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.

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.

Have you seen Obama’s newest ad yet? If you haven’t, take a quick look:

Obviously, it makes it look like McCain is rolling in money from oil companies. Except, well, corporations can’t make donations to federal candidates. And then there’s that small fact that Obama’s received more donations from employees of oil and gas companies than McCain has:

Much has been made of Barack Obama’s TV ad this week that accuses John McCain of being “in the pocket” of the oil industry, and yesterday the Democratic Party launched a website pairing McCain and Exxon Mobil as running-mates. While McCain has raised considerably more money from this unpopular industry, CRP was surprised to notice that it’s actually Obama who has received more from the pockets of employees at several of Big Oil’s biggest and most recognizable companies. Tallying contributions by employees in the industry and their families, we found that Exxon, Chevron and BP have all contributed more money to Obama than to McCain.

Through June, Exxon employees have given Obama $42,100 to McCain’s $35,166. Chevron favors Obama $35,157 to $28,500, and Obama edges out McCain with BP $16,046 vs. $11,500. McCain leads the money race with nearly every other top giver in the oil and gas industry.

First, why on Earth would employees of an oil company donate money to Obama? They’re donating themselves out of a job! Second, this schtick is old and tired. I wouldn’t care one little bit about the fact that employees of oil companies like Exxon and Mobil are donating to Obama except for the fact that he’s demonizing McCain for it — not only demonizing McCain, but being a hypocrite about it as well. But if he wants to make this an issue, well, then, fine.

Why is it that candidates are looked down upon for having received donations from employees of “Big Oil”? Are those Americans not allowed to donate to their candidate of choice because of who their employer is? Maybe they should just be barred from participating in the political system altogether because if they participate in any way it means that their candidate is in the pocket of Big Oil! So, you know, best to just keep them out of the process all around. They must be EEEEEVIL if they work for Big Oil!

It’s the biggest crock of you-know-what I’ve ever heard.

And is it possible for Obama to tell the truth in his campaign ads? Could he maybe do some fact-checking first? Of course, he is the Obamamessiah, and therefore above such petty things. The mainstream media surely isn’t going to hold him accountable.

Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit

Paris Hilton responds to her image being used in one of McCain’s ads… by making a campaign ad of her own! And you know what? She’s got a much more thoughtful energy policy than Barack Obama does. And they’ve probably got about equal experience when it comes to governing.

Check it out:

Scary question: if Paris and Barack were your two choices, which would you vote for? I honest-to-God don’t know who would be worse.

Best of all was the McCain camp’s response to Paris’ “ad”:

In the unkindest cut of all, McCain’s spokesperson Tucker Bounds tells TMZ that on the subject of energy, Paris is deeper than Barack. He says, “Sounds like Paris is taking the ‘All of the Above’ energy approach that John McCain has advocated — both alternatives and drilling. Perhaps the reality is that Paris has a more substantive energy plan than Barack Obama.”

Priceless. And pretty true. Folks, when Paris Hilton sounds more intelligent than the guy you’re supporting, it may be time to rethink your vote. Just a suggestion.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

He does her greatest hits, people. Get your minds out of the gutter!

This video is pretty old — the post date was January of last year. But I just saw it for the first time today, and laughed my ass off.

Enjoy:

Hat Tip: My colleague Jay Tea at Wizbang

My Obama fatigue is starting to set in. But I can’t bring myself to slam the door shut on some of these. Get the drum & cymbals ready:

“Obama bowled a 37 because he did not want to knock over the pins. He wanted to negotiate with them.”

“We live in a world where a soliloquy by Shakespeare makes you a bigot, but a monologue by a vagina makes you enlightened.”

“Here is how liberals can understand the severity of 9/11. When the nose cone of the plane entered the building, it created a hostile work environment.”

“This race is the August Senator versus the guy who has been a Senator since August.”

“Obama is so young and naive that Bill Clinton is hitting on him.”

“Of course we use 40% of the world’s energy. We have plugs. We also have things to plug into the plugs.”

I recognize that last one as a slight mod to Sam Kinison’s classic about people living where the food is (strong language warning). Whatever. The lining of truth is what makes it funny. Every city of any size has a suburb and a financial district. Define pollution in any way you want to, and there’s going to be butt-loads more of it coming from the financial district. And yet you wouldn’t propose doing away with the financial district, would you. You wouldn’t ramble on about forcing the financial district to live like the suburbs, would you. Of course not. That would hurt the suburbs, sooner rather than later. Yet somehow when we talk about the resources used by the United States in relation to the rest of the world, and how Canada and Sweden are cranky at us for spewing carbon and eating meat, somehow we imagine merit in thoughts like these…

Obviously, I don’t have the talent required to make these into punchlines.

Sayet does. Many more like those. Check ‘em…

Apparently, Vanity Fair hasn’t. All the furor over the New Yorker’s Obama “satire” cover led them to conclude that… they needed to do exactly the same thing! This time, of course, the target had to be McCain, and it had to be just as offensive. Because, you know, the most mature way to handle the offensive Obama cover — even though just about every conservative and Republican anywhere derided it — is to do the exact same thing to McCain!

Here’s the cover:

Yes, that’s McCain with bandages on his head, presumably mocking his injuries as a POW in Vietnam. Yes, he’s got a walker — making fun of his age, how original! Yes, Cindy’s got an armful of prescription pills. Yes, that’s President Bush above the fireplace. And yes, it is what you think it is burning in the fireplace.

So original. And real mature, too.

No one praised The New Yorker for the Obama cover. They got slammed for it. So why on Earth would the editors at Vanity Fair feel like attacking McCain on their cover was a good idea? Again, ever heard of “two wrongs don’t make a right”? Of course, we have to remember there’s a difference here. The media is not going to slam Vanity Fair for having an offensive cover attacking John McCain. There will be silence about this. They won’t have to deal with massive outrage as The New Yorker did, because the mainstream media will be secretly applauding the cover, even though they won’t say so in public. It’s ridiculous how openly the media is in the bucket for Obama. What’s even more sickening is how smug and condescending Vanity Fair was about this. I’m just trying to figure out what exactly they’re trying to accomplish with this. Are they trying to show off that they have the maturity of a fifth grader?

You know what, that actually makes sense, now that I think about it, because that’s probably the best way to endear other liberals to them.

Good stuff:

This is what McCain needs to keep doing. He needs to stop being timid and be willing to hammer Obama on his every deficiency. If he can do that, if he can bring every skeleton in the closet to light, poke holes in every policy plan, showcase his panderingand flip-flops, and stress his lack of experience, then he won’t have a problem winning. He’s gotta be willing to fight for it, though. And he’s going to have to say stuff like this all the time. He has to be unafraid to take Obama on. Yes, the media will hate him for it. Yes, liberals will be outraged. But he’s no longer the media darling. They don’t love him anymore; he’s no longer their adorable maverick. They have a new savior to worship. And if he wants to win, he needs to be more active. He needs to be more visible. And he needs to be pointing things like this out on a daily basis. Hammer Obama relentlessly and don’t give up. Americans won’t be finding out any negatives about Obama between now and November, so McCain needs to force the issues into the spotlight. If not, he’ll never be able to win.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

That would be fantastic! I’m dying to know who his pick will be. This can breathe so much life and energy into his campaign… or completely kill it.

On a tip from Double Plus Undead, Bob Novak says:

Sources close to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign are suggesting he will reveal the name of his vice presidential selection this week while Sen. Barack Obama is getting the headlines on his foreign trip. The name of McCain’s running mate has not been disclosed, but Mitt Romney has led the speculation recently.

The people I’d love to see are: SARAH PALIN, Bobby Jindal, Sen. Jim DeMint, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, and I’d be able to live with Mitt Romney. If he picks Joe Liebermann, which I don’t think he will but is still a possibility, well… I don’t know what I’ll do. I guess it’ll tell us where he holds the conservative base. I’d be beyond disappointed if he decided to go all maverick on us with this. He needs to pick someone who will complement him, meaning a conservative.

Mr. Hope-Changeyness himself shows us just how unlike a regular politician he is. See, these aren’t flip-flops. This is just pandering you can believe in! Like, duh!

Of course, the name John Kerry is floating around in my head right about now. Obama was just for this stuff before he was against it… before he was for it again. Or something like that. But of course, we need to remember that the Obamamessiah has charisma. And hope. And he stands for change. And that’s all we need to know. Who cares if he can’t keep his story straight on Iraq? Solid policy isn’t what’s important. Pretty speeches are much more important.

Hat Tip: Hot Air