Obama Picks Biden

bush_cheney2004 · August 23, 2008

So much for change....looks like Senator Brack Obama will select Senator Joe Biden for his running mate. I suppose it's only fitting after Mr. Biden paid Obama the ultimate compliment:

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said.

August1991 · August 23, 2008

Biden? I can't believe it. America's Neil Kinnock.

A proven accusation of plagiarism can have serious repercussions for a candidate's political ambitions. Just ask Joe Biden. His borrowing of a British politician's campaign speech is perhaps the most famous instance of political plagiarism, illustrating both the dangers of unacknowledged language lifting as well as the extent to which one's enemies will go to torpedo their opponents' chances for success.

Famous plagiarists.com

bush_cheney2004 · August 23, 2008

Biden? I can't believe it. America's Neil Kinnock.

True, but Joe can deliver Delaware! :lol:

August1991 · August 23, 2008

True, but Joe can deliver Delaware!

I think Biden is originally from Scranton and I guess the hope is that he'll deliver Pennsylvania.

Rather, Biden will be popular with dishonest, tired students writing term papers.

bush_cheney2004 · August 23, 2008

I think Biden is originally from Scranton and I guess the hope is that he'll deliver Pennsylvania.

OK...but Delaware is in the bag!

Riverwind · August 23, 2008

True, but Joe can deliver Delaware!

Both Obama and Biden seem to have drunk the global warming kool-aid and if they end up with a compliant congress and senate they will be able to do more damage to the american economy than the iraq war ever did. Unfortunately, McCain is not much better and seems to be most enamoured with the most damaging form of anti-CO2 policy: cap and trade.

I think the senate races will be much more interesting to watch in this election. If the republicans loose the ability to filibuster then there will be no limit to the dumb policies that are likely to be put in place.

Edited August 23, 2008 by Riverwind

August1991 · August 23, 2008

I think the senate races will be much more interesting to watch in this election.

I agree. I'm wondering if the Dems will keep control of the Congress.

Riverwind · August 23, 2008

I agree. I'm wondering if the Dems will keep control of the Congress.

I thought that was a forgone conclusion.

August1991 · August 23, 2008

Here's how Newsweek describes Biden in their lead article:

There have been some matters of academic ethics and plagiarism. In 1987, his first presidential campaign exploded overnight after he was found to have lifted portions of a speech from a British politician.

Newsweek

I simply cannot believe that Obama chose Biden. There were so many other better choices and the VP choice is generally a no gain/lose choice. (Dukakis is a rare example who gained from Bentson. If Obama were smart, he would have made a similar choice. Biden is a loser who comes with ugly baggage.)

Where will this go? Will the American MSM bury this? The US right wing blogs won't.

Edited August 23, 2008 by August1991

August1991 · August 23, 2008

This is ridiculous. Here's how Time buries it:

The history of Biden's gaffes, however, show the risks of naming him to the ticket. He was forced out of the race for President in 1988 after Michael Dukakis' campaign leaked evidence that Biden had plagiarized a speech from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock, and in doing so had misrepresented his own class background.

Time

This won't go away. Biden is a thief of intellectual property, and he wants to be VP?

August1991 · August 23, 2008

Here's a plug:

So Senator Joe Biden, the loudmouth from Delaware, has decided to run for the Presidency. Quite how he honestly thinks he will beat Clinton, Obama or Edwards is beyond me but at least we are in for a laugh. Biden is perhaps the most sanctimonious, puffed up and downright unpleasant member of the Senate with the exception of Ted Kennedy. But at least Biden has never killed anyone while driving.
When Biden last ran for President in 1987 - yup, 20 years ago - he managed to lift directly from the words of the Welsh Windbag.

Kinnock had orated: "Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Was it because our predecessors were thick? Does anybody really think that they didn't get what we had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment? Of course not. It was because there was no platform upon which they could stand."

Biden had written, totally independently you understand: "I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? . . . No, it's not because they weren't as smart. It's not because they didn't work as hard. It's because they didn't have a platform upon which to stand . . ."

Any man who thinks he has anything to learn from Neil Kinnock - even if it just some of his oratory - is a man too dangerous to be allowed anywhere near the Presidency of the United States.

donalblaney Link Plug

Neil Kinnock is now a European Commissioner. That's where Joe Biden deserves to be.

Topaz · August 23, 2008

I've listened to Biden several times and he seems to know what's happening with the war and has been in Iraq probably more than anyone. I think its a good choice and it can't be any worse than the GW?Cheney!!

jdobbin · August 23, 2008

Both Obama and Biden seem to have drunk the global warming kool-aid and if they end up with a compliant congress and senate they will be able to do more damage to the american economy than the iraq war ever did. Unfortunately, McCain is not much better and seems to be most enamoured with the most damaging form of anti-CO2 policy: cap and trade.

For single issue people, neither candidate will be good.

jdobbin · August 23, 2008

Where will this go? Will the American MSM bury this? The US right wing blogs won't.

Imagine what the right wing blogs will do if McCain picks Tom Ridge.

jdobbin · August 23, 2008

I agree. I'm wondering if the Dems will keep control of the Congress.

Weren't you were wondering in the mid-terms if the Democrats were capable of taking control?

I guess conservative supporters could engage in wish fulfillment but fact remains there are more Republican seats that are up for grabs this time than Republican ones and each time the Cook Report breaks things down, it doesn't look like a major breakthrough for the Republicans on the Congressional level.

Edited August 23, 2008 by jdobbin

jdobbin · August 23, 2008

This won't go away. Biden is a thief of intellectual property, and he wants to be VP?

I suppose this is no different than McCain's plagiarism last week.

BubberMiley · August 23, 2008

I was hoping he would pick Biden. His foreign policy credentials and white, working-class base shore up a lot of Obama's perceived weaknesses. Since Hillary seemed to be out of the question, Joe is probably the next best choice.

McCain seems to be stuck on Romney, who will be a dead weight with evangelicals who don't consider Mormons to be real Christians. Personally, I'm still hoping he goes with Loserman, but I think either will send his poll numbers steadily downward until the election.

BC_chick · August 23, 2008

Initially I wanted anyone but Clinton. Then as time went on, I changed my mind and I was hoping for her even though I think Biden is a much better character.

Forget the emotional aspect of it where I get goose-bumps thinking of a black man and a white woman running the show... I think it would have been a good choice simply based on politics and ethics. It was an incredibly tight race between those two, it was quite different than McCain's victory. She deserved it simply because there were so many Democrats that felt she was the better candidate. It would show good faith on the part of Obama, as well as a smart move in making sure he doesn't alienate too many of the Democratic voter base.

Oh well, indeed Obama/Biden are better since there is no animosity or ex-presidents lurking behind the scenes. But I hate to admit that I think choosing Biden just increased McCain's chances of winning from zero to a light at the end of the tunnel.

August 23, 2008

Forget the emotional aspect of it where I get goose-bumps thinking of a black man and a white woman running the show... I think it would have been a good choice simply based on politics and ethics. It was an incredibly tight race between those two, it was quite different than McCain's victory. She deserved it simply because there were so many Democrats that felt she was the better candidate. It would show good faith on the part of Obama, as well as a smart move in making sure he doesn't alienate too many of the Democratic voter base.

I agree with you completely.

bush_cheney2004 · August 23, 2008

Here's how Newsweek describes Biden in their lead article:Newsweek
I simply cannot believe that Obama chose Biden. There were so many other better choices and the VP choice is generally a no gain/lose choice. (Dukakis is a rare example who gained from Bentson. If Obama were smart, he would have made a similar choice. Biden is a loser who comes with ugly baggage.)

Where will this go? Will the American MSM bury this? The US right wing blogs won't.

Once Hillary was rejected as the veep candidate because of Bill Clinton baggage, the Obama team picks somebody who has his own political baggage. He will be 66 years old (so much for McCain being too old), and he voted for the Iraq war, just like Hillary....the sin of sins througout Obama's campaign. More significantly, Obama has admitted that his lack of foreign policy experience needs serious help.

I think Obama whiffed and will lose the "change" momentum.....this is just business as usual.

Riverwind · August 23, 2008

She deserved it simply because there were so many Democrats that felt she was the better candidate.

The last thing a new president needs is an old president hanging around constantly because he is married to your VP. In any case, if you are so enamoured with the woman in power thing you should be hoping that Clinton gets to be the senate majority leader - a position in the US system that has more power than the VP even if it lacks the stature.

jdobbin · August 23, 2008

Initially I wanted anyone but Clinton. Then as time went on, I changed my mind and I was hoping for her even though I think Biden is a much better character.
Forget the emotional aspect of it where I get goose-bumps thinking of a black man and a white woman running the show... I think it would have been a good choice simply based on politics and ethics. It was an incredibly tight race between those two, it was quite different than McCain's victory. She deserved it simply because there were so many Democrats that felt she was the better candidate. It would show good faith on the part of Obama, as well as a smart move in making sure he doesn't alienate too many of the Democratic voter base.

Oh well, indeed Obama/Biden are better since there is no animosity or ex-presidents lurking behind the scenes. But I hate to admit that I think choosing Biden just increased McCain's chances of winning from zero to a light at the end of the tunnel.

I think it might be more important for Clinton to remain in the Senate than to possibly sit for eight years as VP.

Biden is a respectable and a less contentious pick for Obama.

What will be curious is if McCain picks a moderate on abortion for his pick and to see what the reaction of his party is.

BubberMiley · August 24, 2008

My only problem with this choice is that resemblance is now uncanny:

Obama Biden

Osama Binladen

bush_cheney2004 · August 24, 2008

This piece by RON FOURNIER sums up things nicely:

DENVER (AP) - The candidate of change went with the status quo.

In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness - inexperience in office and on foreign policy - rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.

He picked a 35-year veteran of the Senate - the ultimate insider - rather than a candidate from outside Washington, such as Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; or from outside his party, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; or from outside the mostly white male club of vice presidential candidates. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't even make his short list.

The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack. The Biden selection is the next logistical step in an Obama campaign that has become more negative - a strategic decision that may be necessary but threatens to run counter to his image.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080823/D92NT5P80.html

Edited August 24, 2008 by bush_cheney2004

August1991 · August 24, 2008

The problem with Joe Biden is that he lacks judgment. He has always wanted to be president but his monumental gaffe made a national campaign impossible.

Biden can be a senator from Delaware but he's no president.

I still can't believe that Obama chose him. Obama had a wide choice of candidates and others would have been so much better.

I thought Obama had good political sense but apparently he doesn't.