I hope they show this nationwide:
The fact that Joe Biden said these things, and not Sarah Palin or some McCain supporters, makes it all the more powerful. The thing is, it’s the truth. The world is clamoring for Barack Obama because they want a weaker America, and once they get him, everyone isn’t going to be staying all buddy-buddy. Dictators and terrorists like Ahmedinejad and Chavez will be grinning ear-to-ear, because they’ll know they’re in the clear. And the first time Obama gets tested, what will happen?
Do we really want to know?
Hat Tip: Hot Air
The fair and balanced government funded PBS will be supplying the moderator for tomorrow night’s vice presidential debate. Meet Gwen Ifill, Obama groupie and author of the book Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Here’s the summary of the book:
“In The Breakthrough, veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama’s stunning presidential campaign and introducing the emerging young African American politicians forging a bold new path to political power…Drawing on interviews with power brokers like Senator Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the ‘black enough’ conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history.”
And here’s Ifill talking about her book:
Now, I wonder if Gwennie could have just the teensiest interest in seeing an Obama victory… to bolster her book sales, perhaps? All she’s done this election season is absolutely fawn over Barack Obama, whereas she couldn’t have been more condescending and dismissive towards Sarah Palin. Her attitude was so obvious that PBS was flooded with complaints, and the ombudsman had to come to her rescue. Here’s the video of Gwennie’s idea of “objective” reporting:
Notice the whining over the attacking of Obama, the condescension over the chants of “Michael Steele!” and “Drill, Baby, Drill!”. I also couldn’t help but notice she was speaking over the Star Spangled Banner being sung in the background. Maybe that’s no big deal to some people, but to me it is. I was a journalist before I started blogging; I did video reports all the time. And at every single sporting event I went to, the National Anthem was sung, and I would never have been talking over it. I always made a point to make sure I had stopped what I was doing so I could pay my respects. It may be petty for me to say that I find it distasteful, but I really do. They couldn’t have waited the sixty or so seconds until it was over so that they could show some respect to our National Anthem? I don’t know. Like I said, maybe that’s just me.
In any case, perhaps PBS doesn’t understand what exactly a moderator is supposed to do. A moderator is someone who is supposed to be neutral; someone who can show no bias between the two subjects, someone with no prejudice towards either of the candidates. Gwen Ifill does not fit that description. Not only is she quite obviously in the tank for Obama, she has a vested financial interest in seeing him win. Even left wing bloggers are puzzled over this:
My dear ladies and gentlemen, in Election ‘08 where partisanship is as thick as a the foundation of the Empire State Building, having a moderator that appears “so friendly” to Senator Obama just doesn’t look right and opens the door to “the fix” talk. Although Ifill isn’t one of those screaming political pundits, I’ve heard her on various radio shows (especially urban radio) where she just gushes about Senator Obama’s historic run for the presidency. And with so much riding on Governor Palin’s performance in this debate, why have someone with an Obama tilt moderate? While I’m hardly a conservative and/or Republican (I do have a smattering of some conservative views), they have every right to not like this situation. And I would say the same if the moderator was a person who gushed about a McCain presidency.
I have a hard time believing that Gwen Ifill will NOT be tougher toward Governor Palin than Senator Biden. She seems to have much vested in an Obama presidency. She is a professional. She may moderate fairly. But with today’s political environment, couldn’t PBS find someone who hasn’t written a book and articles that are clearly positive to ultra-positive towards Senator Obama?
Of course, we’ve gotta be careful of criticizing her too heavily, or she’ll play the race card. And of course, PBS apparently doesn’t understand what all the controversy is over.
This, my friends, is just another example of why journalism is officially dead.
Hat Tips: Jay at Stop the ACLU and Michelle Malkin
Joe Biden, a.k.a. Mr. Gaffetastic, is just a-full of wonderfulness already. I can’t wait to see what other kind of awesomeness we can find. Yesterday, Barack Obama and Joe Biden may have been celebrating a little too much (who knows?), because we first had Obama introducing Biden as the next President, and then Biden introducing… BARACK AMERICA!
Seeing as how Biden didn’t correct himself, I have no idea if this was intentional or not. Given the amount of arrogance and ego that permeates the campaign of the Audacity Twins, who knows? It does bring to mind this image from Ace of Spades:
It just makes you want to laugh. Apparently, the RNC thinks so too. They’ve actually added a counter — I’m not even joking — until Biden’s next gaffe onto their website. Frikkin’ awesome.
Can I just go ahead and thank the Obamamessiah for adding Mr. Gaffetastic to his campaign? This is going to be so great. I’m really excited.
Hat Tip: Newsbusters
Obama’s selection of Joe Biden presents a number of problems, but one of the biggest I can foresee if the “Washington insider” role the Obama campaign wants to paint McCain as playing. Obama’s released several ads labeling John McCain as nothing but another Washington insider. Obama’s whole campaign revolves around the hope-changeyness he can supposedly bring to Washington. It’s his attempt to turn his lack of experience into a positive. He’s not inexperienced, he’s just not a Washington insider! Washington’s broken, so we need someone fresh and new — a savior, even! — to come in and fix our political system!
The thing is, no one denies there are problems in Washington. Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, liberals: we all agree that a lot of changes need to be made. The difference of opinion is on what changes need to be made and how. And if Barack Obama wants to run his entire campaign on the empty rhetoric of “change”, then how does Joe Biden fit into that? As Erik Erickson points out at Redstate:
1. When Joe Biden entered the United States Senate, John McCain was in his fifth year of captivity at the Hanoi Hilton.
2. Barry Obama was eight when Biden began his Senate career.
3. Nixon was starting his second term as President.
Joe Biden is more of a Washington insider than McCain is. I don’t necessarily see that as a negative, but Barack Obama has been portraying it as something terrible for his entire campaign. What now? Does he change his attitude about “Washington insiders”, or does he just ignore the contradiction? It’s just another sign that Biden was not the best pick for Obama to make.
I guess we really should be celebrating Barack Obama’s pick of Joe Biden for VP. It was a not-too-bright decision on his part, but hey, it works for me. The Obamamessiah and Mr. Gaffetastic will give us lots of fun soundbites over the next few months. I mean, come on — Obama already introduced Biden as “the next President - Vice President - of the United States… “. But hey, today we’re going to have fun with Joe Biden instead.
Check out this video where Biden was talking about AIDS:
I think the money shot was the look on Al Sharpton’s face. It made me laugh. A lot.
Joe Biden is just going to be so much fun. Ace does the best job of summing up just who Biden is:
Joe Biden is a scatterbrained and socially awkward guy. He’s the guy at the party who announces, out of nowhere, “I just had some subcutaneous fat injected into my penis to increase its girth, so that’s pretty good.”
And then… the uncomfortable silence as everyone takes keen regard of their shoes and watches.
Oh, man… we’re gonna have a lot of fun over the next few months.
Hat Tip: Ace of Spades
… we’ve got Obama’s Presidential seal, volume two. It’s under images:
Did he not learn the last time? Did the selection of Joe Biden just heap more arrogance into the campaign? Or does he simply still feel like the Presidency is an inevitability for him?
Then again, the normal rules about controlling your ego and arrogance don’t apply to the Obamamessiah. He’s a savior and all, so I guess he can create his own seal. As rdbrewer commented at Ace of Spades,
Oh, look, the seal of the United States of Heaven.
That’s right. Bow down to your Savior, and submit to the will of the Audacity Twins!
Hat Tip: Alice H at Ace of Spades
The non-news story of the day: Barack Obama has selected Joe Biden to be his running mate. Yawn.
Sen. Barack Obama has selected Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, according to his official Web site and a text message the campaign sent to supporters on Saturday.
“Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee,” the text message, sent at around 3 a.m. ET, said.
“Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois — the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago,” Obama said in an e-mail sent to supporters Saturday morning.
“I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone,” he wrote. ” We need your help to keep building this movement for change.”
Before the text messages were distributed, multiple Democratic sources confirmed to CNN early Saturday that Obama wanted the Delaware senator as his vice president.
…
Sen. John McCain’s campaign quickly reacted to word that Biden would be Obama’s running mate, calling attention to Biden’s past comments about Obama’s experience.
“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden,” McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt said in a written statement.
“Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing — that Barack Obama is not ready to be president.”
Biden sure did argue against Barack. The CNN article itself has a few examples, as well as Flopping Aces:
“Who among us is going to be able on day one to step in an end the war? Who among us understands what to do about Pakistan? Who among us is going to pick up the phone and immediately interface with Putin and tell him to lay off Georgia because Saakashvili is in real trouble. Who among us knows what they’re doing? I have 35 years of experience.”
“You were asked, ‘Is he ready?’ You said, ‘I think he can be ready, but right now, I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training,’” Stephanopoulos said.
“I think I stand by that statement,” Biden replied.
“Having talking points on foreign policy doesn’t get you there.”
“It’s a well-intended notion he has, but it’s a very naive way of thinking how you’re going to conduct foreign policy. … [T]he way to deal with it is not to announce it, but to do it. The last thing you want to do is telegraph to the folks in Pakistan that we are about to violate - quote - ‘their sovereignty.’”
There’s more of that — Biden slammed Obama left and right during the primary — but it isn’t really important. There’s a lot more in the goodie bag when it comes to Joe Biden. I mean, who could forget this?
“I mean, you’ve got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a story-book, man,” Biden said.
Mm-hmm. There’s also the Indian comment:
Charming, eh? Then there was the bragging about his state being a slave state, because, you know, that will help win over South Carolina residents:
Because, you know, Southerners are just dying to get back to the good ‘ole days when we still kept slaves. For those who don’t live in reality, let me just clue you in. No southerner is proud of slavery. We don’t, however, pretend it was an exclusively Southern phenomenon, which infuriates me. But that’s another issue.
Biden also has a little problem with lying about his background and plagiarism.
Then there was also the little issue of him making the huge mistake of, well, actually telling the truth about what Democrats think of voters:
“We’ve got to trust the American people more,” Biden said.
“I think they’ve really lost faith in the American people in terms of leveling with them,” he said of his leading rivals.
When he asks groups of Democrats if they think the American people are stupid because they elected George W. Bush twice, most respond that, yes, they do, he said. He said he thinks that attitude is a real problem for the Democrats, who fail to understand how smart and pragmatic the American people really are.
Asked if he thinks, as he suggested recently in another interview, that the other candidates tend to think the American people are stupid or easily fooled, he said, “Well, I do.”
“It’s not even so much they don’t trust, which is a piece of it,” he said. It’s that they think that “the way to win is the Bill Clinton triangulation and the Karl Rove angering.”
“It’s the thesis that you go to your base because people don’t vote. Well, why don’t they vote?” he asked. He said he thinks people don’t vote because they’re tired of the way politicians treat them.
He said Democrats would do better if they stopped dividing the electorate by playing to their base and instead brought people together. He criticized the left wing of his party for demonizing the rich and Republicans.
“Rich folks are as patriotic as poor folks, but we don’t talk that way,” he said.
John McCain’s already striking with a campaign ad:
I can’t help but wonder if this was really the best choice for Barack Obama. Yes, Republicans will have a field day with this guy (he’s incredibly gaffe-prone, not to mention narcissistic), but that’s beyond the point. The Obama camp has been trying to hype up the announcement for weeks now, but they’ve waited so long that whoever they picked would’ve been a non-story. What were they thinking, making the announcement at 5:00am on a Saturday? My only guess is that they either wanted to lessen the impact or make it be the news everyone woke up to. Given the arrogance of both politicians, I’d go with the latter. There’s also going to be a noticeable lack of enthusiasm surrounding Joe Biden. He’s not a pick that gets the base fired up. He’s a safe pick, a non-threatening one, and given that Obama’s been lagging lately, you’d think that he’d want to go with someone exciting. There’s also the small problem of Biden being a major player in Washington for quite some time now. Doesn’t that contradict Obama’s meme of “not the usual politics”? I mean, it’s empty rhetoric and all, but you’d think Obama would want to go with someone who wouldn’t fit so easily into the label of politician.
Ed also makes a good point:
In fact, one has to wonder whether Obama really had made up his mind, or whether his first or even second choice didn’t turn him down. That would explain the delays in the announcement, and the apparent disorganization of Team Obama in handling an event that should have underscored the seriousness of their candidate. After all, they set the expectation that the running mate announcement would come this week, and they missed their own target.
Not only has Obama turned this into a game show, he has also now built up expectations to the point where almost any selection would be a letdown. The two rumored picks, Joe Biden and Evan Bayh, do not scream excitement. They don’t have the kind of star status that would justify this kind of NFL Draft Day engineering. Only Hillary Clinton or Al Gore might approach that kind of celebrity. Hillary would be better announced at the convention than on a Saturday afternoon, and Gore has already done the VP gig for eight years.
Obama has made a mess out of this announcement, and blown a natural opportunity to demonstrate his leadership. He also has given John McCain a wide opening to handle his own running-mate announcement in a manner which will demonstrate the Gravitas Gap which has widened considerably this month between the two candidates.
If the guy can’t even handle his own campaign, how can he handle the country?
My take is that Biden is definitely not the best pick Obama could’ve come up with.
While we all know that Democrats think of us regular people as blithering idiots (who probably worship Jesus too much and government not enough), it’s strange to see one of them actually own up to it.
Sen. Joe Biden said in an interview at the New Hampshire Union Leader this afternoon that too many Democrats, including the frontrunners for the presidential nomination, do not have faith in the American people.“We’ve got to trust the American people more,” Biden said.
“I think they’ve really lost faith in the American people in terms of leveling with them,” he said of his leading rivals.
When he asks groups of Democrats if they think the American people are stupid because they elected George W. Bush twice, most respond that, yes, they do, he said. He said he thinks that attitude is a real problem for the Democrats, who fail to understand how smart and pragmatic the American people really are.
Asked if he thinks, as he suggested recently in another interview, that the other candidates tend to think the American people are stupid or easily fooled, he said, “Well, I do.”
“It’s not even so much they don’t trust, which is a piece of it,” he said. It’s that they think that “the way to win is the Bill Clinton triangulation and the Karl Rove angering.”
“It’s the thesis that you go to your base because people don’t vote. Well, why don’t they vote?” he asked. He said he thinks people don’t vote because they’re tired of the way politicians treat them.
He said Democrats would do better if they stopped dividing the electorate by playing to their base and instead brought people together. He criticized the left wing of his party for demonizing the rich and Republicans.
“Rich folks are as patriotic as poor folks, but we don’t talk that way,” he said.
I don’t normally have much nice to say about Joe Biden, but wow — did he hit the nail on the head, or what?
See, to liberals, we’re all idiots. We can’t take care of ourselves, we can’t make rational decisions, and if the government was left in our hands, it would be a catastrophe. This inherent mistrust and condescension is easily seen by the very insistence of a liberal, socialist nanny-state — and goes against everything this country was built on. If libs thought we were intelligent people capable of running our own lives, why would they insist on putting us in a cradle-to-the-grave nanny state which does everything for us?
They want us to remain “stupid” and reliant on the government, thus the denial of the voucher system, for example. They want us to be mindless drones who worship at their altar and utterly rely on them to take care of every single little thing for us. Then, they can be the powerful, important elites looking over the masses. Then, they can celebrate themselves as champions of the “little people” and the “oppressed”. People actually thinking for themselves and being self-reliant is the worst nightmare of Shrillary, Pioneer Pelosi and crew.
The Democrats’ default attitude is to take power from the people rather than entrust power to the people. Biden is on to something in saying so.
And by the way — yes, Joe, we are sick of the way politicans treat us. I think most of us are just sick of politicians in general, regardless of which side of the aisle they sit on.
