Hot Air » Blog Archive » Biden: We’ll go after the Bush administration

Biden: We’ll go after the Bush administration

posted at 11:10 am on September 4, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail about this clip of Joe Biden speaking at a campaign event yesterday in which he promised to go after the Bush administration for “violations of the Constitution”. Readers believe this to be an outrage, and perhaps it is, but for another reason altogether than what they think:

Biden’s comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats’ strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

“If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued,” Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

“[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution,” he added, “out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president — no one is above the law.”

Quite honestly, there’s nothing objectionable about this statement. Who could object to holding elected officials accountable for crimes they commit in office? In this case, Biden is completely correct — no one is above the law, and we need to make sure that we don’t set precedents that undermine that concept.

Note too that Biden says If. If violations occurred, they plan to investigate them. As long as they stick to that approach, that seems not just fair, but fundamental to good government.

However, the real story here is that Democrats have controlled Congress for almost two years now, and they have conducted investigations into these allegations. What have they found? Nothing. The 110th Congress has abdicated all of its other responsibilities to focus on witch hunts, hoping to find a Holy Grail of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Despite wasting thousands of hours and millions of dollars, they’ve come up with a big nothingburger.

The real outrage here is either that the Democrats are so deep into the tinfoil hat brigade, or that they are so incompetent. Neither of those options speak well to keeping them in leadership roles. That’s why Joe Biden answered the man’s question carefully, and in my mind, completely appropriately. If Republicans want to become a party of real reform, they’d better get used to acting on it.

Blowback

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“The 110th Congress has abdicated all of its other responsibilities to focus on witch hunts, hoping to find a Holy Grail of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Despite wasting thousands of hours and millions of dollars, they’ve come up with a big nothingburger.”

Perhaps all these distractions were the direct result of choosing another “BIG NOTHINGBURGER”—an unvetted presidential candidate?

Rovin on September 4, 2008 at 12:49 PM

“[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution,” he added, “out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president — no one is above the law.”
Yeah, not in a mean way…we were trying to get that thru your thick head back in the late 90s when BJ was obstructing justice, suborning perjury and committing treason, (as in Chinagate, etc), not just adultery and lying under oath.
I can’t wait to see the blood in the water when Sarah sinks her teeth into ol’ Joe…

Christine on September 4, 2008 at 12:51 PM

The Dems still think they are running against Bush.

gstrickler on September 4, 2008 at 12:56 PM

…”they’ve come up with a big” (FAT) “nothingburger.”… That’s better.
Wimpy comes to mind: I’d gladly pay you Toosdey for some dirt on Dubya today…and, did i tell you that Wimpy’s on crack?

Christine on September 4, 2008 at 12:56 PM

The lowest rated congress since ratings have been kept is spending it’s time on a vendetta. That fact isn’t so disturbing, it’s the fact that these hoodlum fascists are elected by my fellow citizens.

peacenprosperity on September 4, 2008 at 1:00 PM

In a closed cage fight, Sarah Palin would beat the crap out Wilmington street fighter, Joe plugs.

On prosecuting, watch what you wish for Plugs, because it’s public knowledge about your corrupt Chicago connections!

byteshredder on September 4, 2008 at 1:01 PM

So, Joe doesn’t write his own campaign ads? Apparently he doesn’t even read them.

bloggless on September 4, 2008 at 1:02 PM

The only thing that fuels the Democratic party is hate.

Hmm soubds alot like the Terroists to me.
I guess you can now call Democrats Terroists.

Or just plain idiots.

Rick007 on September 4, 2008 at 1:03 PM

Anybody read “A State of Disobedience” by Kratman?

The “going after the previous officeholder” meme is addressed therein.

Interesting book.

Mew

acat on September 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM

The derangement will be their undoing. Perpetually running against Bush is running into the past. People can figure it out.

rrpjr on September 4, 2008 at 1:11 PM

I’ve looked and looked, and for the life of me I can’t find Bush on the ballot. Must be a senior moment. /sarc

Steve Z on September 4, 2008 at 1:17 PM

Ed claims Biden is addressing something sane and proper, but I disagree. If you listen to the entire answer in the video here, you hear Biden explain that they’re gathering information and going through it with a find-tooth comb. He’s talking about millions of documents.

Which President’s administration suffered this sort of scrutiny without some prior, clear indication of criminal activity? Which suffered it even with some indication of criminal activity? Where, exactly, does Biden evince a proper role of Congress to carefully scrutinize millions of documents looking, hoping for some indication that a crime has been committed?

This is not legitimate review, no matter how carefully Biden attempts to wrap it in non-committal language. This is a witch hunt. It’s obsessive. It’s deranged. And, even if it’s not strictly unconstitutional, every signer of our Constitution would regard it as gross dereliction of duty on the part of Congress.

I’ve written of this matter as a possible cause of civil war. If our chosen leaders are to be prosecuted by their opposition for what amounts to policy differences, what’s the point of remaining cooperative members of the body politic?

philwynk on September 4, 2008 at 1:25 PM

Actually, he even got the definition of “estopped” wrong.

logis on September 4, 2008 at 1:25 PM

The impeachment/arresting Bush/Cheney line has been played out and even the liberals know that their democratic leadership is only playing this line for votes and money.

One of the bumper stickers on my Avalanche is :
How’s that impeachment going DUMB…(Picture of a donkey/democrat).
Really pisses liberals off because it smashes their central theme of Bush lying about the war and being a war criminal.
If all of this was true,they have the power,Impeach.
PUT UP OR SHUT UP!!
They don’t so they won’t.

What really gets me mad about this clip is this blatant lying about how they always said that the surge would bring down violence but that it would not create political progress.
The surge has worked,there has been major political progress (15 of the 18 benchmarks met).Shia,Sunni,and Kurds are working together in a freely elected government.

Here’s Biden pre-surge:

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/08/23/politics/fromtheroad/entry4376910.shtml

“The surge isn’t going to work either tactically or strategically,” Biden told the Boston Globe last summer. “Tactically it isn’t going to work because … our guys go in and secure a neighborhood, but because we don’t have enough troops, we have to turn it over to the Iraqis, and they can’t hold it or won’t hold it.”

Biden called Petraeus “dead flat wrong” on the surge and said an Iraqi government made up of Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds is “not going to happen.”

Now I know liberals live in their starbucks/Berkeley bubble
but I hope he brings this idiotic line of bullsh!t he is trying to serve up here to the debates,because Palin will B!tch slap his a$$ with the truth of where he and his leader
Obama really stood when the country needed them most.

Baxter Greene on September 4, 2008 at 1:33 PM

Remember how often during the Clinton Administration, we were told how much these investigations into Bill’s criminal activity cost?

Why aren’t the Republicans tabulating the cost of DEMOCRAT investigations that have turned up NOTHING?

The only thing worthless lawyers like Obama/Biden know how to do it to litigate.

Lawyers produce nothing of value beyond conflict. The Democrat Congress is chalk full of lawyers and they’ve produced nothing.

NoDonkey on September 4, 2008 at 1:34 PM

I watched him lie on Fox & Friends when specifically asked about this issue.

madmonkphotog on September 4, 2008 at 1:38 PM

When Biden said “the troop surge is a failure” ,are we supposed to take from that “I always said it would bring down violence”.
Why is it democrats are always telling us not to pay attention to what they actually say,the actual words coming out of their mouths,but what they really meant.

You know, like when they spent all of the 90’s and after 9/11 saying Saddam was an immanent threat
and needed to be taken out because of his WMD’s/ties to terrorism.

When they voted for war.

What they really meant was,we wanted another UN resloution
and big dumb Bush tricked us into voting for war.

Do Biden’s words here leave you with the impression that he thought the surge would bring down the violence:

Biden Declares Troop Surge a Failure
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/04/biden_slams_bus.html

“The surge is not succeeding, and the president refuses to see that,” Biden declared to reporters on a conference call.

“It’s like squeezing a water balloon, you squeeze it in one place, it bulges somewhere else,” said Biden, who has advocated a decentralized federal system in Iraq.

Biden is a lying ignorant fool.

Baxter Greene on September 4, 2008 at 1:52 PM

Biden’s afraid to alienate the kook base. Sad way to end a career.

Unless, unless… you’re still running for the Senate in 2008?

Show your cards, Joe.

Did you opt for the backup plan?

jeff_from_mpls on September 4, 2008 at 2:01 PM

Hey Biden!!

I am still looking forward to seeing them post Obamas transcripts from Columbia. Where is that story? Did he fail or place so poorly that if it wasn’t for affirmative action he never would have been accepted? or was it something more…

What about those Annenburg Files?

I can see the Clintons now, voting for McCain thinking she can make a comeback in 2012.

Robyn S on September 4, 2008 at 2:04 PM

Biden doesn’t know his lying a$$ head from a whole in the
ground.

Biden: Iraq surge success a ‘fantasy’
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/11/biden_iraq_surge_success_a_fan.html

Amid reports that the U.S. military surge has helped to stabilize insurgent attacks in Baghdad and a recent Pew Research Center poll that found 48 percent of Americans now believe the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going well, up from 30 percent in February, Biden said, “This whole notion that the surge is working is fantasy.
“The surge was to provide breathing room. Breathing room for what purpose?” he asked the officials assembled from Iowa’s 99 counties. “To work out a coalition government to end this civil war.”
Biden said there is “let me emphasize, no political progress among the major factions” in trying to govern Iraq. Biden has long supported a decentralized federal government system for Iraq.

Here is the reality that democrats like Biden can’t handle:

Remember Those Iraqi Benchmarks? Well, Guess What…
June 17, 2008 – by Abe Greenwald
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/remember-those-iraqi-benchmarks-well-guess-what/

Then something happened. The gains of the troop surge allowed the Iraqi government and citizenry to implement the security measures and legislative acts called for by the U.S. The benchmark line of argument quietly died. Here, then, is the brief life and glorious death of the great benchmark trope.

Baxter Greene on September 4, 2008 at 2:09 PM

Hey Biden,even your liberal activists cohorts in the press
have to accept the reality of what is going on in Iraq:

NYT: “The surge, clearly, has worked”
posted at 10:50 am on August 22, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/22/nyt-the-surge-clearly-has-worked/

The result, now visible in the streets, is a calm unlike any the country has seen since the American invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in April 2003. The signs — Iraqi families flooding into parks at sundown, merchants throwing open long-shuttered shops — are stunning to anyone who witnessed the country’s implosion in 2005 and 2006.

You feeling this yet dumba$$,or are we going to have to get
Saracuda to b!tch slap this into your ignorant head like she
did Obama last night.

How The Surge Worked
By Peter Mansoor
Sunday, August 10, 2008; B07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802918_pf.html

The increase in U.S. forces, moreover, was dwarfed by the concurrent expansion of Iraqi forces by more than 140,000 troops. Over time, Iraqi units grew more capable and increasingly took the lead in providing security, backed by coalition advisers, ground forces, intelligence and air power. Operations this spring in Basra, Baghdad, Mosul and elsewhere — though not always smooth — have demonstrated the growing effectiveness of the Iraqi army. Without the change in strategy and additional forces provided by the surge, the effort to improve the capabilities of Iraqi forces would have died stillborn, swallowed by the sectarian violence that was ripping Iraq apart by the end of 2006.

Has stuck-on-stupid Biden been right about anything.

Please Mr. “lets suck up to the Iranian’s and give them 200 million dollars after 9/11″ tell us more.

Please Mr. “lets split Iraq up along sectarian lines”,please
share more of your infinite wisdom.

Please Mr. “5 deferments/chickenhawk”,show us more of your
international expertise.

Whow,wait a second,I think I may have found something Biden
was right on:

But we can’t seem to talk about what comes next without talking about Iraq. It’s obvious we must end the reign of Saddam Hussein. It would be unrealistic, if not downright foolish, to believe we can claim victory in the war on terrorism if Saddam is still in power.
– Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. in Remarks On Saddam Hussein At The Center For Strategic And International Studies Forum, Washington, D.C., February 4, 2002
And of course Mr. Biden voted for the War in Iraq.

Typical,hypercritical,lying a$$ liberal.

Baxter Greene on September 4, 2008 at 2:25 PM

On the bright side, 4 more years of accomplishing nothing but “investigations” will give them a built-in excuse for accomplishing NOTHING. They will then say “It’s all Bush’s fault”.

GarandFan on September 4, 2008 at 2:43 PM

I’ve been wondering about a general campaign theme. Something like:

Running against Bush == Running away from John McCain

Is it true, and/or is it helpful (or could it backfire, as the term “running away” has a double meaning)?