Tag: Joe Biden

Last night Barack and Joe spoke, and even though a short interview they covered alot of ground.

In their first interview together as running mates, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joseph Biden discuss their roles and strategies for the upcoming presidential election. Steve Kroft reports.

What exactly was the point of last week’s announcements for vice presidential picks?  On one hand we have a shell of a candidate promoting “change” but doing everything in his power to establish himself as an establishment candidate, picking a Washington, D.C. insider with a record of corporate whoring and unquestioning support for U.S. imperial policy.  Small wonder Barack Obama is either neck-and-neck with or trailing John McCain in the polls; he insists on turning off the very people he needs to put him over the top, including the Clinton supporters.  On the other hand we have the Republican candidate picking a “hockey mom,” with even less political experience than his Democratic counterpart (the very thing he chides his rival for), just so he can pander to the bloc of Clinton supporters inclined to vote for McCain out of spite.

In all the hype and bluster, though, one important question remains: what does either VP pick actually add to the ticket?  Joe Biden, a typical DLC insider with a hawkish foreign policy record and a habit of voting for bills that hurt working Americans, is just the sort of candidate likely to further alienate progressives – the very people Obama needs to put him over the top against McCain.  Assuming progressives will get behind the Democratic nominee simply because he and his followers choose to deny any other alternative exists has always been a recipe for disaster.  Just ask Al Gore and John Kerry.  Obama has done everything he can to blow this election by turning off all those who put their faith and hopes in him thinking he represented a departure from the DLC.  Picking Biden, though it allows for a tough yet compliant attack dog in the general election who makes up for a perceived lack of experience, really does nothing for the Democratic nominee’s chances.

Then there’s Sarah Palin.  I get that she was tapped to be McCain’s veep because of her youth and sex, but those are really the only two things she has going for her as a candidate.  As Michael Moore explained to Keith Olbermann the other night, McCain’s cynical pander is based on the assumption that American women are stupid – that they’ll vote for a woman because of her gender and not her politics.  Her record and positions are typically extreme right-wing: opposed to abortion rights, opposed to gay marriage, supports tax cuts for the wealthy and police state thuggery, among other horrendous policies.  None of those qualities, however, have won a presidential election – not for the past sixteen years, anyway (the last two were rigged, so they cannot be counted on as legitimate examples of right-wing extremism winning anything).  Women who actually care about their reproductive rights and are offended by Stepford wife-type politicians may be galvanized to vote against McCain and his so-called “hockey mom.”  There’s also her firing of Alaska’s public safety director, Walter Monegan, for refusing to fire her former brother-in-law.  This scandal is so outrageous there that the Alaskan legislature is investigating what the Washington Post is dubbing Palin’s own “trooper-gate.”

This may be the first time since George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton that a Republican candidate blew an election by dubious virtue of being dumber than his Democratic counterpart, but don’t count McCain out yet; there are plenty of caging lists, hackable electronic voting machines, and bought state secretaries with which to steal this election, along with a Democratic rival who insists on replaying the Kerry campaign.

Original article, by Justin Raimondo and sub-headed “Is there a curse on the office of the Vice President?”, via antiwar.com:

The office of the Vice President has surely undergone a transformation in recent years: from Dan Quayle to Dick Cheney is a long way to travel. The role of the VP, with Cheney acting as the eminence grise of the Bush regime – and, some would say, the real President – has been amplified to the nth degree, and it looks like the administration of Barack Obama is going to continue this ominous tradition.

Today we saw who John Airbus McCain picked for as his Vice Presidential candidate.  The selection of Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin effectively negates further discussion about Barack’s so-called lack of experience.  The talking heads are say that at the end of the day it’s who is at the top of the ticket that folks will be voting for.  That is true, but I think that misses something very important.

In case you missed these powerful words from Two of our Countries Dedicated Veterans of the Current Occupation Theaters.

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan can be Proud of these two, your brother and sister Veterans, as can the Families of All who are Serving and have Served, for You All are the Only Ones Sacrificing as this Country refuses to understand that Sacrifice!

The ‘Honorable Cause’ is the protection of your brother’s and sister’s as they protect you, in any conflict theater this nation sends those that serve it, wrong or right!

This Country must Now make it Right for All of You, it has Shirked It’s Full Responsibility for far too long, from Korea to the Present Day, that must End!!

Originally posted on Citizen Orange.

Nativists beware! At this moment, migrant bloggers from across the nation are invading the Democrat National Convention in Denver, Colorado. 

They bring crime and disease with them.  Thinking freely is their crime, and they are spreading the infectious diseases of truth and justice.  These migrants are taking jobs and traffic away from other bloggers.  They are parasites taking advantage of free services like wireless internet connections.  They should all be locked up in Denver’s, “Gitmo on the Platte” and deported back to their home states.

Oh man, I could keep this parody of nativist speak going, but it wouldn’t do justice to what my esteemed blogmigos are in the midst of accomplishing. 

Liza Sabater, of Culture Kitchen, has been able to put a remarkable team of bloggers together to cover the DNC through her connections with Kenneth Cole’s Awearness Blog.  Kai Chang of Zuky and Nezua of The Unapologetic Mexican are part of the team.  Maegan La Mala of Vivir Latino, and Kety Esquivel of Cross Left, will also be making apperances.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mentioned that my esteemeed and respected friend, XP of Para Justicia Y Libertad, was able to find his way to Denver through his connections with Scholars and Rogues. 

If these names seem familiar to you, look no further than The Sanctuary’s Who We Are page to refresh your memory.  The Sanctuarysphere has invaded the Democrat National Convention.

Original article, sub-headed What ‘new politics’?, by Justin Raimondo via antiwar.com:

To anyone who really believed Barack Obama’s candidacy represented “hope” and “change,” the selection of Joe Biden as his running mate should put that illusion to rest. Antiwar activists point to Biden’s vote in favor of authorizing Bush to go to war with Iraq, but even worse was his behavior in the run-up to the invasion.

NOTE: Raimondo heavily hyperlinks inside the original article (as he does with all of his articles for antiwar.com).

Back a few years ago I went Absolutely Livid, have many many……………….. times from the first beat of the War Drums, this time while watching the CBS ‘Face the Nation’ sunday show. While the blood had rushed to my head I waited, impatiently, for the transcript to come up on their site. When it finally did, I quickly copied and pasted it to an e-mail and sent it out, but that didn’t quell the Absolute Rage. I wanted more who hadn’t seen it to get as Pissed as myself so I tried thinking of online News outlets, some just coming into being, to further trying to get this report out to as many eyes and minds as possible, one was a fairly new outlet, the Huffington Post. A few hours later, to my surprise, and still Royally Pissed at what was reported, I receive an E from the Huffington Post that they were going to run with it, saw very little that day and ensuing days from the MSM about this incident as told by Senator Biden to Bob Schieffer.

Huffington posted it on June 20, 2005 at 10:11 PM {you gotta love google, I didn’t keep the story, but a quick search and there it was}

Well, it seems every time I turn around, Obama has hit a new nadir in my opinion of him.  

Right now, the news folks are all falling all over one another talking about what a great VP pick Joe Biden is.  And maybe they are right.  Perhaps, in some way that I don’t fathom, picking a long-term Senator and repeat failed Presidential candidate from a state which is a slam-dunk for the Democratic nominee, and is worth a mighty three electoral votes, is brilliant.  Perhaps this man, who rambled on for over 40 minutes when he had his chance to grill Sam Alito before the Senate Judiciary Committee without asking a single question, will really be the brilliant political attack dog that the media says he will.

What troubles me regardless of whether they are right or wrong is that Biden has a terrible history of “leadership” in the War on Drugs, still America’s longest-running and most utterly failed war.  Biden was the author of the awful Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (also known, sadly, as the “Biden Act”).  This act included the massive expansion of capital punishment, adding sixty different crimes to the list of those for which Federal prosecutors could seek the death penalty.  It eliminated the ability for prisoners to get grants for education while incarcerated.  Biden is also the Chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus, and as the head, was the brilliant person who created the cabinet position of “Drug Czar”.  He has remained, throughout his career, an ardent drug warrior, sponsoring the RAVE Act in 2003, and leading the attempt to make steroids such as androstenedione, which were abused by professional baseball players, illegal under Federal law.

In other words, exactly the person who was leading the charge to put millions of black men, who experiment with marijuana and cocaine, just like Barack Obama, in prison.  Just the sort of person who has been repeatedly accused by the ACLU and other civil libertarians of drafting laws which abridge the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.

So, maybe the talking heads are right, and Biden is the correct choice for Obama’s political benefit.  But, from all the available evidence, I believe that Sen. Biden is exactly the sort of person who should not be advanced any further than he has been by anyone with the interests of American citizens at heart.

“I want to publicly acknowledge Hillary Clinton for the outstanding race that she has run.

“She is a great senator from New York she is an extraordinary leader of the Democratic party and she has made history alongside me over the last 16 months and I’m very proud to have competed against her.”

—Barack Obama on Hillary Clinton

“I know Senator Obama understands what it is at stake here. It has been an honor to contest these primaries with him. It is an honor to call him my friend.”

—Hillary Clinton on Barack Obama

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, two of the ablest politicians in recent memory, have declared an end to hostilities. Understanding that they share the same goals, with some respectful disagreement on how to achieve these goals, they are beginning the process of coming together to form a united front against John McCain in the fall.

As passionate partisans, it is now time for us to follow their lead and start the reconciliation process among the netroots so that our country can turn abruptly away from the edge of the cliff it’s been skating along these past few years of the Bush administration, and start heading in a direction that restores our values and reunites our country.

That’s why I say: Obama Me With Fries!