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WOW. OBAMA WAS REALLY BIDEN HIS TIME.
Sorry, I had to do that headline. Sorry.
What I'm looking forward to with Joe Biden on the ticket: Photo-ops with his sprawling family. Biden reminding everyone that his son is deploying to Iraq in October....and he still supports withdrawal. And sure, the occasional hilarious verbal gaffe.
How he'll be attacked: For recommending to John Kerry that John McCain should have been his running mate in 2004. That'll lose him some credibility in criticizing McCain this time around.
If you're looking for some Biden reading, check out my dispatch from the Iowa campaign trail with Biden last January. It was a blast. And here's even more Biden.
Goodnight everyone!
--Dana Goldstein
COMMENTS (8)
The thing about Biden supporting Kerry/McCain is a little tricky, but some good messaging can probably remedy it.
He can say that any ticket would have been better than a second Bush term, and come out looking prescient, and he can use the statement to give lip service to bipartisanship(since thats still considered a virtue outside the blogosphere) or a unity government in a time of crisis. More importantly, he can highlight all the ways McCain has reversed his more independent positions since the recommendation and embraced, literally and figuratively, Bush. "If I knew then what I knew now" isn't the most satisfying excuse(undermining as it does claims of judgement), but there's enough evidence that a convincing case could be made.
And wasn't there a period before 2004 that MCCain made more a pronounced break with Bush than he does now?
"I had thought at the time that perhaps that McCain was showing real independence, but it now looks like he was just in a snit over 2000 still."
Posted by: Harry_the_Hop | August 23, 2008 3:55 AM
Senator TransUnion chooses Senator MNBA Maybe Joe will be in charge of revisiting the 2005 bankruptcy law.
Looking forward to more hope and change
Posted by: all that hype and we get Biden | August 23, 2008 4:21 AM
All they have to say is, "That was a different John McCain." Because it was. We've seen two or three different John McCains since then.
Posted by: pk | August 23, 2008 10:58 AM
I believe Peggy Noonan, and probably ten other scribes, beat you to the "Biden his time..."
Posted by: Dolphin Boy | August 23, 2008 2:37 PM
All they have to say is, "That was a different John McCain." Because it was.
Steve Benen's more specific version of this is "When I said this, McCain opposed Bush's tax policies, didn't plan to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years, wanted the Republican Party platform to be less extreme on abortion rights, supported affirmative action, and rejected the religious right. McCain has since reversed course on all of those issues. I liked the old McCain a lot better than the new one."
Posted by: Allen K. | August 23, 2008 2:52 PM
I will never forget Biden's support for the completely evil bankruptcy bill. But I know that the majority of Americans have no nerves in their wallets and can't feel the banks' leechlike presence there.
If the electorate (or at least, say, 35% of them) would get a f'ing clue and understand the depth of the contempt in which they are held by the current power structure, then I'd say yeah, throw Biden over the side.
Meanwhile, we're among sheep, and if you want to move the herd farther from the butchers, you have to think in terms of what will actually accomplish that. Discussions that require more than ten seconds' interruption of Sports Center or MTV aren't going to cut it.
Posted by: Fingal | August 23, 2008 6:58 PM
you know what i am really looking forward to?
pictures of obama and biden wearing sunglasses together. they look so badass.
Posted by: invisible_hand | August 23, 2008 9:30 PM
“Young black prick chooses old white prick. Film at eleven.”
Posted by: Anonymous | August 23, 2008 10:28 PM