Fresh from his “accidental” surprise appearance at a Mitt Romney fundraiser in Richmond Thursday night, former VA Gov. Doug Wilder appeared on America’s Morning News today. Wilder picked up where he left off on Fox Thursday, blasting away at Vice President Joe Biden for his “They gonna put y’all back in chains!” comment.
GOV. WILDER: In my judgement, that “throwaway line” was calculated to say something mean, nasty and vicious that’s happening to some people. And ‘it isn’t me of course, it’s y’all.’ That’s the thing that really that really concerned me. ‘Y’all are gonna be, something bad’s gonna happen to y’all, it won’t happen to me, I’m ok.’
Later in the interview, Wilder seemed to sympathize a little with the president for the position that Biden’s serial gaffes put him in.
GOV. WILDER: If anybody knows the gaffeproneness of Joe Biden, it’s the president. Look what Biden said about the president just yesterday, according to the Washington Post. In a 2010 interview, this is what he said about his president at that time: ‘You know, the president is smarter than I thought he was.’
It’s worth pointing out that adding Biden to the ticket was one of the very first choices that Barack Obama made upon securing the Democratic nomination. The quality of the vice presidential pick reflects directly on the president’s judgement.
Also read: Did Hillary Turn Down the Veep Slot Two Weeks Ago?
Wilder is a strange bird; there are at least a couple of things he did as governor that I loathe: one (hand)gun a month, only now overturned (and that plus a miscalculation caused me a wasted trip to a gun store … and I suppose could have made me felon if the authorities were nasty), plus an anti-phosphorus environmental action made for political reasons when his experts were telling him it would make things worse (the change would increase the discharges of the element that was the limiting factor).
On the other hand, he’s an (ex-)Marine with more integrity than almost all current national level Democrats, as witness by his willingness to call Biden out on this.
Lina, I agree with your point on Wilder. I got to meet him rather impersonally and I found him quite polite and a gentlemen at this particular place. I will tell you he does tell it like he sees it and stands his ground, even if you do not agree with him, you have to admire his conviction. But Wilder is right about Biden and his gaffes. I was truly offended by his remarks as well as many of my friends. To make another point, the Obama administration touts views that “sound” good, but they do not follow thier own rhetoric. Here we have Ms. Jarrat who, as I understand it, was a slumlord and Obama giving all his friends carte-blanche to many loans we have all paid for, but none of that money going to the blacks or hispanics in inner city communities.I find this hypocritical and so do many minorities. The hope that the blacks had in Obama was he would indeed show how a good black man would run things so that all would not feel ashamed of having a black man in the Whitehouse. Obama was the wrong black man. There are certainly other black men who would have made that hope and promise a better one for us. I just wonder what damage this man will do to another person of color running in the future.
Slyfox: it’s coming; a qualified black man, or woman, or person of any color or pallor . . . will be on the ticket — after Ryan finishes his eight years, of course
But it will probably be a conservative, as the Left seems incapable of recognizing its own qualified candidates, opting instead to pander.
First-rate people pick first-rate subordinates.
Second-rate pick third-rate sycophants.
Obama wasn’t even close to second-rate.
May be this is a stealth application for Biden’s job.
Be careful what you wish for. Nothing is accidental in politics. Wilder is working at Obama’s behest to get Biden off the ticket. Don’t be a rube.
Doug Wilder’s no conservative with his gun control activism. However, he was a budget hawk while he was our governor. He refused to take the easy route of tax hikes despite that being the default position of his party, and for that I’ve always respected him. He’s always been a bit of a loose cannon and an outlaw within the Democratic establishment, not least because they sided against him in his long-running feud with Chuck Robb. He also refused to endorse Creigh Deeds, and while he didn’t explicitly endorse Bob McDonnell, he said some very complimentary things about him.
I also don’t buy for a second the story that he was just at the Romney fundraiser by accident. Aside from his time in the Army (where he was awarded a Bronze Star in Korea), Wilder’s lived his entire life here in Richmond. Born, raised, educated and worked here. The idea that he just stumbled into the Marriott unaware of which event he was attending is preposterous. This ain’t Manhattan. Downtown is an area of maybe 20 square blocks, and the kind of hoopla surrounding such an event – with Secret Service details, limos, police, etc is rather rare. It’s just his style: a subtle jab at the Dem establishment that’s deniable enough to keep him from becoming a complete pariah.
Biden was known for his foot-in-mouth disease well before Obama came into national prominence. It does not say anything good about Obama’s judgment that he chose Biden as V-P.
Yep. And the most laughable part of Biden’s “You know, the president is smarter than I thought he was” remark is that Biden had a thought.
Back before the Dims lauded Biden as some kind of foreign policy expert (he ain’t), they were selling him as an expert on constitutional law (he ain’t that either). Even though Biden was head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, watching Judge Robert Bork school that punk on the basics of constitutional jurisprudence was astonishing. If the already-senile drunk skirt-chaser Ted Kennedy hadn’t made a couple of appearances during those confirmation hearings, Biden would have taken all the Who’s the Biggest Dummy trophies.
Bottom line: Biden is Obama’s insurance against impeachment.
Hmmm. Doug Wilder’s bankrupt slave museum project in Fredricksburg just had an anonymous donor pay off it’s bills and pull it out of bankruptcy. Like, today. Was that a Republican “Thank you” or a Democratic “please shut up”? Doug Wilder is a politician and you can count on him to look out for Doug.
I think Wilder’s decided Joe’s comments and the lack of required response from Obama just couldn’t be left unchallenged. He was very clear on Cavuto’s show that it’s too late to replace Joe and even went as far as saying that Joe was like the tar baby for Obama and he’s stuck with him. First time I’ve seen that particular description go unchallenged by the oh so race sensitive types in the media.
Back during the presidential election of 2008, Biden was said to be bringing to the Democratic ticket, I recall reading, a certain “gravitas!”