Between a Rock and a Biden

Normally politicians work their butts off seeking election, then vacation. We've seen Barack Obama do this, campaigning 24/7 in 2008 then enjoying the good life for four years as a resident of the White House and only scheduler for Air Force One. In the current election cycle, he's working every minute and every angle to assure the good life does end prematurely.

But what of Joe Biden? Is he working the campaign trail as though his future depends on it?

Curiously, no. Joe Biden is on vacation at the beach this week. He was on vacation for a week last month, too.

Joe's acting as though he doesn't have a stake in this one.

I wonder...

The Death of the Democrats' Smartest Man

The death yesterday of Robert Strange McNamara, architect of the quagmire and tireless proponent of MAD, leaves Vice President Joe Biden as the smartest politician among Democrats.

Mr. Biden is followed closely by Rep. Barney Frank.

President Obama ranks just out of the top ten.

Sorry, I don't have the slightest idea who the others are.

President Obama Disses VP Biden

There's no question that Barack Obama stuck a fork in Joe Biden at his initial press conference this evening. Asked by Major Garrett about which conversation between them Joe Biden referenced last week with his comment that they faced a 30% chance of error, President Obama answered that he didn't know what Joe was talking about, and gratuitously continued, "No surprise there."

There was an audible gasp from the assembled reporters and the President immediately realized his mistake.

Slow Joe has already worn out his welcome.

Catholic One Day a Week

Whether politicians are Catholic or Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim or Mormon, Baptist or Anabaptist matters to me less than the number of days a week they practice their religion.

Selective faith, convenient faith, faith that minds the clock and the calendar is less than no faith at all.


Faith doesn't fit the person, the person attempts to fit the faith.

More politicians need to learn that the goal is not to claim God for one's own, but to claim one's own for God.

Joe Biden is Not a Patriot

Let me be among the first to question Joe Biden's patriotism. Oh sure, it's not considered nice to question whether or not a politician's patriotic. But the time has finally come to leave nice behind and look at Mr. Biden's reality!

Joe Biden defines patriotism as a willingness to pay more tax, to pony up.

Well, I've reviewed Senator Biden's federal tax returns for the past ten years. America's been good to him, very literally and particularly. Most of his income has come from you and me, from the taxes we pay. So I can understand why he might define patriotism in a peculiarly narrow way.

Funny thing, though. Not once in those ten years has Mr. Biden chipped in any extra voluntary tax dollars beyond the barest minimum called for by law. Not once has Joe Biden felt compelled to express his patriotism with his tax dollars. In fact, Joe Biden has used hundreds of thousands of dollars of itemized deductions to reduce his taxes. In ten years of filings Senator Biden has claimed $550,000 in deductions, the sole purpose of which were to reduce his taxes by about $150,000 below the statutory level. No one has forced him to take itemized deductions. He chose to, in order to pay less.

Less tax = less patriotism. Simple as that, at least according to Joe Biden.

Now, what kind of man defines a virtue one way but openly practices exactly the opposite?

Certainly not, in this case, a patriot.

Senator Biden, I know patriots. I know you. And Senator Biden, your patriotism is exceeded by your self-regard. Substantially so.

Where Did The Flags Come From?

There's a bit of a brewing tempest about 12,000 flags discovered in the trash after the Democratic convention in Denver. Fox News reports that the Democrats tossed them in the trash.

The Obama campiagn says they didn't toss the flags in the trash, that they wouldn't mistreat the flag like that.

Here is AP photo number 467 from the last night of convention. The AP caption reads

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., his wife, Jill, center, and Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., applaud during talk on the final night at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008.

You decide.

There are at least three people in this photo who apparently care less about the flag. Can you name them?

First Photo: Sarah Palin with Joe Biden

Here's the very first photo of Governor Sarah Palin together with Senator Joe Biden, taken immediately after their first debate.

Biden's the one hanging on the back of the sofa.

The little guy in front? A crab called Messiah. Just an appetizer for the Barracuda.

On the East Coast, they define "mean" as the way you talk.

Westerners have a little take on the meaning of the word.

Alaska: Coldest State, Hottest Governor

There's been much discussion of the female voters who might find the Republican ticket more attractive with the addition of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to the team.

Less well covered is her potential for attracting men who, faced with a choice of listening to (and looking at) Joe Biden or Sarah Palin, will vote with their eyes and hope that in her new role she spends little time in undisclosed secure locations and plenty of time on TV.

The mysogynists among us, who seem over-concentrated in New York media and liberal elites, will object that she obviously can't be smart enough or tough enough to play with the boys on an equal basis. This is where they make the error that keeps on giving. Whether with women or with minorities, they presume that skills and abilities are not enough to explain success.

This is where Barack Obama and Joe Biden are particularly at risk. Their arrogance drives them to believe much of themselves and less of everyone else, especially those they define as disadvantaged. By selecting Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain will attract the attention of voters to the McCain-Palin ticket, a team populated by real people with real accomplishments.

If I were John McCain, I'd make an effort to have her standing alongside for every major media event.

Difficult Questions for Candidates

So far, the most difficult question the legacy media has dredged up for Senator McCain is about the number of houses he owns. Apparently, McCain needed to refresh his knowledge of his wife's investment portfolio and he stumbled through his response.

Compare that with Joe Biden's silver-tongued and completely voluntary observation regarding the total number of articulate, bright and clean African-Americans who have ever run for President: one.

As he said at the time, "That's storybook, man."

Why Biden For A Change?

The question resonates amongst the few dozen fanatics actually watching the news develop on this glorious Saturday:

Why did Barack Obama choose Senator Joe Biden for a campaign of hope and change?

The answer:

Because Robert Byrd has too much baggage.

As already mentioned, you really can't make this stuff up.

Obama Takes a (News) Dump

Q: What do you suppose would be the reaction from the legacy media if the Bush Administration waited to release major news until late on a Friday afternoon?

A: Dick Cheney is trying to hide something.

Q: What if they released the news at 1:30 AM on a Saturday morning?

A: Dick Cheney is trying to hide something big.

Q: Have you heard the news that Barack Obama has picked Senator Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate?

A: No, I hadn't heard? When did he announce that?

The best description so far: Smug and Plug.

Biden as Julius Ceasar

For millenia, first-year students of Latin have memorized Julius Caesar's second most famous quote

Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres

as part of their effort to understand the greatest general of all time and the language he spread throughout the world.

All Gaul is divided into three parts is the opening sentence of Caesar's formal report on the Gallic Wars to the citizens of Rome more than 2,000 years ago.

Leave it to Slow Joe Biden, he of the hurricane mouth, to recast Caesar's observation into what is easily the very worst strategy ever suggested for the war in Iraq. Biden's plan for Iraq was worse even than Barack Obama's, a difficult threshold indeed.

Where Obama suggested that the U. S. drop everything and immediately walk away from Iraq, which has since magically morphed into a 16 month process, Senator Biden took it a step further. In a May 2006 op-ed in the New York Times, Biden made clear his disdain for the Bush administration

It is increasingly clear that President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq. Rather, he hopes to prevent defeat and pass the problem along to his successor.

Then he pushed his own five-step plan to first divide Iraq into three pieces, none strong enough to survive, then walk away.

Today, Biden's idea sounds as shallow as a Presidential bench that can seriously consider a Barack Obama as its first choice. What's amazing is the man who ran it up the flagpole two years ago is unable to see how times and events have passed him by.

But that may be why he's called Slow Joe. He's bedazzled by his own brilliance.