It's so, Joe

Obama has his Cheney, although a hipper version. Folks will be pulling Biden clips from You Tube and this one will probably get a lot of play:



Yes, who can forget his "colorful cuss word reaction" to Bush's veiled suggestion at the Knesset that Obama might be a terrorist appeaser in the mold of Europeans during the Hitler days?

Of course, if you keep listening to the rest of that diatribe you'll be treated to a nice rasher of boilerplate bullshiite about how Bush increased terrorism through his policy of going after terrorists. So while he's a funny guy and one prone to shooting off his mouth at times, he's still a liberal Democrat.

His quick wit and relaxed style will be a natural for late-night talk show circuit but at the same time, it's also a liability. Wonder if they'll duct tape him after the convention, to some degree? Whatever the case, I kinda like Joe Biden and so do a lot of other bitter clingers. Which is probably the point.

Parting thought--what's left for the Clintons, aside from their roll call hopes? Revenge?

MORE 8/23/08

Will there be at least one non-Senator in the club when all is said and done? McCain might as well pick Graham or Lieberman now and be done with it.

But seriously, what does the Biden pick say about Maverick's decision? Obama had no choice but to pick a more experienced second man similar to Bush 43 in 2000, which ironically makes him now seem even more inexperienced. And unlike Bush's pick of Cheney--a quiet operator who spent at least part of his tenure at a secret location, Biden is hard to duct tape. Impossible might be the better word.

Everyone knew the RNC was going to ram the Biden clips down our throats this fall [debate clips of his bashing the unilateral attack plan for Pakistan and the on the job training comment] but since he's part of the team their effectiveness has been muted--Obama saw the light. More of his superior judgment on display.

Conversely, the conventional wisdom is that McCain needs a younger more vibrant sidekick to fill out the ticket to alleviate any age fears (McCain has the experience thing locked up). Whomever it is, this person will soon be debating with the older, experienced Biden on matters foreign and financial. Obama had an foreign policy experience problem--he fixed it with Biden. McCain has a financial experience problem and hasn't energized the GOP base--Romney is the obvious fix, like it or not.

ONE MORE THING

Obama is running as the outsider bent on fixing a broken Washington, but Romney actually IS an outsider who ran on fixing Washington. Team McCain could then say "we're actually more outsider than Obama", pointing to McCain's willingness to cross the aisle while Obama sat stoically on his own side for 2 years, and Romney's vast experience in the business world while Biden only pontificates about it in the Senate chambers. I can easily see Romney flummoxing Biden in a debate, pointing to his business acumen trumping theory, etc.

HISTORY OF JOE 08/23/08

Hard to find a better example of Biden's fieriness than this talk to firefighters in 2006, whereupon he predicts--without equivocation--a dirty bomb attack on America, which will be blamed on Republicans because they wanted tax cuts for the rich.

Or how about this one, Biden's position on abortion:

Q: Do you believe that life begins at conception?

A: I am prepared to accept my church's view. I think it's a tough one. I have to accept that on faith. That's why the late-term abortion ban, where there's clearly viability.

That church would the Roman Catholic Church, but in other words his answer was just like McCain's with more nuance. And just when Obama was facing those nasty allegations about his cold-hearted position on the infant protection act thing.