The vapidity of the “speech writer” meme
Do the Democrats really want to keep attacking Sarah Palin’s wildly successful speech on the basis that she has speechwriters?
That was the latest desperation meme surfacing in the media……

Romney is at least battle tested but Mormons, but who the hell are the book burners going to vote for anyway?

LevStrauss on August 23, 2008 at 1:24 PM

Can’t say for sure, obviously, but being one of those Christofascist “book burners” myself, I can say that whomever we choose to not vote for tends to lose rather spectacularly.

Oh, and I don’t have a problem with Romney.

Paul-Cincy on August 23, 2008 at 2:12 PM

Biden gave an ENTIRE SPEECH where he lied about events of his childhood. He stole the ENTIRE SPEECH from a British politician. Not a gaffe or ‘mis-statement’ or a simple mistake to ‘move on’ from

He stood there and spoke extensively about events from his childhood WHICH NEVER HAPPENED. Who does that?

gary fouse on August 23, 2008 at 4:33 PM

I think it was the worst pick Obama could have chose, they have the MOST EXTREME Ticket that we have probably seem in over 30 years.

Obama THE MOST LIBERAL SENATOR and Biden is the 3rd MOST Liberal! so.. 2 Extremists on 1 Ticket!

Both of them to the left of an avowed Socialist! come on.

Articulate, Bright, Clean One Chooses Serial Plagiarist
Open thread: Bright, clean, articulate nominee introduces VP in Springfield
John Miller
wanted to see that headline, so there you go. 3 p.m. ET around the
dial; if you’re tuned in,……

To be sure, Biden is not perfect. He has an abrasive personality-at least in public-and has a history of putting his foot in his mouth. This was the man who, not so long ago, described Obama as “bright, clean and articulate”-with all those unconscious racial implications. When he appears on C-SPAN talking down to witnesses in Senate Committee hearings, you find yourself wishing that someone would tell him off for his arrogance. And yes, I did refer to him in a past posting as “Joe the Jerk”. He also has an embarrassing past issue of plagiarism that will surely be brought back by his opponents.

In addition, his selection seems to contradict the whole Obama message of freshness and change that has proved so popular up to now. Biden, a 6-term senator, is pretty much Mr Insider in Washington.

Perhaps most troubling for Obama is the fact that during the primaries, when Biden was a presidential candidate, the Delaware senator publicly questioned Obama’s readiness for the presidency. Not only that, when asked about it at a debate, Biden stood by the remark-with an obviously uncomfortable Obama standing next to him. That will be sure to get a lot of play in the coming months. How many times will Biden be asked what made Obama ready to be president between then and now?

As for the other choices; Tim Kaine would have only added more inexperience to the ticket. Evan Bayh would have put everybody to sleep in the first week. Bill Richardson would have been a good choice as far as experience was concerned. Hillary? Aside from placating a few million women, Obama knew it wasn’t worth the headaches. Bill and Hillary are not comfortable in any other place but number one, and Obama knew it. He would have been crazy to choose Hillary-if she really wanted it.

Biden gives Obama precisely what he needed; someone with political and foreign policy experience plus one perceived as more to the center. (God, I hope these politicos don’t revive that word, gravitas.) A few months ago, I opined in this blog that of all the Democratic candidates, Joe Biden was probably the most qualified to be president. Given Obama’s glaring lack of experience, that consideration had to be the deciding factor in the decision. (Not that I said it, I mean rather because…….oh, never mind.)

gary fouse
fousesquawk

RBMN on August 23, 2008 at 2:12 PM

Have you seen him? Do you even know who he is? If so that puts you in the minority. First off looks wise he doesn’t look like a leader, Biden would take his lunch money and give him wedgie. The guy had a mullet until like last week. Second off I seen him on Meet the Press and there was nothing that screamed Nationwide potential to me, Sanford outperformed him and the whole time, he came off as second best choice in a room that small, and I was watched the whole time wondering why the hell they had him on there. Just like Kaine, who looks cartoonish and failed miserably when they gave him the chance at the SOTU response, he is best off staying in his home state and being successful there because that is as far as he will go besides maybe cabinet positions. McCain might win Minnesota but he’d lose other close states by making the choice. Besides is there anyone in the room who thinks he could hold his own in a debate against Biden?

If you think I am being too superficial, let’s discuss something other than election year politics, anyone who is looking for something past superficial already has their mind made up. What is the political IQ of a “swing voter”?

The real killer is that he comes from Scranton and lives right outside of Philly, so Obama just took the Philly suburbs and NEPA, two areas McCain had a chance of picking up and needed desperately to take PA.

If Obama was actually worrying about PA then McCain is in even better shape than I thought he was.

I LOVE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!