Tag Archives: Joe Biden

Mavericky

Maverick count: Palin 6, Biden 9

Here’s Biden’s mention of maverick:

Look, the maverick — let’s talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He’s been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people’s lives.

He voted four out of five times for George Bush’s budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he’s got there.

He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against — he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.

He’s not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.

He’s not been a maverick on the war. He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.

Can we send — can we get Mom’s MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can’t — we can’t make it. How are we going to heat the — heat the house this winter?

He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.

 

Could the bar be set any lower?

Thursday night is rapidly approaching, and I must confess to conflicting emotions.  One the one hand, I fully expect Sarah Palin to be a complete disaster.  On the other hand, so does everyone else.

So, how does Joe Biden handle the situation of being on stage with a person who has no right to be there?  I’d advise against the McCain approach of completely ignoring your debate partner even though Joe would have every right to view Sarah Palin with contempt.  Maybe his best approach would simply be to give Palin enough rope and hope that her debate performance mimics the Gibson and Couric interviews.  

But what worries me most is how much of a curve will the media grade Palin?  And is it fair to hold one VP candidate to higher standards than another?  Will one gaffe by Joe Biden carry more weight than fifty by Palin?  Does she win simply by not blinking?

Does the VP debate even take place? 

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Biden on Fire!

Joe Biden gives one hell of a speech!

From TPM:

[T]ime and again, on the most critical national security issues of our time, John McCain’s judgment was wrong. Right after the terrorists attacked us on 9-11, John responded by urging that we consider attacking countries other than Afghanistan, including Iraq, Iran and Syria. In the run up to the war in Iraq, John insisted that we would be greeted as liberators… that we didn’t need a lot of troops… that victory was imminent.
Then, he said he wasn’t worried about Afghanistan… that we would “muddle through”… and he declared Afghanistan to be “a remarkable success. In John’s judgment, there is nothing to talk about with Tehran. And he has one idea for dealing with Russia: kick it out of the Group of Eight nations.”

[…]

John McCain continues to insist, against all the evidence and all the facts, that Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism… and not the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan where the people who actually attacked us on 9-11 reside and are regrouping.”

“John is more than wrong — he is dangerously wrong. On a question so basic, so fundamental, so critical to our nation’s security, we can’t afford a Commander-in Chief so divorced from reality and from America’s most basic national interests.”

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You want straight talk? I got some straight talk for ya!

Go Joe!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijGoISc7vFc[/youtube]

 

UPDATE: Republican National Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson has a response:

“The only person taking a step backward is Joe Biden, whose appalling and arrogant statements are better suited for the back rooms of his old boys club. Sarah Palin’s nomination as the Republican vice presidential nominee is an historic opportunity to break the highest glass ceiling. While John McCain and Sarah Palin continue to press their message of change, Joe Biden should stop these sorts of old-style attacks.”

Back rooms? Boys clubs? Glass ceiling? Got any more cliches and faux outrage?

Oh, and I love the line… While John McCain and Sarah Palin continue to press their message of change.

Don’t back down, Joe. Expose them for what they are!

The WaPo Picks Up the Biden Succession Question

In an article in the Tuesday edition, the WaPo picks up on a conversation had here at Delaware Liberal over the weekend. Maybe they even read us?

Early betting in Delaware on whom Minner might pick has centered on the gubernatorial primary, with the loser of that contest potentially winning appointment to the Senate as a consolation prize.

“If the loser is [Carney], it’s very easy to see Governor Minner, who has endorsed him as her successor, appointing him if he would like that office. It’s a little harder to see if the loser is Jack Markell,” said Samuel B. Hoff, a professor of history and political science at Delaware State University. Markell, he explained, may have rankled Minner by criticizing her administration during his campaign.

Another scenario being discussed in state political circles involves Minner appointing a caretaker — a respected Democrat who has no intention of running in 2010. That would allow Beau Biden to complete his service in Iraq and return home to run for Senate. (Minner is 73 and not viewed as interested in the seat herself.)

On Site in Bidens Driveway

I am posting from Bidens driveway surrounded by Mike Matthews, DelawareDem and commenter “Wilmington”

DelawareDem wants to post that it is a done deal, but it isn’t quite there yet. ABC is reporting that the Secret Service is now in charge of the protection of Senator Biden, but I see no detail here. They would have probably roused me fro the driveway by now…

There is a helicopter flying around, but I cannot tell if it is the law or the media (hey when do we get a DL chopper?). My source for Biden info is out of touch. The reporters here are starting to get testy, ‘Remember when I said that I would be able to leave soon, well that ain’t happening…”

All pretty exciting. I think all of the reporters are waiting for the secret service to arrive. I would guess that Biden is waiting for them so he can leave. I’ll try to update in the comments.

Campaigning for Vice President Biden

Two weeks ago, on Face the Nation, Joe Biden tells the world he’d say Yes if asked by Barack Obama to be his VP:

“If the presidential nominee thought I could help him win, am I going to say to the first African-American candidate about to make history in the world that, ‘No, I will not help you out like you want me to?'” Biden said. “Of course I’ll say yes.”

Now, I still think Biden could be a great VP choice, but suspect that he’s something of a long shot. If one of the reasons Obama is looking to run a 50 state campaign is to make sure he helps as many downticket Dems as possible, it seems reasonable that his VP committee would be looking for someone who could credibly carry the flag in 2016. Biden would be in his 70’s then, about the age that McCain is now and it is tough to figure how that might play.

But someone is a huge fan of candidate VP Biden. Huge enough of a fan to produce a few You Tube videos to try to sell the Obama/Biden Team:
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Biden for Secretary of State?

Last week, when I wrote about Biden’s excellent op-ed in the WSJ, I hadn’t seen this Newsweek article all but declaring the cabinet post deal done.

“(Biden)…is emerging as a major consigliere to Barack Obama—perhaps with his eye on State once again. Among the top items on Biden’s agenda: making sure that Obama has better luck in November than Kerry did. That means, first, relentlessly attacking and counterattacking the Republicans on the campaign trail, especially on national-security issues. And, second, relentlessly defining John McCain as “joined at the hip” to Bush, as Biden put it in a speech in Washington on Tuesday.”

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Joe Biden Smacks Down Lieberman AND McCain

When he’s good, he’s good.
Read his WSJ editorial (published today) response to Joe Lieberman’s very public bedwetting from Wednesday. Biden starts:

Sen. Lieberman is right: 9/11 was a pivotal moment. History will judge Mr. Bush’s reaction less for the mistakes he made than for the opportunities he squandered.

And here is the gist of what the BushCo belligerent foreign policy misses:

At the heart of this failure is an obsession with the “war on terrorism” that ignores larger forces shaping the world: the emergence of China, India, Russia and Europe; the spread of lethal weapons and dangerous diseases; uncertain supplies of energy, food and water; the persistence of poverty; ethnic animosities and state failures; a rapidly warming planet; the challenge to nation states from above and below.

He goes on to critique the McCain adoption of the same belligerence and contrasts that with how Obama says he wants to orient our foreign policy.

Biden for VP!

Do you think this is an endorsement of Obama?

Biden Calls Out BushMcCain

More of this please!

“When it comes to Iraq, there is no daylight between John McCain and George W. Bush. They are joined at the hip. When it comes to Iraq, there will be no change with a McCain administration.”

Wonder if Joe is auditioning for VP here — it doesn’t matter though, all Democrats who can’t endorse a candidate yet should certainly be out hitting McCain on Iraq and national security as the BushCo third term now.

Read the whole thing and chuckle at the repub whine at the end.

And here is the great inaugural ad by David Brock’s new venture:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRV8Q9IBDxk[/youtube]