Biden time
Open thread. Joe Biden is Barack Obama’s running mate. Why Biden? And what does he bring to the table? The AP says that Obama sought to balance his ticket with “an older congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues”. Both Obama and Biden are Senators, and neither has held an executive position of any magnitude.
“Biden slowly emerged as Obama’s choice across a long day and night of political suspense as other contenders gradually fell away. … Among those on the short list, Biden brought the most experience in defense or foreign policy — areas in which Obama is rated relatively poorly in the polls compared with Republican Sen. John McCain.”
Here’s an extract from the Wikipedia profile of Joe Biden.
Biden serves on the following committees in the 110th U.S. Congress
* Committee on Foreign Relations (Chairman)
o As Chairman of the full committee Biden is an ex officio member of each subcommittee.
* Committee on the Judiciary
o Subcommittee on Antitrust Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
o Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, (Chairman)
o Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
o Subcommittee on Immigration Border Security and Citizenship
o Subcommittee on Technology Terrorism and Homeland Security
* Caucus on International Narcotics Control (Co-Chairman)
Tip Jar.
Biden — the perfect foil for Palin!
I have heard this question asked by others in recent days but I’ll raise it here, as well: Why would Americans want to see all this experience at the bottom of the ticket rather than the top. If Biden’s experience means anything – and that’s a big if because the Democrats did take a pass on him this year- then it makes me wonder what it is that Obama brings to the table.
Biden is a goofball who constantly sticks his foot in his mouth, this is a gift from heaven for the McCain campaign.
His ancestors who worked in the coal mines of northeast Pennsylvania have had many grand-kids since 1988. Remarkably, all of them vote.
Ireally hope you are right. Mr “split Iraq in 3″ is a self important idiot.
My biggest fear was that B. Hussein would have chosen Hillary as his VP. I think together they would have been unstoppable. Obviously Hillary carries lots of excess baggage and that probably was why Hussein didn’t select her. Also Hillary (being no idiot) would probably have said “No”.
My second biggest fear was that Hussein would have chosen a conservative white Democrat who was a skilled orator and would have done a proper job of reaching out to independents. I think Biden was a half-assed attempt at doing this but Biden doesn’t really have the horse power. Perhaps Hussein was afraid of being up-staged by a VP who was obviously more qualified to be President than himself.
If McCain makes a good VP choice (NOT Romney!!) then Hussein is probably toast. If Hussein’s post convention bounce is under 5% and McCain makes the right VP choice then Hussein is toast for sure.
They can save money on speechwriters as Biden can just “borrow” Obama’s speeches. He does have a history.
Well that’s it for Obama. He really screwed up chosing Biden. Biden is the 2nd stupidest senator right after Reid. Biden is an amazing embarasment and I’m certainly sad to see Obama pander to the moron segment of the Democratic party.
Looks like McCain will wrap this up. Election over.
Republicans are doing cartwheels. Biden’s a terrible pick — only Barack Hussein Obama, with his intuitive grasp of offending most non-hipster Americans would have made this pick.
It shows what a bad politician he is up against real competition.
Sen. Biden distinguishes himself in an institution known for egotism and gasbaggery.
Clarence Thomas’ autobiography also reveals him to be deceitful and dishonorable.
What a pair.
@dla. I thought Boxer was by acclamation and staff vote the stupidest Senator. It is a target rich enviornment.
The thing is, everything we need to know about Biden is in the fact that as a middle aged man, he went and got himself a hair implant. That’s fine, that’s cool, but does anyone want a president who cares that much about his hair? He might as well scream “Hey, I’m shallow! And idle! And have poor judgement!”
Hillary was the winning ticket, but Obama couldn’t swallow his pride for it.
Biden is neutral in the end, but Obama doesn’t need neutral, he needs a plus.
Oh well.
(1) Few people have ever got excited by Joe Biden as a candidate at the national level, and there have been several chances over a long period including more than one run at the Presidency. I doubt he is likely to arouse much enthusiasm now, especially since he dilutes the whole ‘change’ thing.
(2) It seems extraordinary that Obama would choose one of the few people in American public life with an even better documented history of inventing his life story than Obama has himself. Along with the way Obama has been dissing the Clintons (e.g. by hiring Patti Solis Doyle), it begins to look as though he is a risk-seeker who prefers living dangerously.
(3) This VP choice leaves John McCain with some time and an extremely wide range of options, e.g. to choose a woman. In this sense Biden is now, for a couple of weeks at least, a sitting duck.
I have no idea whether McCain will handle this big opportunity successfully. He seems to do best when dealt a losing hand.
Senator Biden is a very interesting choice. Jokes about plagiarism notwithstanding, serious CSpan2 watchers will know that Biden is a guy who is a skilled talker. He’s been a powerful figure in Washington for a number of years, and whatever disagreements you may have with his party or policy positions, he is not a mind to be taken lightly.
Darrel, I really think you should reconsider your comments about him being a “goofball.” Certainly if you’ve paid much attention to the campaign and career of John McCain, you’ll find more than enough symptoms of acute “foot in mouth” disease. Say what you will about Biden, he’s more capable with words than McCain, the current occupant of the White House, and is certainly far beyond such stellar VPs as Dan Quayle. You might not like Biden – I’m not particularly fond of him, either – but as fun as dismissive cracks about him may be his is not to be taken lightly.
Which gets me to Starling’s question. It is certainly curious that they’ve lined up this person and it does make one wonder about the experience of Obama. However, Obama voters don’t care about Obama’s accomplishments, his capabilities, or anything else of relevance, so far as I can ascertain. They like Obama and for some reason feel empowered by him. That’s enough for them; I seriously doubt the great majority of them could tell you anything about him or why they like him. That’s been my experience with his believers, at least. Obama is good because he’s Obama.
But what comes to me with Biden is the fact that I do believe that he’s very intelligent and quite competent, and importantly he’s been an extremely powerful figure in the senate for some time. Is he willing to move into a supporting actor role? Will Obama be able to control him?
If so, I think Biden could make a very effective running-mate. He has the intelligence, experience, and quick-wit to be sent on diplomatic missions. He also has the ability to be an attack dog who can readily chew up a large number of conservative talking-heads and politicians on domestic issues. But like all attack dogs, he can cause his masters a lot of misery if he becomes too independent and spontaneous.
One very interesting thing, which I’m sure we will hear about soon is how the gun lobby will react to this. For those of you who don’t remember, it was Senator Biden who strong-armed the 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill through the Senate and House in the summer of 1994. That bill had within it one of the key seeds of the “Republican Revolution” that was voted in that November. The Crime Bill was the vehicle through which the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban was hammered into law.
Voting for the ban destroyed the careers of many democrat politicians. Will the gun lobby be able to re-awaken the energy of that era and direct it against Biden? If so, it could be a devastatingly wrong choice for Obama.
This is a year in which to throw out the political book, so I resolve not to get too cocky about things.
BUT: I tend to feel like General Sherman did when Jefferson Davis relieved Joe Johnston and replaced him with John Bell Hood. Looks like an easeir time ahead for my side.
Biden, aside from being an overall idiot, is the author of the single worst idea of the Iraq campaign: partitioning the country into ethnic enclaves. I’m amazed this is the best Obama could do. Did everyone else turn him down?
And when did McCain sell his soul to get this result?
Vote for Change. Vote for Hope. Vote Biden. He’s only been around inside the Beltway for thirty years.
Guys a full of himself gasbag.
At least, maybe we will be able to hear some of those old speeches from that English politician again, that he used before.
Don’t see how he helps Obama any.
Biden gathered a mighty 1% of the vote in the primaries. Lots of better men seemed to have taken themselves out of consideration for the bottom half of the Obama ticket. I think Obama’s toast, if McCain can keep breathing till the election.
Wait just a minute here. I’ll put up Patty Murray of Washington state as the dumbest Senator, against anyone you can name.
Patty Murray Praises Osama bin Laden
There, beat that!
Wearing a pair of dark shades, Biden looks vaguely similar to the late Charlton Heston.
Nice try, Obama.
Lifeofthemind:
@dla. I thought Boxer was by acclamation and staff vote the stupidest Senator. It is a target rich enviornment.
Barbara Boxer took over as stupidest Senator by staff vote from the breathtakingly stupid Robert Smith (R-NH) when that cretin was tossed in the Republican primary for Sununu.
However, after close rivals like Akaka of Hawaii, Patty Murray, Durbin of Illinois, Bunning of Tennessee, and Burns of Montana failed to dislodge her. But, by consensus, since 2005, Martinez of Florida is indeed believed to be stupider than her.
Arlen Spector has been judged the nastiest prick in the Senate for so long by Capital Hill Staff that the trophy should be retired. Kerry has been a long time 2nd as a snooty blowhard that gets nothing done…
The longtime “most-liked” and “most decent to staffers on both sides”, Senators – are Orrin Hatch, Ted Kennedy, and Olympia Snowe.
==============================
Biden had two brain aneurisms 20 years ago. So…his health risks in office are of some concern.
In 36 years, Biden has many controversial votes and is well-remembered for presiding over the Bork and Thomas inquisitions, as well as reverting to the same two-faced smarminess with the Roberts and Alito hearings.
No presidential candidate ever deliberately chooses a VP who is brighter then he. O had a tough job, but he continued the tradition.
The announcement went out at 3 AM: The 3 AM phone call Hillary didn’t get. What a slap in her face.
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” Biden said.
And those wonderful words win Biden a place on the ticket.
In the stupidest Senator sweepstakes (and, granted, the competition is fierce) – haven’t you all forgotten Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)?
First, do VP candidates really make any difference? I would say no. The VP candidate should be shown by polling to make the difference in a close state.
Biden obviously does not do this and is not popular with anyone outside of Delaware. The Senate is full of people like him, pompous, bloviating egomaniacs, but he’s among the most annoying. I don’t think he is going to hold up well under a lot of heavy media scrutiny.
Why did Obama do this? I’m guessing the candidates who would have helped him turned him down. It’s possible a lot of Democrats see this as a train wreck they want to stay away from. Or Obama just couldn’t bear to team up with somebody who wasn’t completely in agreement with his ideology.
I think this shows pretty poor judgment and a lack of imagination by Obama.
Ted:
“Biden — the perfect foil for Palin!”
Michael or Sarah?
He takes his role in the “advise” part of “advise and consent” seriously with all nominees great and small. I figure he thinks there is some merit to watching how republican nominee’s, including Sec. Rice among others, squirm and try not to react as he insults their intelligence, the intelligence of the person that nominated them, the intelligence of the other people serving and generally the intelligence of anyone who doesn’t agree with him. In such advisory role, the Senator has distinguished himself with filibustering the time allotted for questioning with his own brand of inquisition, leaving little time for an answer and little patience for a thoughtful one.
He is quite remarkable to watch.
The Democrats are screwed.
This was a very bad choice, the kind only Democrats seem capable of making — afterwards there’ll be all kinds of “but . . . but . . .” assertions however only D.C. or media wonks fail to understand how bad a choice this is.
Two senators on the ticket? Two? No executive experience among them? The lifetime job of both guys can be summed up in one word: politics??? That’s who you choose???
Ridiculous.
I also think this indicates that McCain will not select Romney, given McCain’s initial ad questioning Obama by using Biden’s words from the campaign trail to cast doubt upon Obama’s readiness to lead, etc.
I’m actually kind of worried about McCain’s upcoming pick for VP candidate. There’s a good chance that he could blunder just as badly as Obama has.
Ah–the audacity of mediocrity. Isn’t it wonderful?
buddy larsen:
The thing is, everything we need to know about Biden is in the fact that as a middle aged man, he went and got himself a hair implant. That’s fine, that’s cool, but does anyone want a president who cares that much about his hair? He might as well scream “Hey, I’m shallow! And idle! And have poor judgement!”
John Edwards – Must be a plague in the Dhimmicrat party
Senator Obama has chosen a “mainstream” Democrat, which is meant to re-assure his base that he is not a ‘wild-eyed’ crypto-Marxist revolutionary.
The narrative by the Mainstream Media will be his foreign policy experience (committee chairman?) and defense experience (Huh?). From the point of view of the Democrats, Biden adds a lot to the ticket. But I am not sure how well this will appeal to the ‘undecideds’. And it takes away from the Democrats ability to attack McCain on the age issue.
He knows McCain. He will attack McCain. McCain will respond. McCain will attack the #2 position on the ticket, and not Obama, as intended by the Democrats. This is basic modern presidential political manuevers.
McCain must link all his future criticism of what Biden says about him, to Obama.
Patty Murray should be run out on a rail and tried for sedition. I mean, Osama bin Laden is beloved because of his humanitarian work??????
E. Nigma, if you haven’t seen McCain’s first ad concerning the Obama-Biden ticket, click on my name and take a look at it.
Very effective.
Barry is paying him back for setting him up with that great line, delivered to Scott Ritter:
“Above your pay grade”
Which the Messiah used to such great effect at Saddleback in his memorable abortion ramble.
Priceless.
—
Farewell to an American Hero
A few days before the end, his old buddy Lt. Col. Bruce (Ancient Serpent 6) Crandall came to the hospital to say his goodbyes to Too Tall Ed, and to enjoy one last round of arguing with Ed over that question of which of them was the best pilot in the world.
In a fine display of the sort of gallows humor that’s always helped men who know the horrors of war keep some of their sanity, Bruce told Ed that he intended to settle the question once and for all by borrowing a helicopter, sling-loading Ed’s coffin below it and then lowering it into the grave where Too Tall will rest _ something that only the Best Pilot in the World could do. Something that only the best friend in the world could tell a dying man.
These two men received their Medals of Honor long after the deeds that earned them in the furious battles of the Ia Drang Valley in November of 1965 at the dawn of our long, bitter war in Vietnam. President George W. Bush presented Too Tall Ed with his medal in 2001 and hung the medal around Old Snake Crandall’s neck in 2007.
When their friends in the 1st Battalion, 7th U.S. Cavalry were surrounded and fighting for their lives near the Cambodian border and needed ammunition and water and helicopters to carry out the gravely wounded, Bruce and Ed flew their Huey helicopters, again and again, into a small clearing swept by North Vietnamese machine gun and rifle fire.
– Joe Galloway
I’m with Ted. McCain should pick the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. They say she still lacks experience but if Biden is Mr. Experience there is something to say for a lack of it. A Ms. Outside would contrast nicely with all these Mr. Insides (and Chicago Machine/Marxists connections).
Once Sen. Obama decided not to pick Hillary, then picking a woman was pretty much out of the question. Where was there a woman more qualified than Hillary? I mean, from the point of view of Hillary.
A VP can help swing a state your way. Why not the governor of Virginia? I doubt the state is a lock for Barack, but should be doable for a Democrat. Does this mean they gave up on it?
Time was Democrats could pick a Southerner to help them compete in the South. But also the rest of the nation thought of Southerners as conservatives, so it would make the ticket look less radical. But Al Gore’s declasse’ class warfare populism (loudly preached ) no doubt changed that perception. A Democrat Southern populist would not balance his northern populism. But at least the Tent Show “grass roots leftist awakening” would have gone national.
Sen. “I got the bigger IQ” Biden comes across well, but he does not wear well. He creates a great first and second impression but a lousy third and fourth one. But in a two month, campaign that may not be a problem.
This may be a “hold the party together” pick. A Biden pick may keep Hillary on board because it helps set up an twenty-twelve run for her if Sen. Obama should fail. If you look at the polls, it is reasonable to assume undecideds will break for McCain two out of three. Sen. Obama campaigned on the left and stayed there too long. Those that have not fallen for him already may have acquired an immunity to his Messianic charms.
Biden?
LOL
yawn…
PUMA….
Dems for McCain 2008
Slo Joe – CNN Video
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” Biden said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
Biden said he was referring to a phrase used by his mother.
“My mother has an expression: clean as a whistle, sharp as a tack,” Biden said.”
Biden has made other questionable comments. In a June 2006 appearance in New Hampshire, the senator commented on the growth of the Indian-American population in Delaware by saying, “You cannot go into a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. Oh, I’m not joking.”
Two months later, responding to a question in an August interview on Fox News Sunday, Biden was asked how a “Northeast liberal” could compete against more conservative southern candidates.
“Better than everybody else. You don’t know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast liberal state,” Biden said.
He repeated the comment during a visit to South Carolina in December 2006 at an event before the Columbia Rotary Club, according to a story published in The State newspaper.
The State reported that Biden referred to Delaware as a “slave state that fought beside the North. That’s only because we couldn’t figure out how to get to the South. There were a couple of states in the way.”
Obama-Biden, quite a pair… jokes aside, it could happen!
It’s likely that many of the other VP prospects spurned Obama’s advances, as they see that Obama’s star is fading.
In some respects, Biden is a good choice for Obama. Biden is dumb like a shark is dumb and he will let Obama play the saint, keeping his hands relatively clean.
Biden will be Obama’s attack dog, and when he says something incredibly stupid, mendacious or mean, the Dems will say “aw shucks it’s just crazy uncle Joe, running his mouth again”, and Biden will look at the camera and grin that stupid grin and stare that vapid stare, while the viewers of “Meet the Press” look on incredulously.
Good Point! Just Crazy Joe.
—
During the 2006 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, the Post’s Dana Milbank wrote this of Biden’s performance:
“Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., in his first 12 minutes of questioning the nominee, managed to get off only one question. Instead, during his 30-minute round of questioning, Biden spoke about his own Irish American roots, his “Grandfather Finnegan,” his son’s application to Princeton (he attended the University of Pennsylvania instead, Biden said), a speech the senator gave on the Princeton campus, the fact that Biden is “not a Princeton fan,” and his views on the eyeglasses of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).”
Ouch.
Point of clarification: Conrad Burns of Montana defeated by Jon Tester in 2006. Jon Tester more highly regarded in the state.
great a ticket of two guys whose membership in the august body, the US Senate, has a public approval /popularity rating of below 12%………lets see 2 of 50 = 4%. So these two represent 4% of the gross approval rating of the body of the senate. its all so overwhelming, dont you think?.
@RattlerGator,
Good web site, well said.
@hdgreene,
Surprised that no one has pointed out that Obama probably intended to go with the number 3 Southerner and lost that path when Edwards imploded. If that had happened two weeks later we would be in even more interesting times.
It seems to me that Obama’s choice in picking his veep is actually well thought out. I think Obama realizes the importance of controlling the US through the Supreme Court and Biden has been most effective in keeping one of the most potentially brilliant judicial minds from ever appearing. He is the one behind the saying that a person has been “Borked”. He also almost succeeded with Thomas, who has been crucial ro our cause. With Biden, BHO gets a political assassin who will be able to slip behind the GOP ranks and stunt any opposition to what guarantees to be a radical nominee. There will be quite a few seats opening up within the next few years, and it helps to have someone who has nuetralized the central component of what we believe is required to “take back America”. No fan at all of BHO, but his choice seems well thought out.
Also, is this an attempt by BHO to tell us that instead, it is Biden who will control BHO rather than the other way around?
Somebody get Obonga to the ER and ring up the orthopaedic reconstructive surgeon. He had poor muzzle control and now his right foot metatarsal bones are a mess.
I don’t agree with Mr. Keilland’s assessment of Sen. Biden. The man overestimates his own mind. Humility, I always thought, is a good thing in a human being and those who lack it are generally not in the habit of learning from their mistakes.
The new McCain ad is great, it uses two Biden video to first condemn Obama and then praise McCain. Nice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDVUPqoowf8&e
This is my sunshine on a cloudy day pick. Biden? A long-term run-of-the-mill doctrinaire Liberal hack of a Senator? How is that hopey? Or changey? He’s just another tired old white male.
This gives McCain an enormous opening. If he picks Palin — not Michael, though that would be interesting — he immediately grabs a huge chunk of the Hillary crowd that are all about a woman President. He draws enormous attention for the pick. The MSM will be torn on it, but they will have to cover it despite having sold their souls to BHO. And if the Dem attack machine tries to do what they always do — paint her as a stupid imbecile — it will backfire big time because (a) she obviously isn’t and (b) she’s a woman.
Oh Lord, please don’t let McCain pick another white male.
Now is the time for change! Change we can believe in!
I’m thoroughly confused. Perhaps Obama isn’t so good at reading the electorate as I thought he (and his team) are. Biden is a bomb. He will go down hard. As I note on the blog, both carry poor judgement foreign policy wise (although Biden less so than Obama).
Perhaps this is what the Democratic Party has come to. When looking for someone to complement the wet-behind-the-ears Obama on international relations, the best pick they can come up with is Slow Joe.
Some commentators have argued that Biden will help Obama with a demographic that he is having real problems with: white, working class males. Alas, if anything Biden will drive them away in droves. The average working class bloke doesn’t have time for a windbag senator whose pejorative nickname is Hairplugs Biden.
This is a disaster in every respect. Given Obama’s pick, who should McCain select as his runnning mate? I note one commentator above referred to Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. Maybe. But what McCain should be looking for is a running mate who:
1) demonstrates a kind of playful gravitas
2) photogenic and strong on the stump
2) strong command of the facts
That person, is Mitt Romney. Sure he will drive some nutter evangelicals worried that Mormons are going to eat their churches up. But they are marginal anyway. Plus with Romney, McCain can flank Obama’s ticket. He will have someone with strong economic and executive credentials. He will have some skeletons in the closet from sacking staff at bankrupt companies (Bain Capital and all), but net effect is Romney was a turn around guy for flailing companies. The U.S. is flailing economically. Time for a Mr. Fixit. And given that McCain himself has argued he knows little about economics, Romney is the man. Romney and McCain apparently don’t gel and have personality clashes. But let me tell you. For two mature men, given what they are up against, that could make a beautiful team.
McCain & Romney for GOP 2008.
PUMA –Will Baur (sp?) just on tv –claims to represent 4% –did he say Dem voters? or delegates? –says his group respects four choices: write-in Hillary, vote a 3rd party, vote McCain, or stay home. Four percent of roughly half is 2% of the electorate –that’s like, victory for McCain, isn’t it?
Ghoullio,
If that were the rationale, I think Obama would’ve been better served letting Biden stay on the Senate Judiciary Committee where he could twist arms to get votes. The Dems aren’t likely to lose the Senate but I think he’d still be more effective getting votes from the inside.
Biden is not going to excite anyone as VP and I doubt the selection will do much to mollify the Hillary wing. Bad choice.
Here is Biden about the Georgia crisis.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080818/pl_politico/19438;_ylt=A0wNcyIMva5IeDoBAgk8KbIF
(Aug 18) Fresh off a trip to the Republic of Georgia, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden said he will ask for $1 billion in emergency aid for the war torn country. Biden … met with Georgia’s president and prime minister on the trip …
“I left the country convinced that Russia’s invasion of Georgia may be the one of the most significant event to occur in Europe since the end of communism,” said Biden. “When Congress reconvenes, I intend to work with the administration to seek Congressional approval for $1 billion in emergency assistance for Georgia, with a substantial down payment on that aid to be included in the Congress’ next supplemental spending bill.”
While the Russian government has claimed that the Georgian military was engaged in a “genocide” in the region of South Ossetia, Biden said he did not see any evidence of it on his trip. Biden said the $1 billion would “help the people of Georgia to rebuild their country and preserve its democratic institutions.”
The senator also issued a terse warning to the former Soviet Union, saying that “Russia’s actions in Georgia will have consequences.”
Palin, Romney –or Jindal. Advise anyone who hasn’t taken a look at Jindal, do so. Lotta horsepower upstairs.
Two observations:
1. Bad news: Biden’s place on the ticket can’t even guarantee that Obama will carry Delaware.
2. Good news: Biden’s selection does signal that Obama will wrap up the “Hair Club for Men Demographic.”
Now, it has to be Palin or Jindal. I have nothing against Mitt Romney and I think he would make a fine president, but it’s time to show what real change is. Honestly, I think Biden was selected by Obonga’s advisers and by The Marionette himself (you know, the guy with the deep pockets who says he doesn’t feel guilty for helping the SS round up Jews in Budapest).
Jindal – is that how shallow the bench depth is – have to go with the 36 yr old? Seems to me that’s the real “This is too much” story of 2006 – “my kid sister” could do better than the old white guys in what’s left of the Republican Party.
Or Buckley’s 100 people from the phonebook.
Or maybe it’s just a Rite of Passage – first time voting for someone young enough to be my child.
That takes some getting used to.
Read all about Biden’s plagiarism example to our children:
http://www.famousplagiarists.com/politics.htm
Fred: Now, it has to be Palin or Jindal. I have nothing against Mitt Romney and I think he would make a fine president, but it’s time to show what real change is.
It can’t be Jindal, the Exorcist jokes would never stop, But if he picks Palin or Carly Fiorinahe will peel off a certain percentage of Hillary voters who will vote for any woman, and guarantee a win in November.
I originally supported Mitt and voted for him in the Florida primary but here’s what I know: they are already announcing their intention to hammer home class envy in this election. They’ve had the Politico help them out be engaging in a classic “gotcha” query re how many home’s the McCain family owns. Think what they will do if Mitt is selected and they combine that class envy with the dirty pool they have no problem playing on the Mormon issue.
I’m sad to say it, but he has to stay away from Mitt.
Any of the three Governor’s would suffice.
Biden’s selection is SUCH a relief!
What was really scary was the thought of Biden as Secretary of State.
As VP, you just go to your little office and wait for the pulse to stop. (Except for Cheney who is useful power player of the firs rank.)
Dumb Senators? Jim Webb has to be on the short list.
As far as women VP candidates- there are choices beyond Fiorina or Palin. Several good Congresswomen, to start.
Whitehall: Biden’s selection is SUCH a relief! What was really scary was the thought of Biden as Secretary of State.
No, that’s going to be Sean Penn. We also get Cindy Sheehan as SecDef, Paul Krugman at Treasury, and Tony Rezko at Commerce. The Secretary of Health and Human Services will be Jack Kervorkian. The Secretary of Madrassa Education will be Louis At the Energy Department will be Al Gore, natch. The Secretary of Homeland Security will be Bill Ayers, the Press Secretary will be Bill Moyers, and last but not least, as Secretary of Veterans Affairs the one and only Jane Fonda.
so barry finally got himself a new daddy.
People let me tell you ’bout my best friend,
He’s a warm hearted person who’ll love me till the end.
People let me tell you bout my best friend,
He’s a one boy cuddly toy, my up, my down, my pride and joy.
People let me tell you ’bout him he’s so much fun
Whether we’re talkin’ man to man or whether we’re talking son to son.
Cause he’s my best friend.
Yes he’s my best friend.
mccain will choose either meg whitman or carly f. or palin (or hillary?!)
Wretchard and crew,
This is pure conjecture, but…I’ve had this feeling for about a month now: Obama’s campaign isn’t serious because his candidacy isn’t serious. Nor is his VP choice a serious, devoted pick, either.
Call it the ol’ “Bait-and-Switch” trick: together, Obama and Biden are supposed only to bide time, politicking right down the line, until the convention where the real candidate will be chosen.
Here’s my thinking on this…First, the Dem’s needed desperately to shore-up the ‘black’ vote. Recall that just last Fall, signs were African Americans were becoming a “swing” constituency – the “Ownership Society” thrust of the GOP, Bush’s aid initiatives in Africa, and the Grand Old Party’s prominent African American appointees were beginning to make inroads into the Dem’s heretofore captive constituency. The Dem’s needed desperately to repair the hemorrhaging.
So, by appearing to be serious about nominating Obama, Chicago-style Black-liberation theology and all, they’ve reached down to the bottom of the barrel with their net, and appearances are they’ve netted their trawler-full of fish with this move. Of course, the media assisted with the appearances portion of this tactic.
Next, and adding proof to the pudding, Biden’s a mediocre politician who has said the ‘right’ things on the war, making him the ‘chum’ VP for the ‘bait’ candidate. This works for Biden because it polishes his bona-fides with Delaware’s ‘black’ voters in advance of the next Senatorial elections there, even if Obama’s nomination is pulled for “legalistic reasons” by the DNC at the last minute (cue the whole birth certificate issue). And it works for the Democrats because it alleviates their apparent mushiness with the public on Iraq-related issues.
Aside O’s lack of credentials and the Biden-pick, another tip-off for me was the early and frequent accusations of racism. The Dem’s gain if they (and their media) can paint the GOP as racist. This ‘spook’ was to work in tandem with their O!-bait to fill-up their purse-sein.
And it appears to be working!
Mark my words, guys. If the DNC’s lawyers determine that Obama can’t run for “process” reasons, and Hillary takes the nomination – I’ll be posting a big “I told ya so!” here at Pajamasmedia.
Oh, and, sorry for all the fishing cliches.
-Steve
anytime someone says the dems need to “shore up” their share of the black vote, i stop reading their posts. what an incoherent mess.
I think Obama was reduced to taking what he could get. Anyone good has sniffed the water shark-like and got a whiff of blood and decided to put off aspirations until the next go-round, and let B. Hussein do his own thing this time.
I’m not sure Hillary would have accepted if she’d been offered for the same reason – let it go until next time around. But the reason she wasn’t offered is because she (and Bill) scare the living daylights out of poor little Obama. Can you imagine living in the same White House as Billary — especially if you’re a totally green and untested Senator — and trying to maintain control of your thoughts, your policies and America with those two consummate professionals doing whatever it is they do in their offices down the hall?
AS for the failed texting message, if he can’t get a simple electronic text message to work at 3:00 in the morning, do we want to trust him with our nukes, submarines and bombers if Russia gets brave and desperate at 3:30 in the morning?
Thanks anyway for muddling through, Cjm.
You flatter me with your attentions!
-Steve
Do not forget that Biden on the ticket makes it that much easier for the Democrats to capture the electoral votes of Delaware!
Darrell got it right. This is a priceless gift to the Republicans.
Obama’s main advantage is his lack of a record. Biden’s record is well known, from his assertion that Reagan should not appoint any Supreme Court Justices and leave the spots open to his annual request that the strategic oil reserve be used to lower home heating oil costs to his recent stopping of the purchase of oil to fill the reserve.
He is Obama Light without the speaking ability.
Biden not only can be swiftboated; he can be battleshipped.
Oh, happy day! It’s Biden!
Hope and Change
vs.
Bait and Switch
Biden’s gaffes will distract attention from Obama’s gaffes, while providing entertainment value.
I also heard a lot of people lauding the BO campaign for “discipline” in not leaking the Veep choice ahead of time.
But they DID leak it, two hours plus before the vaunted text message, a message that itself possibly went out earlier than BO desired because of that very leak.**
Which leads one to wonder if they did not leak because there was nothing to leak. BO literally could not make up his mind until late Friday. That is a more compelling and Occam-ish explanation than any “campaign discipline”.
** Interesting that FNC’s Carl Cameron notes speculation (by some Hillary Democrats) that the “3am message” (ahem) might have had some meaning other than just coincidental timing.
Hmmmm.
Andrew, there must have been a leak. I’ve been scratching my head reading the emails about how the message went out at 3AM. I couldn’t reconcile that with the fact that I heard the news of the Biden pick this morning at 830 AM local time in Doha, Qatar on the Qatar Broadcasting Service radio program. That’s 130 AM on the east coast. Now it makes sense to me: word was leaked out even before the text message, and word traveled fast.
So, it’s official: The Democratic Ticket for the 2008 Presidential Election: Dumb and Dumber.
One reason for Obama’s choice of Biden that I haven’t seen mentioned yet: Biden’s slavish support for the United Nations, no matter how many scandals they pile up, no matter how much money they scam. As a UN true-believer, Biden earns a top spot in George Soros’ book, which is the only one that matters any more in the bought and paid for Democratic-Soros Party. Also, like Obama, Biden is another longtime Soros mignon. It’s the all-Soros-all-the-time ticket. Biden, like Obama, would support and push for every UN World Government ploy as fast as the UN can think them up. Ah, the joys of oligarchy…..
Now for some fun –
– Interesting news items: • Biden just got back from “crisis talks” with Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili (incidentally, another recipient of George Soros’ largesse). • Interfax, 8/21/08: Russian General Vladimir Boldyrev said that the pull back of Russian troops from Georgian territory would only START on 22 August (not, as Medvedev promised, be completed by 8/22), and would take another 10 days. So, Russian forces will dawdle in Georgia for another 10 days, with the pull back completed, according to General Boldyrev, only by around September 1st. Unless something comes up. One cannot help but wonder why it’s taking so very long.
– News items to look for shortly after the Democratic Convention is over: Obama makes lightening visit to Russia for “crisis talks” with Vladimir Putin (another Soros chum), resulting in an immediate calming of the newly flaring Georgia crisis, followed by the swift and total withdrawal of all Russian troops from Georgia, and the beginning of a new era of complete détente with Russia. Volodya is transformed into a teddybear since The Obamessiah whispered in his ear. Vladimir and Barry – new best friends. This would ideally happen during the Republican convention, taking all the attention away from McCain. Possible? Or am I just suffering from SDS (Soros Derangement Syndrome)? Or, were such events to occur, are there just too many connections to one man for them to be a coincidence? And is the scenario just weirdly clunky enough to be hatched by Soros & Co. (like Obama’s Citizen-King of the World coronation trip to Europe last month)? Maybe I’ve just had too much tea. But one thing that Obama said recently keeps coming back to mind. He said to McCain: “You don’t know what you’re up against.” Time will tell…..
Nahncee has it right. Biden looks to be the one who agreed to do it when no one else would. Hillary was the one VP pick that really would have frightened conservatives. I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama was negotiating with her up to the last minute and finally decided late in the day not to agree to her terms (perhaps including paying back the $5m she loaned her campaign).
Mere speculation! in any case, Republicans around the country breathed a big sigh of relief this morning.
RWE: Biden’s record is well known, from his assertion that Reagan should not appoint any Supreme Court Justices and leave the spots open to his annual request that the strategic oil reserve be used to lower home heating oil costs to his recent stopping of the purchase of oil to fill the reserve.
Biden was given an “F” by the National Rifle Association, but a 100% approval rating from the AFL-CIO . He voted to provide Social Security to illegal immigrants. Other than that he’s a pretty middle-of-the-road centrist sort of like Scoop Jackson. If Obama is impeached for, you know, being born in Kenya like his relatives say rather than Hawaii like that photoshopped birth certificate says, then America would be in fairly good hands under a President Biden. Or we can just vote for McCain and eliminate the socialist middle man.
VP choice Biden unpopular in Iraq for autonomy plan
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Senator Joe Biden may be one of the only U.S. politicians that can get Iraq’s feuding Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish politicians to agree. But not in a good way.
Across racial and religious boundaries, Iraqi politicians on Saturday bemoaned Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama’s choice of running mate, known in Iraq as the author of a 2006 plan to divide the country into ethnic and sectarian enclaves.
Delaware senator Biden unveiled his plan to divide Iraq into a federation of autonomous Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish zones at a time when sectarian killing in Iraq was out of control and getting worse.
Call it the ol’ “Bait-and-Switch” trick: together, Obama and Biden are supposed only to bide time, politicking right down the line, until the convention where the real candidate will be chosen.
As I’m sure most here have read, the original plan was to run Obama for the experience to prepare him for the “serious” campaign in 2012. But things happened.
Which could be viewed as too bad. If Obama had gone quietly into that 4-year night to re-emerge at a better time, with more self-definition to balance the unsavory “associations” being branded Marxist or simply corrupt, the country and the world might have benefited from both talent and experience. But the political process put him here and now. If he loses badly – either in numbers or through miserable exposes – his career on the national stage is badly compromised, if not over.
So the convention scenario becomes a talent salvage operation.
I don’t happen to believe that.
But I never thought I would live to be this old either.
I had the AP feed at around midnight Chicago time, which said this was an unofficial leak not for attribution. The feed was labeled ” MINUTE AGO”. I told my wife the next morning that I new about the nomanation two hrs before the text massegees. In fact I was under the impression that they were not going to release it until sometimes before Springfield. The leak forced their hand.
yeah, obama going to russia without benig the actual presidet will win him even more votes than his Nuremberg II concert tour did.
if general, if you think everyone but you is an idiot, then you probably should work on your math a bit more.
Kerry would have been a much better pick for Obama. Biden brings much less positive to the table than Kerry in all facets. I think this decision shows the Obama team, is infact, not very effective in the decision making process.
i guess we know the dems favor wind power as their favorite alternative energy plan.
Panday:
I’m actually kind of worried about McCain’s upcoming pick for VP candidate. There’s a good chance that he could blunder just as badly as Obama has.
I strongly agree.
Right now, he has no shortage of enthusiastic, loving advisors convinced that McCain is immortal and his health is perfect and will be for the next 8 years who believe in Democrat Identity Politics and BEGGING him to play affirnative action bingo.
Christine Whitman – Who bailed from EPA when the going got tough.
Michael Steele – Whose political career consists of one term as a lieutenant Governor of a State.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson – 65 year old safe state Texas Senator with no executive experience.
Sarah Palin – 2-year governor. Before that a housewife and part-time mayor of a town of 5,000 people.
Carly Fiorino – A seasoned executive. But..Shitcanned from HP for bad management, a disastrous merger.
Bobby Jindal – 2-year governor who ran on the promise that he was locked into staying in office and working to fix Louisiana’s
many problems.
Gov Jodi Rell, Senators Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe – all lean to Democrat policy.
Condi Rice – Co-Architect of the Bush Disaster, his closest confident…Who gets more “bomus points” enthusiasm from identity politics fans than any other Republican. Plus she is “guaranteed” not only to bring blacks, unmarried women flocking to Republicans – but all the minority ice-skaters!
At the end of the day, John McCain is perfectly capable of “brainstorming” and coming up with a pander candidate that is even less qualified than Dan Quayle and about on the same level of readiness to be President as Geraldine Ferraro or Obama himself. And blow off people saying any of the above picks is suicidal.
He does that, and the main impact on voters will be that McCain believes that executive experience and seasoned leadership doesn’t matter. And subconsciously, constantly think if 72-year old McCain goes down or his cancer comes back….about how fit his VP is for leading America and managing it’s domestic and foreign affairs.
V.B. Bart, I wonder if Putin has a preference in this election.
One point I would make with my friends on the left is that a nation that acts in its self interest is much more predictable then one that tries to act altruistically. Because no one can predict what altruistic cause you’ll take up and what your staying power will be. And because all that kindness can put you in a hole that you have to punch your way out of.
So Putin may be able to roll President Obama but then find himself on the edge of a war he does not want as Obama over reacts on the other end — to show how tough he is.
A nation that acts in its self interest is more predictable because you can pretty well guess where their interests lay.
Also, Russia’s biggest threats come from China and Islam. A forward leaning US can be helpful with both those problems since it is a “stand pat” power interested in stability. But with unstable “Left Idealists” in charge? They may say, “Hey, before we give our Southwest back to Mexico we want you to give your Southeast back to China.”
It is possible that he is looking for someone less idealistic than George Bush but just as tough. He may see something like that in John McCain — someone he can cut a deal with. What sort of deal? Only tough bargaining will tell.
Keilland is on it – Though I’d be much harder than him on Biden. Especially over his Iraq idiocies…Still, Mr. B. wouldn’t be clueless if he had to become pres immediately – Certainly a more judicious choice on that front than going with less worldly type (governors, House of reps etc.) Biden also has slightly more life in him than someone like Bayh (who strikes me as a stiff). He shares O’s basic liberal angle on domestic matters. Call me a rube but I figure O made the choice for the right reassuring reasons.
if he doesn’t pick a woman vp then i will agree he is bowing a great opportunity. if he picks condi he will be making a huge mistake. so far i see no evidence that he is likely to anything this egregious. at worst he picks mitt the stiff.
No one ever mentions Al Gore anymore. Is he totally written off, away sailing on his yacht?
There is so much buzz about the Democratic Convention being “brokered.” I think the name of Al Gore lives under that possibility.
It is also my personal opinion that nobody – not the professional pols, not the media – anticipated this campaign. The best guess was that Clinton would run against one of the non-McCain candidates and would win. I further think that the pro’s decided awhile back to take a 4-yr nap – let Clinton have 2008-2012 – and then regroup.
It just didn’t work out that way.
Here’s a naive view:
Why is it considered kosher for people like the Clintons, with possibly 100 Million in the till, to ask opponents, or plebes making 40k, to pay off her debts?
Sure seems reminiscent of monarchies, let them eat cake, etc. more than something with any connection to what this country is supposed to be about.
On the one hand, Bubba is paid 15 million by Dubai for interfacing w/his tested professional crooks, while on the other hand Hillary holds her hand out like a pauper.
Hard to make up something more bizarre.
Biden “original” Convention speech,
My friends and fellow Americans, we come to bury McCain not to praise him, ask not what your country can do for you four score and seven years ago dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal we have nothing to fear but fear itself, Mr McCain tear down that wall, the buck stops here,Tippicanoe and Tyler too, hit ‘em where they ain’t, I’m the luckiest man alive,et tu McCain? .Thank you and goodnight Mrs. Calabash where ever you are.
LOL
neil said,
“The all-blabbermouth-Senator ticket.“
LOL here,too.
trang, you fergot that first oil war, “WD-40 or fight!” around the time of “Tippy Canoe & Tile Ertoo”
What does Mr. Biden’s alleged gravitas on foreign policy matter if Obama and his advisers on weapons and nuclear arms are already saying that they will end the ballistic missile defense program?
Poland gets screwed big time, besides us screwing ourselves and opening ourselves and our allies up to attack.
The inmates run the asylum.
Engram points out that while Obama is the #1 most liberal senator, Biden is #3 on that scale. This puts both of them to the left of Bernie Sanders, who is Congress’ sole openly admitted socialist.
Perfect, a ticket where neither has held a real job or has had any responsibility for decisions. Biden’s Iraq policy prescriptions were as he says about the surge “dead flat wrong”. That’s Biden, dead flat wrong about most things foreign policy. Well at least he has something to er, ahh, ummm, to say that is coherent.
With two gaff-o-matics on the ticket, what could possible go wrong.
Biden got us into the Balkans, bombing the Serbs.
Now there’s foreign policy ‘expertise’ for you.
“A man I’m proud to call my friend.
A man who will be the next president of the United States, Barack America,”
Biden said, per ABC News’ Sunlen Miller
-ht al-Bob
Well, perhaps McCain will return the favor and pick Bob Dole as his running mate, to make him look younger.
It could happen (grin).
given biden’s age, obama just threw away the “age card” (for whatever that’s worth).
Sen. Biden has been dead, flat-out wrong in just about every foreign policy matter, including Iraq, which is not a failure. The only people who continue to categorize Iraq as a failure are people who made up their minds years ago and keep changing the goalposts in order to make “the facts” fit their judgment. The metrics on the battlefield and political progress in Iraq are all positive. Perfect. No, not a chance. But moving very positively in the right direction.
How are Obama and Biden going to hold back the savages from Russia and Iran when we cut out the funding for anti-ballistic missile defense? Don’t you dopes understand that the huge payoff for Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran is an Obama victory in November? The big prize is a retreating United States that can no longer stop the Mullahs’ mad designs.
Those three powers are DESPERATE to get missile defense off the map. Once that is done, they can then move on to international blackmail and, in the case of Iran, the nukes actually hurtling towards target rich environments.
So, the moment of decision in the United States has arrived. A solidly socialist ticket (but they call themselves “progressives”)and a referendum about the Left in the United States of America. We are the only country on the planet now where socialism has not been discredited. We are either going to reject in this election, or if the people accept it they will get a four year lesson about it. And then they will have to then reject it and the long process of unwinding this mistake will proceed. And maybe some of the damage will never be undone, particularly if it costs the lives of millions of human beings.
Nomenklatura: Engram points out that while Obama is the #1 most liberal senator, Biden is #3 on that scale. This puts both of them to the left of Bernie Sanders, who is Congress’ sole openly admitted socialist.
That’s a screwy chart. Biden more liberal than Bernie Sanders? Biden more liberal than Patty Murray, who says Osama bin Laden is admired for his tireless work building day-care centers in the Muslim world (presumably for all those working moms).
Don’t you dopes understand
Fred, not many of the dopes here are Obama voters. We share your concerns.
Of equal concern is 60 democratic votes in the Senate, which could happen.
Unless a veep choice is catastrophic does it win or lose a presidential election? I doubt it. In that sense Obama didn’t shoot himself with Biden.
imagine taking the time to post such puerile nonsense. i can imagine the self satisfied smile such a labor produces. i can also imagine the author wearing a hair net while working the fry machine.
Eggplant, you assume McCain et al will not be far worse than the two oafs.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
They’ve Got that Down [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Listening to Biden belatedly, he had a line about how when you hear Obama, you believe that when you make sacrifices, you can make things better.
A born-again Christian woman who sat next to me on the plane from Chicago said the exact same thing to me. Bizarre in one sense — she clearly gets that from Christ, but Obama gives her some added kick.
We really need a pol on our side inspiring people. We’re losing that contest.
08/23 09:50 PM
Inspiring? Just give it a quick scan –from March, but info not at all dated –
chuck schummer may be the only senator more enamored with his own image on tv than biden. i wonder if the demo honchos are ready for a stream of consciousness campaign whereby biden puts forth every silly thought that might wander through his head. be afraid, be very afraid…gaffs and guffaws r us for vp!!
A question to the pros at this forum: Would Senator Obama with his know background and foreign associations pass the prescribed screening to obtain security clearance? At if so, what level of security clearance?
“as other contenders fell away…”
I take that to mean that everybody but Biden had figured it out, and he was the only one still answering his cell phone when Barry called.
Funniest line I have heard so far: Foriegn policy experience is not needed in a BHO administration, they are just gonna do whatever France asks…
Americans do prefer someone with executive experience, even though on the face it might not seem sexy of an issue. But who was the last Senator to be president, Nixon? (that string will obviously be broken). Whereas a number of governors have been elected since then (Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush II).
This pick is also a bad one because of the massive policy differences that Obama and Biden have. That’s going to cause Obama serious problems–i.e. how can he hit McCain on Iraq when his running mate agrees with McCain?
Not WRIGHT for America has a great spoof post on the first debate being between Obama and Biden rather than Obama and McCain. http://www.notwrightforamerica.com. It encapsulates the problems with this pick.
His ancestors who worked in the coal mines of northeast Pennsylvania have had many grand-kids since 1988. Remarkably, all of them vote.
Even the dead ones.
Obama bin Biden for President. Vote Democratic and keep the change!
What do ya think? Would that be a good bumper sticker or what?
As long as McCain doesn’t choose Mitt, this one is half over. If he selects a female from among the many Republican Women with credentials superior to Obama bin Biden, he has a clear glide path.
Obama’s tax plan is really a welfare plan
Barack Obama’s tax plan is the opposite of supply-side economics. He proposes to raise marginal rates for just about every federal tax. He also proposes a raft of tax credits that taxpayers can receive if they engage in various government-specified activities, says Peter Ferrara, director of entitlement and budget policy for the Institute for Policy Innovation.
Moreover, the tax credits would mostly go to those who pay little or nothing in federal income taxes. His trick is to make the tax credits “refundable,” says Ferrara. For example:
If the tax credit is for $1,000, but the taxpayer would otherwise only pay $200 in taxes, the government would write a check to the taxpayer for $800.
If the taxpayer pays nothing in federal income taxes, the government would pay him the whole $1,000.
Such credits are not tax cuts, explains Ferrara. Indeed, they should be called The New Tax Welfare. In effect, Obama is proposing to create or expand a slew of government spending programs that are disguised as tax credits. The spending on these programs is then subtracted from the total tax burden, in order to make the claim that his tax plan is a net tax cut overall.
On the tax side of the ledger, the details released by his campaign last week confirm what a President Obama has in mind for our most productive citizens:
The top individual income tax rate, for example, would be increased by 13 percent, to 39.6 percent.
The next-highest rate would be raised to 36 percent; the top rates on capital gains and dividends would rise by a third, to 20 percent.
The Social Security payroll tax would be raised between 16 percent to 32 percent for families making over $250,000 a year. This means that the real returns these people get from their lifetime payments into the retirement program will be driven below 0 percent, according to Ferrara.
Source: Peter Ferrara, “Obama’s Tax Plan Is Really a Welfare Plan,” Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2008.
For text:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121910303529751345.html
For more on Taxes:
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=20
(i note with sardonic humor that the 250k is always fogged by Obama talk show spokesmen –watch the language yourself –heck, might fool a Rube or two –so unless someone asks, they don’t say it’s per family, not per individual. So entire swaths of two-earner families, not just a much smaller number of individual 250k earners, will get the return on their social security payments “driven below 0%”. Social Justice? Let’s all have a pretzel!)
oops, here’s link to above
Cross posted:
Was Obama’s interest in taking a job at U Chicago Law schools partly motivated by an urge to be at the shrine where Bernadine Dohrn was a student and the Weather Underground started? There is something very creepy and obsessive about him making contact with movement radicals and then moving himself to the ground zero of the great rebellion of 1968.
That may not be his only connection to part of the University’s less positive history. Chicago is always sensitive to people who get to tightly wrapped up in messianic superiority fantasies. This was the home of Leopold and Loeb and for years afterwards students believed the University Library hid the Nietzche volumes. Note that everyone involved in that crime lived in the same small neighborhood of Kenwood where Obama now lives. Look at the map of where that happened and remember where Obama’s house is at 50th and Greenwood.
My post is in moderation limbo again. Why me?
This looks to be about the 121st comment or so (maybe others will sneak in a few more before I post this), so MeWonders if anybody will read it. Nonetheless, here goes:
Why the antagonism, in prior posts, toward Romney? That he flip-flopped on some things, when he tried to seriously gain the GOP nomination? IMHO he flip-flopped in the right direction. I’m more inclined to welcome than to question such flip-flops. You think it’s not sincere? Well, possibly not — but I care solely ’bout what a politician does, not what he “really” thinks. If he’s flip-flopped for political expedience, he would probably act, for political expedience, in the same way. Which would be great. It’s actions that count!
Or, be you exercised that he’s a Mormon? Well, I’m not much into theological differentiations, but, last I looked, Mormons were, indeed, Christians, and his speech about his religion was, MeThinks, quite moving and effective and convincing.
So, what’s not to like? Or at least to accept? Not to say that he would be the best Veep choice — there’s lots of considerations there, and, really, lots of good candidates. But I see no reason he would not be among the top possible choices. Nor, if he were the choice, any reason all-good-conservatives could not rally round that choice.
Contrary to mainstream opinion, I think McCain has a quite rich slate of possible Veeps to choose from. (Assuming, of course, that any such choice is pro-life. Otherwise, all bets are off-the-table.) And, literally EVERYONE on that (pro-life) slate would be superior to Biden, both as a candidate and, if fate should so dictate, as a President. So, fellow conservatives, sit back and relax. Put away your knives. As long as McCain’s choice is pro-life, rally ’round the guy (or gal!!), and enjoy! Even if he/she is not your number 1 favorite, just remember: he/she doesn’t have to be ideal. He/She just has to be better than Biden! And, hells-bells, that bar is so low that even you or I might make that grade!
@Ben Crain,
Worse thing I heard about Romney was his answer to the question about why his sons weren’t serving in Iraq. THe question was a smarmy attack but it needed to be answered psoperly. His reply was Obamanesque in condensation. Otherwise I have good feelings generally about him. Some small concern that being from Michigan he might have made some compromises in his heart with that states growing Islamic community.
Wretchard please post my comment about Obama.
Lifeofthemind said:
“I thought Boxer was by acclamation and staff vote the stupidest Senator.”
Lifeofthemind is correct. Barbara Boxer is obviously the stupidest person in the Senate.
Buddy larsen said:
“Advise anyone who hasn’t taken a look at Jindal, do so. Lotta horsepower upstairs.”
Buddy is also correct. Jindal would make a fantastic VP. If McCain selects Jindal as VP then B. Hussein’s defeat is probably a done deal.
Steveaz said:
“Call it the ol’ “Bait-and-Switch” trick: together, Obama and Biden are supposed only to bide time, politicking right down the line, until the convention where the real candidate will be chosen.”
No way. The moonbats currently control the Democrat Party (BDS and the MSM’s misconduct has confused the party). Essentially what we are observing with Hussein is a replay of George McGovern in 1972. That previous exercise was just as irrational and suicidally stupid.
Trying this in sections. Hope I don’t get banned.
Was Obama’s interest in taking a job at U Chicago Law schools partly motivated by an urge to be at the shrine where Bernadine Dohrn was a student and the Weather Underground started? There is something very creepy and obsessive about him making contact with movement radicals and then moving himself to the ground zero of the great rebellion of 1968.
It works and apologies to our host for eating bandwidth.
That may not be his only connection to part of the University’s less positive history. Chicago is always sensitive to people who get to tightly wrapped up in messianic superiority fantasies. This was the home of Leopold and Loeb and for years afterwards students believed the University Library hid the Nietzche volumes. Note that everyone involved in that crime lived in the same small neighborhood of Kenwood where Obama now lives. Look at the map of where that happened and remember where Obama’s house is at 50th and Greenwood
heck, give this 5 minutes, why not?
That may not be his only connection to part of the University’s less positive history. Chicago is always sensitive to people who get to tightly wrapped up in messianic superiority fantasies. This was the home of Leopold and Loeb and for years afterwards students believed the University Library hid the Nietzche volumes. Note that everyone involved in that crime lived in the same small neighborhood of Kenwood where Obama now lives. Look at the map of where that happened and remember where Obama’s house is at 50th and Greenwood.
My apologies to our host for eating bandwidth.
Nope part two is moderated again.
V B Bart; hdgreene: Putin needs Obama but will be rooting for McCain.
The reason? Read your King Kremlin Bible.
“Yea verily, I Your Lord God and Tsar/Commissar say unto ye; ‘Only The Russian Is Annointed To Be The Head Nigger’”. (Pun not intended).
Those people have an overwhelming compulsion to be the center of attention. (That is why trained actor Reagan let Gorbachev show off contenting himself with “Best Supporting”.)
Obama hogs the limelight, Putin would be virtually invisible. Big no-no. Vis-a-vis McCain, Putin gets center stage. Thus the preference for McCain.
Nothing new here. Ike Eisenhower was a tough, wily opponent who got the better of the Soviets more often than they bested him.
John F Kennedy was a naif with a drug problem.
He was easy pickings for the communists.
Yet, they feared JFK and wished Eisenhower back. Simply because the Kennedy charisma made them into second bananas instead of the headliners compared with Ike’s low-key style.
Statecraft takes a back seat to ego gratification. One of the reasons that Ayn Rand noted that failure was NOT un-Russian.
Mr. Jindal, who was elected to Rep. David Vitter’s seat when Mr. Vitter ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, was re-elected for a second term with 88% of the vote.
jeez Buddy, the article makes Jindal out to be an incarnation of Krishna. I’d really never heard of him till of late. I have to admit, he sounds competent, energetic and in possession of a wisdom beyond his years.
Maybe he is an incarnation of Krishna, with a resume like that. Can he play the flute?
I pointed out that the University is linked to the famous case of Leopold and Loeb. Youtube for Orson Welles’ speach as Clarence Darrow in the movie Compulsion was linked so go look it up. The University is very sensitive about students getting delusions that they are really Nietzchian Supermen. There is a map of the crime scene at the L&L trial homepage reachable at the wiki page for Leopold and Loeb outside links list. Obama’s house is practically in the middle of the crime scene. There is something very strange and messianic, even Nietzchian about Obama’s sense of superiority and entitlement.
Doug: Thanks for the link to the passing of “Excessively Vertical” with “Serpentine Fecal Matter” visiting his bedside.
My screen started getting blurry reading it,
must be dust getting in my eyes.
No, I was not at LZ X-Ray. Did have some interesting times in that general vicinity though shortly thereafter.
So Let Bacchus Sons Be Not Dismayed,
Join With Me Each Jovial Blade
And Drink and Sing and Help Me With The Chorus:
Instead of Spa, We’ll Drink Brown Ale
And Pay the Debt Upon the Nail
And Not A Man Shall Go to Gaol
From Garry Owen In Gloria.
Don’t worry about Too Tall. He is in good company.
@Lifeofthemind. I’m not aware of what he said ’bout sons in Iraq. Whatever it was, I don’t doubt your characterization that it could have been “better”. But I doubt that that’s relevant. I don’t want to judge fathers on the basis of what their sons do, or don’t do. Sons are not robots. We are free individuals, answerable to, and responsible for, ourselves. Fathers should stand by their sons. But fathers should not have to answer, politically, for their sons. The sons are not running for office. Let them be.
Judge the father, the politician, on what he is and has done.
Hurray! The Iraq nation-blocks are Lego friendly, the SOFA agreement will guarantee security for 5 minutes, US troops sit in barracks while the 1400 year civil war players prep for a free fire zone, and the Ayatollahs aren’t licking their lips as they await another Neo-Conmen fiasco. Attach “freedom” to any flop, and the conmen are happy.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-sons23-2008aug23,0,2435302.story
I sure do hope you smart people are correct and Obama is dead meat with the Biden pick but I think you may be underestimating how badly the media wants to elect Obama.
Biden can be packaged up by the media as a middle-of-the road democrat with tons of experience to advise the Chosen One as he rights the ship of state.
Most of the voters don’t even know who Biden is and probably won’t watch the VP debate. The next morning they will be offered a penetrating news analysis of the debate that obscures Biden’s rambling answers and paints the debate as a runaway win for Biden against whoever is the Republican VP.
Also, as pointed out above, it’s not like there is an abundance of likeable, experienced, well-known Republican names for McCain to choose from.
Also, there are a lot more registered Democrats than Republicans and they seem to be a lot more interested in doing the ground work needed to elect a candidate. Has everyone contributing to this blog contributed to the McCain candidacy?
I think this thing is a long way from over and we and the nation will be lucky if McCain can squeeze though for a victory.
I would love for someone to convince me I’m wrong. Any takers?
@Ben Crain,
Accept that I have no problem with Romney and think he has been hit with some low blows regarding religion. What he said was that his sons were serving by working on his campaign. The question isn’t his children, your answer would have been perfect, the problem was he came off wrong by sounding arrogant. He sounded like Biden or Obama.
One more question and I’ll shut up. No one seems to mention the possibility of Huckabee as the VP choice despite the fact that he finished in second place and excites “the base” more than anyone else. Other than the fact that McCain hates him, why isn’t he being mentioned more prominently? McCain hates Romney also and he seems to be seriously considering him.
@oldfogey
1. McCain hates Huckabee is good enough.
2. Makes me want to vote twice for him
3. America may not want a President Obama, no hard consonants.
4. America sure doesn’t want a President Huckabee, it’s self parodying.
5. If only Hitler had stayed Shickelgruber the world would have spared.
6. The base, at least a large chunk of it, hates Huckabee more than they worry about McCain and for the same reason, immigration. Huckabee would not gain the center and he would not gain the right.
@Lifeofthemidn. What he said may not have been the very best response, but, really, what should he have said, given the situation, which I suppose was the typical “gottcha” media question? Imagine you’re standing there, as a serious candidate for the Presidency, expecting (and prepared for) any number of questions about important policy issues. But suddenly you’re asked about what your sons are doing. And with the implication that they’re not doing what they “should” be doing. Well, what would you say? On the spur of the moment he probably said something that sounds a bit lame. I would have said: “(1) What my sons are doing is none of your business. None of your business. Period. (2) But, in the interest of educating the public a bit on how you media-bastards operate, let me ask you: What are your sons doing? What are the sons of all you talking-heads doing? What are the sons of all the libs in Congress and elsewhere doing? Why don’t you ask them (and yourselves) that question? If the fact that one’s sons (or daughters!) don’t serve in Iraq is a serious drawback to elective office, how do libs anywhere, with your connivance, ever get elected?
The fact that he did not answer in similar vein indicates that (1) he was not prepared for the question and, on the spur of the moment, resorted to a lame but probably, all-in-all, relatively “safe” response (apres tout, who, other than you, recalls that response?), and/or (2) he may have calculated that a lame but totally forgettable response was politically the best, in the sense that, however lame it might be, hardly anyone would notice or care. We must always remember, in judging Presidential contenders, that they face a very specific “bottom-line”: a majority of the electorate. (A majority of the Electoral College, but, in practice, that is almost always (excepting Florida 2000) the same as a majority of the electorate.) EVERY candidate should be expected to dodge/obfuscate/weasle-out-of answering “forthrightly” all secondary questions that concern a few, but would, unless the answer is “incendiary” (as my answer above would have been), have no bearing on the electoral outcome. Focus on the main things! As to all that other crap, cut the pols, of whatever stripe, some slack.
@Ben Crain I can agree with most of what you say while holding the reservation that Gaffes do serve a purpose. They reveal flaws in character and judgement that could be important during that 3 AM moment. Humans believe that we can draw conclusions from these nonlinear clues. No one likes when the gaffe is elicited from their candidate. Your advice about dodging the offensive question is easier in theory than practice. McCain tried to brush off such a question with “my staff will get back to you” and the MSM are helping Obama to beat the drums about him not knowing how many houses his wife owns. Politics is an art and even famously abrasive politicians like McCain develop a radar for detecting and avoiding most of these attacks. They are professionals at their craft.
Bobal, thanks for reading that. Hope some others do too, on the evidence of your reaction.
Now you need to see him interviewed –watch him handle incoming with more serious humility and less fear & flim-flam than you’d have thought possible from such an unpretentious personality & appearance. “Star” works for a one-word –and you know, that’s the same one-word that pretty much all by itself validates the candidacy of Obama.
Except the Jindal star is based on mind and character and effective hard work, and not on code and cool and cute. IOW, jindal is the perfect needle for the Obama balloon –and not for any cheapo reasons such as youth, non-whiteness, and third-world cred, tho those are certainly there for all to see.
If he were to get the nod, the platform would put him in front of the nation, and i’ll bet the nation would react sharply by shoving ole John McCain right into the Oval.
First, tho, we’d get to see for the first time some real engagement in the face of Blowhard Joe, as he instantly recognizes that he ain’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of –forget winning the debate –not being utterly and probably comedically routed as the lightweight dumbass schmooz-o-matic contraption that he unfortunately and somewhat repulsively is.
In fact, i’d say it’s even odds (mark my words) that Biden won’t even debate him head-on –there’ll be some ‘problem’, and they’ll need to come up with some sort of format where Joe doesn’t have to get anywhere near the serious and engaging person of Bobby Jindal.
@NahnCee:
‘No one ever mentions Al Gore anymore. Is he totally written off, away sailing on his yacht?’
Aug 23, 2008 – 2:38 pm
That’s no yacht, man. That’s a hulking BARGE!! Think ancient Egypt….. and old Al is the Pharaoh of Green (especially the folding kind).
What might it portend, that the NY Times can allow itself to talk nice about Jindal?
Note an area of expertise –and the successful application of this expertise –in technocratic free-market health-care reform.
The Dem’s core issue, around which they’ve fabricated an entire virtual cityscape of lavishly expensive disincentive, socialist counter-production, & rube-goldberg tooting-steamwhistle cartoon concoction, here finessed quickly and cleanly, with alacrity & aplomb, and not on promise in the future theoretical, or way up there in the feel-good blue sky, but here on the ground and yesterday, already done & delivered, in Louisiana, note, the land of Katrina.
Gore? they’ve got him locked in a steam cabinet, Tipper fanning away with a Turkish towel, in case the convention deadlocks and they need a consensus whale.
As in all things, Algore saves energy with his self-powered steam cabinet.
While inside, instead of constantly toweling off, he simply fills the cabinet with evaporated perspiration.
The very definition of a Sweat Act.
Bobal: jeez Buddy, the article makes Jindal out to be an incarnation of Krishna. I’d really never heard of him till of late. I have to admit, he sounds competent, energetic and in possession of a wisdom beyond his years.
Bobal, if Jindal gets in, then every time the liberal talk shows mention him, they will cue “Tubular Bells”, aka the theme from The Exorcist. It will never end.
Hopefully, this improves the odds for McCain.
Equally important, is to win back the house and senate from the Pelosi/Reid disaster.
Dave,
You might be interested in the link below.
There are a couple more links in the comments also.
Bruce Crandall Medal of Honor
this election is taking on overtones of a mark twain story, with biden in the role of the “duke of delaware”.
jindal for vp is a winner, moves india out of russo orbit. Why…as blacks now participate in conservative talk raido, we learn from them, that not only are they a monolithic voting block, rationalizing any obama negatives with comparable mccain suppositions, they ultimately as a group fall back to the #1 reason, black pride.
Black Pride emerges as the only reason to vote for obama. his Acorn experience taught him how to rig local elections, his other experiences taught him how to ignore economics………..his associations reveal the self interest of soros and putin, he is reduced to a bought and paid for mouthpiece of oligarchic socialism…….
india is already a strategic partner of the u.s.
jindal has a future, no doubt about it — but he brings very little to this election cycle. mccain’s best “impact” choices are a woman or an african-american man; since blacks have shown they won’t support gop candidates of any hue, the clear winning pick is a non-black woman.
india is between socialism and capitalism, its own oligarchs are obstacles for a completion of the orbit transit.
jindal reiterates free market economics, no senator or congressperson has the creds to do so.
congress low approval rating sickens me, if all 4 of the candidates are from that body, we have nominated one sorry lot of candidates.
major changes are coming, there are a few completely random elements not factored into the socio political transitions, a boundry has already been crossed, none of the candidates currently slated, has the capacity to deal with the period of crossings.
Jindal is the only one with the intelectual capacity to deal with emergence………
Life of the Mind,
Reboot your computer, I think some javascript or something similar is not executing. YOu have posted the same comment several time.
There is something very strange and messianic, even Nietzchian about Obama’s sense of superiority and entitlement.
O may have some totalitarian tendencies but if he wins, the US political system will constrain him.
America may not want a President Obama, no hard consonants.
For some reason I really like this analysis
When is PJM going to do a poll on the Stupidest Senator? The most dishonest? Egotistical? Vain? Long winded? Election season seems like a good time for it.
A friend who runs a successful commercial real estate brokerage said to me this week, “How can I vote for a guy to run the World’s largest effective corporation, the United States, who has’nt got a track record as an assistant manager at a 7-11?”
mitt is a stiff. what constituency does he have?
I like Romney –he was my early choice in the primaries –but i have to admit, he has some sort of underlying quality that seems to hurt his national electability. Dunno what it is (maybe too much of everything, success, brains, looks, family, money), but since politics ain’t beanball, ya gotta factor it in –
that’s all i was saying, he leaves a lot of people cold. make a good cabinet level role though. i bet mccain names hillary as his sec-state nominee.
Teresita –you have a point –even tho that story harks back to his college days when folks traditionally get a bye on temporary flights from the main stream, it does resonate off that Louisiana hoodoo voodoo image. I think it’d be a two day story, tho.
Also, Biden too emphasizes his Catholicism (he referred to it repeatedly in his speech yest). I know next-to-nothing about RC doctrine in the area, except that it doesn’t trivialize the subject at all –so, Jindal’s college experience is not likely to be a game-breaker (imho).
teresita, Kathryn Jean Lopez writes imo prettty sensibly on the topic.
I’d don’t mind the exorcism stuff. Anybody who can wrestle with a demon is ok by me. But, I’d don’t like the idea of being called a heretic.
socialism is the real voodoo, and every damn dem believes in that crap. so bobby j has nothng to worry about.
Any incarnation of Krishna would naturally have the ability to slay demons.
Krishna The Demon Slayer
i’m not sure he really did call Protestants heretics –he may’ve been talking about religious history –the old context voo doo gris gris
As far as wrestling with demons –whether that happens in the 3-Ds or not i dunno –i do know ya gotta give the guy props for honesty.
And anyway, so he absolutely believes in the Holy Spirit? So, America should dump that –in favor of what, exactly? I’d say, the way the clouds are building on the horizon, maybe we oughtta harken a wee bit.
Agreed. I like what I’ve read about the guy. And, considering the quality of some of the folk humanity has raised up in the past 100 years, a belief in demons is not so illogical as our enlightened minds might first suppose.
There was an American reporter whose name I can’t recall who was at some of Nazi party rallies. He said very seriously, to the end of his days, at one of them Dolph gave off a blue shimmering light as he spoke. He was up close, not far from the podium.
I hear ya. i don’t scoff at the supernatural with anywhere near the conviction that i used ta. i mean, who am i to know, one way or the other, anyway? what are my qualifications of expertise? truth is –i ain’t got none.
Same with me Buddy.
“There’s more in heaven and earth than is dreamed of in your philosophy, Buddy and Bob”
the bard
the bard never bored –
There’s some famous axiom, been around forever but i can’t figure out how to search it –amounts to the God question, guy proposes to live right just in case there WILL be a judgment day. Pasqual?
buddy,
pascal’s wager
that’s IT, ridgerunner –thanks –it was nagging at me –
One doesn’t want to be blase about Blaise Pascal.
h/t Slade
And his Night of Fire
The year of grace 1654
Monday, 23 November, feast of Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr, and of others in the Martyrology.
Eve of Saint Chrysogonus, Martyr and others.
From about half past ten in the evening until half past midnight.
Fire
‘God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,’ not of philosophers and scholars.
Certainty, certainty, heartfelt, joy, peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
God of Jesus Christ.
My God and your God.
‘Thy God shall be my God.’
The world forgotten, and everything except God.
He can only be found by the ways taught in the Gospels.
Greatness of the human soul.
‘O righteous Father, the world had not known thee, but I have known thee.’
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.
I have cut myself off from him.
They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.
‘My God wilt thou forsake me?’
Let me not be cut off from him for ever!
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.’
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
I have cut myself off from him, shunned him, denied him, crucified him.
Let me never be cut off from him!
He can only be kept by the ways taught in the Gospel.
Sweet and total renunciation.
Total submission to Jesus Christ and my director.
Everlasting joy in return for one day’s effort on earth.
I will not forget thy word. Amen.
Since Pascal himself was committed, as shown above, I think his ‘wager’ was in his mind a kind of recuitment tool, you might call it, used to influence the doubter and urge them towards a new way of thinking.
ONe doesn’t want to be blase about Blaise Pascal
h/t Slade
And his Night of Fire
The year of grace 1654
Monday, 23 November, feast of Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr, and of others in the Martyrology.
Eve of Saint Chrysogonus, Martyr and others.
From about half past ten in the evening until half past midnight.
Fire
‘God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,’ not of philosophers and scholars.
Certainty, certainty, heartfelt, joy, peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
God of Jesus Christ.
My God and your God.
‘Thy God shall be my God.’
The world forgotten, and everything except God.
He can only be found by the ways taught in the Gospels.
Greatness of the human soul.
‘O righteous Father, the world had not known thee, but I have known thee.’
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.
I have cut myself off from him.
They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.
‘My God wilt thou forsake me?’
Let me not be cut off from him for ever!
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.’
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
I have cut myself off from him, shunned him, denied him, crucified him.
Let me never be cut off from him!
He can only be kept by the ways taught in the Gospel.
Sweet and total renunciation.
Total submission to Jesus Christ and my director.
Everlasting joy in return for one day’s effort on earth.
I will not forget thy word. Amen.
Since Pascal was committed, as shown above, I think his ‘wager’, in his mind, was a kind of recruitment tool, you might call it, a method of influencing the doubter, to urge him to a new way of thinking.
Teresita,
Fiorina? A person with zero–ZERO–political experience? That would make O’s choice look good by comparison.
man alive, bobal –those folks in the middle ages lived it, didn’t they? The intensity is just beyond imagining.
Joe brings the important swing state of Delaware with its 3 electoral votes!
I imagine the male-enhancement industry will step for him. The hair transplants y’know.