Will the Real Senator Biden Please Stand Up?
It is unfortunate that if you were an underdog and looking for help from Senator Biden in getting out from under a load of debt by filing bankruptcy, you were given the back of his hand. It seems one of Senator Joe’s major contributors through the years was the bank holding company MBNA, the world’s largest issuer of credit cards who was pushing bankruptcy reform that would have been favorable to the credit card industry. Biden was one of the bill’s biggest proponents — and why not? MBNA executives contributed hundreds of thousands to his campaigns. And then there was the rather cozy personal relationship between Biden and MBNA executives:
The relationship was also personal, with an MBNA executive’s buying Biden’s house at a favorable price, and one of his sons taking a job for a time as an MBNA management trainee, as the Wilmington News-Journal reported. Hey, it’s a small state.
Biden returned MBNA’s favor by delivering key Democratic support for the company’s top legislative goal: the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Act, which made it tougher for broke people to escape their credit card debt. Biden’s staff says he forced lenders to add special protections for low-wage workers and single mothers before he would back the bill.
What was it that Biden wrought with his support for this bill?
It makes it harder for average people to file for bankruptcy protection; it makes it easier for landlords to evict a bankrupt tenant; it endangers child-support payments by giving a wider array of creditors a shot at post-bankruptcy income; it allows millionaires to shield an unlimited amount of equity in homes and asset-protection trusts; it makes it more difficult for small businesses to reorganize while opening new loopholes for the Enrons of the world; it allows creditors to provide misleading information; and it does nothing to rein in lending abuses that frequently turn manageable debt into unmanageable crises. Even in failure, ordinary Americans do not get a level playing field.
George Babbitt couldn’t have imagined a better bill.
But Obama can be forgiven his little exaggeration of Biden’s heartfelt attachment to working Americans. His campaign is hard at work reinventing Joe Biden, turning him from a partisan gladiator into a post-partisan pussycat. Obama in Springfield:
I know he’ll be able to help me turn the page on the ugly partisanship in Washington, so we can bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass an agenda that works for the American people.
Is Obama talking about this kind of “ugly partisanship?”
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), piling on to Democratic complaints about President Bush’s speech in Israel today:
“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset … and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”
Speaking before the Knesset, Bush said that “some people” believe the United States “should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.”
I look forward to hearing more post-partisan consensus-building rhetoric from Vice President Biden.
Yes, the Obama camp has their work cut out for them. But then, Obama didn’t choose Biden because he emotes well. He didn’t choose Biden because he can garner votes from white, working class ethnics in Pennsylvania and other states. Nor did he choose Biden because he is necessarily the smartest, the best looking, the most compelling, or even the most qualified to be president.
Barack Obama chose Joe Biden to attack John McCain and savage him like there’s no tomorrow. But Biden will do it with that huge teeth-baring grin on his face so that people believe he’s really not a bad sort of fellow. It seems that Obama is determined that if he does lose to McCain, Democrats will not be able to criticize him for not being tough enough on the other guy.
Hold on to your hats — and bring plenty of paper towels. It’s liable to get very messy, very soon in this race.
Remaking Joe for public consumption should be a far easier task than the one Team Obama faced with Barry.
I don’t think there’s ever before been a candidate that needed to hide or lie so much about his life and record. So Joe should be a piece of cake.
But you’ve gotta hand it to the Dems: they do alright. Even with the tough ones. We’re still waiting for the real Senator Obama to stand up.
Obama has done good. This is what his third or forth fundamental remake. Barry the Muslim. Then Barry the prep school, nice liberal black guy. Then Barack the Rev Write Black Power Chicago street guy, and now, Mr. Institutional who was always a US Senator, before he was a US Senator.
What a kiss. Obama finally buries all those low rent Chicago black chumps that he suckered and has fully embraced the white, institutional Democrat power structure with his hand reached out to Biden.
When the ‘Good Fight’ is over, Obama is a Senator for life. It’s easy street, the lifetime Senate club entrance bill has been paid and Barack becomes the official voice of Black America and on his way to a 100 million, at least.
Isn’t America great?
Obama threw CHANGE under the bus. Obama threw NEW and CLEAN under the bus, too.
So, Senator Biden is supposed to be BHO’s attack dog? Joe Biden is no Dick Cheney and John McCain will chew him into small pieces. I can’t wait to see how this plays out, because I’m certain Joe Biden won’t be able to control himself enough to play nice. Joe has said that McCain is a close friend so his personal attacks will be quite embarrassing since one does not generally attack close friends in public.
The announcement is made at 3am and at 6 am the old guy’s campaign team puts out an ad where Biden:
1. states that Obama is not qualified to be POTUS, and
2. praises McCain.
The media blackout on all the bad news about Obama can’t survive a general election campaign. The veil of silence is slowly being lifted.
Obama’s only hope against the an opponent as good as Mccain was to choose Hillary as his running mate. Instead he chose someone who will provide great material for ad after ad which will destroy the Obama campaign.
For the Dems it’s downhill from here to November.
The ball is in McCains court now. This is his chance to select a VP that will give Conservatives hope that we can save our country. The pick is his choice . A great pick will give him a victory. A misguided candidate will doom the GOP and the USA.
I have never had much faith in McCain so his choice here is a distillation of his vision and inner convictions .
He must prove to me and millions of others he is worthy .
Zero hour for John McCain.
Using the VP as a shield is kinda weak for one reason: Biden is NOT running fro president. It’s Obama and he must be the ONE that is on the attack. But the problem with Obama is that he never faced a challenge like McCain. He always won by default or because his oponents were too weak to attack (not counting the Chicago Way of Politics). Now that he’s facing a REAL oponent for the first time in his life, he’s not responding well to the attacks. He was wise at not accepting the townhall meetings with McCain, but now he’s forced to go through there and as the Saddleback conventtion showed: He’s not ready for it. Even with Biden and the small boost he got with that choice when the presidential candidates need to show their capabilities in front of the public he cannot use Biden when the going gets tough. If he somehow did that it would make him look so weak that he can’t defend himself. Since he’s the agent of change, he should change his Presidential spot with Biden and he take the VP spot so that Biden can protect him completely.
The democrats are indeed in a very hard spot. Buyers remorse should begin to kick around this time soon
Obama needs an “attack dog” now? Is it because he’s too much of a wuss to actually fight his own fights?
Joe Biden is a terrible choice for VP. Unless, of course, Joe Biden will be the “man behind the curtain” and Obama is just the nice looking, well pressed empty suit. Which actually makes sense.
Remind me again, which one is Bevis and which one is Butthead?
re: paul from florida, yours was quite an eloquent depiction of the situation. i am anxious to start hearing of the foot in mouth moments from “osama america and the next pres-vice president”, bloviating joe, henceforth called b-ho and jo blo. let the gaffes begin.
It would be really interesting if John McCain picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his VP. All of the women in America that have their bullshite meter pegged right now with slick Barry will want to puke as JoeBlow slams Sarah Palin over and over. I can picture JoeBlow getting pissy with Gov. Palin in the VP debates and most women in America making an eternal decision to hold JoeBlow in the same contempt as say a… smarmy subway groper!
As Paul From Florida rightly prognosticated about Barry setting himself up in the rich white senator club and having a steady stream of arse kissers for life, JoeBlow’s fall from grace (I use the term liberally) could be as equally monumental as he man-handles Palin and McCain. Governonr Sarah Palin would be a cool, crisp and refreshing arctic breeze for John McCain, the Washington cesspool and the “change” most Americans can’t articulate until they see her in action.
With very little to offer in the form of “Change,” Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s choice says very loudly that Obama DOES INDEED NOT POSSESS SUFFICIENT EXPERIENCE TO EVEN BE A CANDIDATE — a very telling public manifestation.
And, as Joe Biden garnered only 1 to 2% of voter support for his Democrat primary bid — which ended in January — Mr. Biden brings very little to Obama’s already meager table. Not even his state’s 3 electoral votes will make a difference.
Obama’s steep fall in the most recent polls is a testament to Obama’s failure to capture the real voter’s imagination. Obama has been in serious free-fall in the polls since his Carnival to Germany ended.
But, truth be told, Obama’s association with crooks, anti-American’s and simpleton fools coupled with his caustic radical extreme positions on the issues is the real killer — such as is Obama’s third-trimester, born-alive (infanticide) grotesque plank.
Nothing has “changed,” so I suppose that the majority of voters in America will not be abiding Obama-Biden.
Guys,
Don’t forget that Joe Biden, only months ago, vowed on national TV that he wouldn’t accept a VP offer no matter what.
From Barry, however, he’s accepting one.
So when is he speaking from the heart; telling the truth, and when does he have a clown in his belly? When is he trying to make make fools of us?
Or is this the ticket with the mouse type disclaimer at the bottom that says, “Words not valid if politically expedient.”
Look, when John Kennedy said he caught a cold and was flying back to Washington from Hawaii at the beginning of the Cuban Missile crisis, I understand the context of that untruth. And that’s okay with me.
But when lies are constant and about substantive issues like the ones Barry and Joe tell, or as I call them, The BJ team, I’m troubled.
If you want, I guess you have a constitutional right to elect a couple of liars to the most important jobs in the country.
I, though, am not comfortable doing that. John McCain may not be perfect, but he has integrity and character. And puts his country first. Well, that’s good enough for me.
The BJ team I don’t want to join. Honestly, I never know when they’re telling the truth.
So unless they’re constantly hooked up to a lie detector, for my money, they can’t be trusted.
John McCain. He’s a true American hero; someone you can count on when it counts. His word is his bond. Thus, he’ll have my vote.
Regards,
Rachel, signing off.
Good points, Rachel. And just this past week, didn’t Biden lean out the window of his white pickup truck and tell reporters–”I’m not the guy.”
When confronted by the press, the only line he could come up with was a lie?
Obama needs an “attack dog” now?
Yes…as a True Hard Core Blue Bleeding Liberal Obama is unable to fight any kind of battle unless it is fighting to get to the front of a pack of whatever group is retreating from a fight today so he can be as far away from the fight as possible.
And Rachel, “The BJ Team”….that’s funny right there…that should be a bumper sticker.
Rachel, how about these slogans?
click here for new Obama Bumper Stickers
Kender,
Great art direction. I like your first line best. Which made me think of another one.
They’re losers. Not jobless.
Best Wishes,
Rachel XXX
Puhleeeze. Attack dog Biden is nothing but a chihuahua. How can he be an effective attack dog on McCain when Biden has been so critical of Obama and continues to be closer to McCain on Iraq and other issues than he is to Obama?
Not WRIGHT for America (www.notwrightforamerica.com) had a great spoof post on the first presidential debate being between Obama and Biden rather than Obama and McCain. Pretty telling.
Good post, Rick- Biden is about as bi-partisan as I am.
You have to wonder though, about the vetting process. Did anybody consider what an egotistical asshole he is? Was there nobody else that BHO could have come up with to fill the two roles of foreign policy expert and attack dog? This is almost too easy.
Paul from FL- Great point! Though Obama in the Senate for life is one I can live with…seeing as how I’m from CA and have to live with Barbara Boxer!
And Rachel, as always, spot on, but I’m a little apprehensive in promoting the “BJ Team” theme, though if it helps as a “contraception” method in controlling unwanted Democrats…I’m all for it!
All seriousness aside though…
“OBAMA BIN BIDEN ’08″ is my winner for bumbersticker joke of the season!
I want no attack dog,nor ass-=hole.Just a good vice president.