Biden as VP Candidate
A warm congratulations to Senator Joe Biden on his VP candidate position on the Democratic ticket!
Sen. Biden called me to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq in April 2004, when there was heavy fighting between the Mahdi Army and the US military. He did so on the basis of a journal article I had written on the Sadr Movement in the Middle East Journal, which he had read. That knocked my socks off. People in Washington don't often read journal articles. It struck me as the sort of thing that should happen in our democracy every day-- you write something in your specialty, and your elected representative calls you to talk about it. No lobbies, think tanks, etc. involved.
So it was a positive impression! And in the hearing he was informed and articulate.
I want to say something about the tag line in the mainstream press about Sen. Biden's alleged tendency to commit gaffes.
We have had a president for nearly 8 years who has committed almost nothing but gaffes, every day, all day. The corporate media typically forgive Bush for this and don't even often bring it up. Why is it that it is an issue for Biden but not for Bush? Could it be that corporate media is owned by . . . Republicans?
When Biden ascends to these heights of malaproprism, then we can talk about it:
'It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas.'
- George W. Bush; Beaverton, Oregon, September 25, 2000.
Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?-
George W. Bush; Florence, South Carolina, January 11, 2000.
We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.
-George W. Bush; Des Moines, Iowa, August 21, 2000.
Will the highways on the internet become more few?
-George W. Bush; Concord, New Hampshire, January 29, 2000.
If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow.
-George W. Bush; Rochester, New York, January 7, 2000.
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posted by Juan Cole @ 8/23/2008 12:47:00 AM
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11 Comments:
Joe Biden is a democratic hawks. He has voted in favor of the Iraq war and for many years he has called for more troops in Iraq.
He advocated for the partition of Iraq and now he is advocating for more troops in Afghanistan.
His choice is in accordance with the more hawkish statements of Obama, so it is coherent with Obama's campaign, but it is a bad news for all the pacifists :
1) It shows that the hope that Obama will support serious changes and make a different policy are getting thiner and thiner.
2) For the moment, what Obama and Biden offers is more a kind of soft republican policy than a real alternative to the ultra liberalism and unilateralism promoted by Bush.
Nothing will really change after Obama/Biden election.
This is one of my favorite gaffes by the president.
"Don't buy gas if you don't need it." September 1, 2005.
My first thought: Who does?
I just had to laugh at Pres Bush's ignorance though it is not a laughing matter at all.
I watched a clip this morning on C-SPAN with Sen Joe Biden and a media person when Sen Biden was running for president with Sen Gary Hart and others and there was an exchange about who had a higher IQ and what he would have to offer as a president if elected. It was smart, funny but not combative or malicious.
Congratulations to you for having the public discussion on your blog that gave him the information he needed to call on you to testify.
I couldn't agree more that "We the people" should be the ones our elected leaders come to for their guidance. After all, we were the ones that hired them.
PS- It was a pleasure to meet you and your lovely wife at Yearly Kos.
Rick Hegdahl
Bellevue, Wa.
Combine your asessment of just who owns the Proaganda System with its behavior and lack of reportage of important events like the very large demonstration in Najaf, and you arrive at a result that suggests we have not only a Propaganda System, but also an Indoctrination System.
Biden is already being type-cast as the "ultimate Washington insider" by that pillar of the Propaganda System, the Associated Press:
"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."
Now how's that for omniscient reporting from inside Obama's brain. There's more of that in the remainder of the item.
Biden of course wanted to partition Iraq and voted to carry the Clinton/Gore policy of regime change to its conclusion. He has blood all over his body and is really no different from Cheney in that regard--a staunch advocate for Empire. I cannot say I'm surprised. The parallel with 2000 is eerie: Bush was touted as being inexperienced on Imperial Policy, which led the way for Cheney to annoint himself as Veep candidate. The same now with Obama/Biden, although it seems Biden didn't select himself and has never been in the Executive. Not quite two and a half months to go. Plenty of time for another provocation intended to bolster Big War's choice of McCain/Romney.
So, we have the definitive Democratic cold warrior running for Vice President. Now for war in Afghanistan forever, behind a united Democratic ticket. Imagine how pleased I am.
Contrast that approach - calling up the scholar - with Cheney's mode of choosing energy policy advisers. Biden calls someone who's spent a lifetime seeking understanding; Cheney calls industry insiders who've spent a lifetime figuring out how to squeeze another buck out of what's happening.
This is fresh air!
No comments on informed comments!
As a regular reader, let me de-lurk for a moment and thank you for your informed comments on Senator Biden, and your congratulations on his pick as VP candidate. It is a done deal, and I support it. Much better than Cheney, No?
I worked for Joe Biden for three years. His gaffe rate is actually low, and his speech is always articulate and highly intelligent.
The present incumbent of the White House can't come close to Biden's powerful intellect. He was the fastest study and easiest person to brief I ever worked for.
Funny poem regarding Bushisms. I don't know who made it.
Make the Pie Higher
I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen
And uncertainty
And potential mental losses.
Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the internet
Become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?
They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish
Can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope
Where our wings take dream.
Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher!
Make the pie higher!
"We have had a president for nearly 8 years who has committed almost nothing but gaffes, every day, all day."
Gaffes were bad enough to gag, but his intentional antics were horrific.
"Mission accomplished."
"WMDs, where could they be? Are they here under the lecturn?" (National Press Club.)
"I hereby pardon Scooter Libby."
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