaluate Clinton's performance, and hurt both of them. [...] Biden greatly admires Clyburn, and his pseudo campaign got a boost when the congressman from South Carolina (a crucial early primary state for Biden) said a month ago that he was open to seeing Biden in the race. But on Monday, the congressman suddenly said "I would not advise him to get in" during a Huffington Post interview. The two men's staffers began trying to figure out what had changed, and Biden was reportedly deeply discouraged by Clyburn's change of heart. [...] Even on Wednesday morning, President Obama didn't know which way Biden was leaning. With advisers pushing Biden to make an announcement, he said on Tuesday night that he needed to sleep on it. The next morning he went to the Oval Office and told President Obama he'd decided not to run. According to the AP, they talked for about 30 minutes, and Obama told Biden he wanted to be by his side during his address in the Rose Garden. The event was thrown together so hastily that Biden staffers had to dash over to the White House to watch the speech, and several people who had been strategizing with Biden for months learned that he'd made a decision from news reports.

I am not sure I believe all that. But if all of the above is true, yeah, he made the right decision.