Of course in that regard she (Elizabeth Alexander) is hardly different from most of her ilk, sent out to force-feed the public with inanities to preserve the reputations of their bosses. Her boss, Senator Joe Biden, just took some justifiable flak for doing a volte-face on Obama and Afghanistan. Mark Murray and Domenico Montenaro wrote on First Read:
While Joe Biden is defending Obama over the Illinois senator’s lack of subcommittee hearings on the issue of Afghanistan, opponents of Obama’s candidacy have reminded us of some unflattering things the then-Biden campaign said on this topic.
On Aug. 1, 2007, when Obama unveiled his counterterrorism agenda, the Biden camp fired off a snarky email congratulating him for his “Johnny-come-lately position” on Afghanistan, noting that during two Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Afghanistan and other subjects, Obama didn’t ask questions about the Taliban, Al Qaeda, or Afghanistan. (We also wrote on it here.)
“We find it a little disingenuous that Sen. Obama is hailing this as a new bold initiative when he has neglected to join his colleagues in the Senate when the opportunities have been there to redirect our forces into Afghanistan” Biden campaign manager Luis Navarro said at the time. “It’s good to see Sen. Obama has finally arrived at the right position, but this can hardly be considered bold leadership.” Ouch.
Poor Elizabeth Alexander, Biden spokeswoman, was rushed in for this puerile defense:
“I doubt many people would be surprised to find out that Senator Biden and Obama ran against each other last year. Unlike Senator McCain, Senator Obama understands that the responsibility of the next President goes beyond being Commander-in-Chief for Iraq — he has to be Commander-in-Chief for America’s security in the world. That’s why he supports re-centering our foreign policy and beginning a responsible redeployment of American combat forces from Iraq.”
Say what? John McCain not aware of global scurity? Is that a laugh line or about the dumbest “talking point” you could dredge out of the remains of a limited mind? Inthis endless politics season, the level of discourse is increasingly wretched and insulting.
For Ms. Alexander’s benefit, John McCain discusses “global” issues here. Care to compare that to Barack Obama or even the vaunted Senator Biden?
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