Video: Biden explains the War on Terror

posted at 7:00 pm on April 7, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

Have things gotten so bad in this administration that Joe Biden has to unwind gaffes?  Janet Napolitano and Hillary Clinton announced that the US no longer would use “war on terror” to describe the fight against al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other affiliated terrorist groups.  Napolitano went so far as to eschew “terrorism” altogether in favor of “man-caused disasters”.  CNN tried getting VP Biden to explain this, and while not accusing CNN of making it up, clearly he couldn’t believe anyone would be this stupid:

I guess Joe’s not on board with the “man caused disasters” nomenclature.  Let’s see if we can find a euphemism for terror that Joe can swallow:

  • Grievance eruptions
  • Unplanned emergency-procedure exercises
  • Sympathy opportunities
  • Social Security reduction efforts

Any others?

Blowback

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Democratic activist activities.

Realist on April 7, 2009 at 7:02 PM

I guess Joe’s not on board with the “man caused disasters” nomenclature. Let’s see if we can find a euphemism for terror that Joe can swallow:

* Grievance eruptions
* Unplanned emergency-procedure exercises
* Sympathy opportunities
* Social Security reduction efforts

ROFL…good ones.

ddrintn on April 7, 2009 at 7:03 PM

Isn’t it funny how Afghanistan and Pakistan, when put together like that, looks like a mushroom cloud?

flipflop on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

Weaker? almost 8 years with no attack? What a windbag with plugs. He did tell Clinton and Napolitano to sit down and shut up though!

Frances on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

Something’s wrong though when Joe Biden is the model of sanity. LOL

ddrintn on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

Unfortunate Adversarial Events

Undesirable Catastrophic Occurrences.

Unforeseen Actions of Foreign Nationals

Disruptive Social Incidents

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

Have things gotten so bad in this administration that Joe Biden has to unwind gaffes?

Gotten bad? Have you seen the polls? They are owning the Pubs.

True_King on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

I see Joe’s adopted Obama’s pronunciation of TolleyBahn…. or did he always say it that way?

dead-duck on April 7, 2009 at 7:05 PM

Rough Childhood Manifestations

PBoilermaker on April 7, 2009 at 7:05 PM

Ourfaultisms?

ThePrez on April 7, 2009 at 7:05 PM

Joe, you been using some of your daughter’s stash? Keep up with the program, dude! Peace.Love.Hope.Change.

SouthernGent on April 7, 2009 at 7:06 PM

Hurtful Transgression Periods

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:06 PM

Gotten bad? Have you seen the polls? They are owning the Pubs.

True_King on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

“Owning”? I don’t see it.

ddrintn on April 7, 2009 at 7:07 PM

Intended Civilian Deletion

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:07 PM

Anyone else notice that Biden is now saying Ta-li-ban the same way President Obama says it?

BadgerHawk on April 7, 2009 at 7:07 PM

Presbyterian Outrages.

Realist on April 7, 2009 at 7:08 PM

I guess Joe’s not on board with the “man caused disasters” nomenclature. Let’s see if we can find a euphemism for terror that Joe can swallow:

* Grievance eruptions
* Unplanned emergency-procedure exercises
* Sympathy opportunities
* Social Security reduction efforts

Any others?

That’s actually what Al Sharpton calls his … nevermind.

Anyway:

Population Realignment
First Responder On the Job Training
Teachable Moments
Post-Imperialist Karmic Readjustments
Global Warming Abatements
Critical Empathy Moments
Understanding Outbreaks
Enlightenment Events

TheUnrepentantGeek on April 7, 2009 at 7:08 PM

GI Joe – Gaffe Infested Joe

Josiah on April 7, 2009 at 7:08 PM

Good lord . . . Biden is without a doubt an unmitigated duffus.

rplat on April 7, 2009 at 7:09 PM

Oh, gawd… do I really want to watch this? I gotta mull this over…

ErinF on April 7, 2009 at 7:09 PM

Historical Tabulation Adjustments

ddrintn on April 7, 2009 at 7:09 PM

Anyone else notice that Biden is now saying Ta-li-ban the same way President Obama says it?

BadgerHawk on April 7, 2009 at 7:07 PM

Well, he’s close to the Arabic pronunciation

In Arabic Taliban is pronounced like

(Strong T) TAH-Li (short i)-Baan (a as in ban)

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:10 PM

If were attacked again, I wonder if everyone here is going to be consistent and support Obama passing even more unconstitutional and draconian surveillance and detention laws.

True_King on April 7, 2009 at 7:10 PM

Bush-inspired reactions

ddrintn on April 7, 2009 at 7:10 PM

I prefer sympathy opportunities to man caused disasters.

myrenovations on April 7, 2009 at 7:11 PM

That was painful to listen to…

D2Boston on April 7, 2009 at 7:11 PM

A Statistic.

One death is a tragedy. One million deaths is a statistic.

J.V. Stalin

Realist on April 7, 2009 at 7:12 PM

I’m going with Unscheduled Nondenominational Carbon Offsetting Disturbances

trubble on April 7, 2009 at 7:12 PM

Anti-Bush Direct Action

ddrintn on April 7, 2009 at 7:12 PM

The botox kinda wore off.

True_King on April 7, 2009 at 7:12 PM

US Humility Training

ddrintn on April 7, 2009 at 7:13 PM

AxelRove is gonna have to make more news of the day up to counter Joe Unplugged. Boy we sure dodged a bullet with our VP choice huh?

portlandon on April 7, 2009 at 7:13 PM

The President is awesome and without fault.

-Getaclue

/sarc

Jamson64 on April 7, 2009 at 7:13 PM

So, if, according to Biden, terrorists live in the middle east, because that’s “where the most radical” of them live, then Madrid, Bali, London, and others were what?

A mistake? An unfortunate occurence?

madmonkphotog on April 7, 2009 at 7:14 PM

Liquidation of Pesky Non-Believers

Seven Percent Solution on April 7, 2009 at 7:15 PM

John Kerry Nuisance Events

remember THAT ONE?

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:16 PM

Gotten bad? Have you seen the polls? They are owning the Pubs.

True_King on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

“Owning”? Obama has a 61% approval rating. It’s par for most presidencies at this point. In fact, Carter had an approval rating in the area of 70% about now. Democrats hold a whopping 1% advantage on the Congressional ballot. Since when do par approval ratings constitute “owning”?

amerpundit on April 7, 2009 at 7:16 PM

How about Code Pink Rally?

FontanaConservative on April 7, 2009 at 7:18 PM

Anyone else notice that Biden is now saying Ta-li-ban the same way President Obama says it?

BadgerHawk on April 7, 2009 at 7:07 PM

Yes, and have you heard Shepard Smith say “Pahk-ee-stan”. It’s weird, considering he says it with the southern accent.

And somebody needs to hook up Teleprompter II for Joe.

sherry on April 7, 2009 at 7:18 PM

BTW Give Obama a grade on the economy on MSNBC

Right now Obama is getting an “F” from the American people on this poll

William Amos on April 7, 2009 at 7:18 PM

* Undocumented peace treaty footnotes

* Rightfully outraged outrageousness

* “I kill you!”

SouthernGent on April 7, 2009 at 7:19 PM

OMG, the duffus didn’t get the memo.

d1carter on April 7, 2009 at 7:19 PM

Aren’t you glad that the adults are in charge now? \sarc\

jimmy2shoes on April 7, 2009 at 7:20 PM

SouthernGent on April 7, 2009 at 7:19 PM
hehehehe

FontanaConservative on April 7, 2009 at 7:20 PM

sherry on April 7, 2009 at 7:18 PM

Sheps close to correct as well!

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:20 PM

William Amos on April 7, 2009 at 7:18 PM

By a nice margin. MSNBC will take it down any minute.

sherry on April 7, 2009 at 7:21 PM

Let’s see if we can find a euphemism for terror that Joe can swallow:

Antisocial Conflict Opportunity Requiring Nuance (or “ACORN” for short).

malclave on April 7, 2009 at 7:21 PM

Peace Outbreaks.

ronsfi on April 7, 2009 at 7:21 PM

Sheps close to correct as well!

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:20 PM

Still sounds wierd!

sherry on April 7, 2009 at 7:22 PM

The U.S. economy will shed more jobs every single month this year but the seeds of recovery are in place, Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday.

“You’re not going to see reports this calendar year saying there was no job loss this month. That is not going to happen,” he said in an interview with CNN.

Brilliant!!!!

deidre on April 7, 2009 at 7:22 PM

Still sounds wierd!

sherry on April 7, 2009 at 7:22 PM

lol i totally agree

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:22 PM

Olive branch from the religion of peace.
Islamic Big Brother and Sister Program.
Religious negotiations.
Big Mo’s tough love.

Hog Wild on April 7, 2009 at 7:23 PM

What idiot chose Palin as VP.

O/T , if there’s only terrorist on the afgan pakistan border , why then list hamas as a terror organisation.

the_nile on April 7, 2009 at 7:24 PM

Big Mo’s tough love.

Winner!!!!!!!!

jimmy2shoes on April 7, 2009 at 7:24 PM

The U.S. economy will shed more jobs every single month this year but the seeds of recovery are in place, Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday.

Didn’t Pelosi say that we’re loosing 500 million jobs per month?

Give us a number, Plugs! Oh I forgot, Joe “J-O-B-S is a 3-letter word” Biden can’t count…

These Democrats are morons

Norwegian on April 7, 2009 at 7:25 PM

Time for Joe to get “re-educated”.
I notice in the new budget they increased the spending on duct tape, is that for Joe Biden?

right2bright on April 7, 2009 at 7:26 PM

I’m going with Unscheduled Nondenominational Carbon Offsetting Disturbances

trubble on April 7, 2009 at 7:12 PM

Ding! Ding!

wccawa on April 7, 2009 at 7:26 PM

The only thing that depresses me more than the thought of the narcissist-in-chief at the plate is that this f#$%ing idiot is in the on-deck circle.*

*just getting into the baseball spirit, now that college hoops season is over

Lurking Vet on April 7, 2009 at 7:26 PM

“What, me worry?”

Weebork on April 7, 2009 at 7:26 PM

deidre on April 7, 2009 at 7:22 PM

Don’t worry we will “save” jobs under Obama so pay no attention to all those lost jobs.

msmveritas on April 7, 2009 at 7:27 PM

Any others?

outsourced city planning.

sesquipedalian on April 7, 2009 at 7:27 PM

If were attacked again, I wonder if everyone here is going to be consistent and support Obama passing even more unconstitutional and draconian surveillance and detention laws.

If by that you mean “actions that involve aggressive surveillance of terrorist organizations” and “treating terrorists like enemy combatants not under the protection of the Geneva Convention”, then sure!

Only problem is that the people in charge now are more likely to view its own citizenry (or at least those who oppose their political agenda) in this manner. The defense will be “I won. They didn’t.”

Poor Joe. I’m not sure he realizes that he’s just a placeholder for Hillary. I’m giving him until early 2010 to step down for “personal reasons”. Maybe earlier if he makes an Amos n’ Andy joke while standing next to the TOTUS.

TheMightyMonarch on April 7, 2009 at 7:28 PM

BO better dispatch one of the TOTUSes to the VP… pronto.

stenwin77 on April 7, 2009 at 7:29 PM

Agressive nationally unencumbered misbehavers

mossberg500 on April 7, 2009 at 7:30 PM

The only man-caused disaster Joe Biden knows about is the one he sees in the mirror.

Jim Treacher on April 7, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Crises That Can’t Go To Waste

manofaiki on April 7, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Unfortunate Diversions from the Work of the American People

cadetwithchips2 on April 7, 2009 at 7:31 PM

Joe’s gonna get taken to the woodshed again.

drjohn on April 7, 2009 at 7:31 PM

overseas arrogance backlash.

the_nile on April 7, 2009 at 7:31 PM

* “I kill you!”

SouthernGent on April 7, 2009 at 7:19 PM

This one gets my vote.

mikeyboss on April 7, 2009 at 7:32 PM

“7th century adventure”

exhelodrvr on April 7, 2009 at 7:32 PM

“Hey, it’s not really their fault” moment

exhelodrvr on April 7, 2009 at 7:33 PM

“…Look, under the rubric of the war on terror, we ended up with policies…”

Oh, he’s so smart using a $60 noun in place of a run-of-the-mill one, such as – oh – RULE.

Which rhymes with tool.

tru2tx on April 7, 2009 at 7:34 PM

Foreign-inspired carbon footprint reductions.

Casualty insurance disappointments.

Smoke infestations.

Mass outbreaks of lead poisoning.

Infidel reduction days.

Harry Schell on April 7, 2009 at 7:35 PM

-Unauthorized Negativity, U.N.-

FontanaConservative on April 7, 2009 at 7:35 PM

>>>Any others?

Primal Explosives Therapy
Census Manipulation

innominatus on April 7, 2009 at 7:36 PM

Unfortunate Adversarial Events

Undesirable Catastrophic Occurrences.

Unforeseen Actions of Foreign Nationals

Disruptive Social Incidents

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

No matter what you call it, I’m certain all of this has resulted from man made global warming and the over-consumption of kool-aid.

Rovin on April 7, 2009 at 7:37 PM

“Owning”? Obama has a 61% approval rating. It’s par for most presidencies at this point. In fact, Carter had an approval rating in the area of 70% about now. Democrats hold a whopping 1% advantage on the Congressional ballot. Since when do par approval ratings constitute “owning”?

amerpundit on April 7, 2009 at 7:16 PM

I wonder what happens to that 61% when some Republicans are included in the poll?

ctmom on April 7, 2009 at 7:37 PM

Where’s Osama?

Christien on April 7, 2009 at 7:37 PM

No matter what you call it, I’m certain all of this has resulted from man made global warming and the over-consumption of kool-aid.

Rovin on April 7, 2009 at 7:37 PM

LOL

and glenn beck!

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:39 PM

“…Look, under the rubric of the war on terror, we ended up with policies…”

Oh, he’s so smart using a $60 noun in place of a run-of-the-mill one, such as – oh – RULE.

Which rhymes with tool.

tru2tx on April 7, 2009 at 7:34 PM

Yeah, and what does the war on terror have to do with that 70′s puzzle cube, anyway?

mikeyboss on April 7, 2009 at 7:40 PM

Have you seen the polls? They are owning the Pubs.

True_King on April 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM

Yeah, so much so that they have to sample 20% more Democrats than Republicans in those polls in order to get the results they desire.

Thanks for the laugh.

Del Dolemonte on April 7, 2009 at 7:40 PM

tru2tx,
It’s called the “rubric con”. It’s an ancient method of fooling your enemies into agreeing with you.

Undoubtedly President Obama learned about it in his studies of ancient history, probably when reading about Julius Caesar. Caesar used this methodology successfully; in fact he put his own twist on it and “crossed the rubric con.”

If you were as smart as Obama, you would know that.

exhelodrvr on April 7, 2009 at 7:41 PM

outsourced city planning.

sesquipedalian on April 7, 2009 at 7:27 PM

*Outsourced community organizing

*Chicccckennnnns coming hoooome to roost!

SouthernGent on April 7, 2009 at 7:42 PM

The only policy that has made us less safe was electing Obama and this dufuss.
Listen to Joe without watching the video. He sounds like a confused alzheimers patient.

izoneguy on April 7, 2009 at 7:43 PM

John Kerry Nuisance Events

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:16 PM

Here’s a Golden Oldie

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=52057

PRESIDENT-ELECT John F. Kerry’s rise to the nation’s highest office came as little surprise following almost four years of remonstrations against President George W. Bush for his bizarre attack on the defenseless people of Afghanistan.

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, was the right man for a nation outraged by the Bush administration’s pre-emptive war, which, it now seems clear, was based on highly speculative intelligence that Saudi Arabian- born terrorist Osama bin Laden was planning an attack on the United States.

Absent absolute proof of such an imminent attack, Bush’s Sept. 10 bombing of Afghanistan earned him international condemnation and, in all likelihood, an indictment in coming weeks. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, appearing last night on “Larry King Live,’ said the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal likely would bring charges of genocide against Bush.

Bush also faces federal charges at home for his baseless arrest of 19 foreign nationals, many of them native Saudis, whose “crime’ was attending American flight schools. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has joined the American Civil Liberties Union in a joint suit against both Bush and former Attorney General John Ashcroft, charging racial profiling, unlawful arrest and illegal search and seizure.

Kerry’s campaign mantra “You go to war because you have to, not because you want to’ clearly resonated with Americans as they tried to make sense of Bush’s Sept. 10 attack on Afghanistan. Neither the president, nor national security adviser Condoleezza Rice convincingly defended their actions during the recent “9/10 Commission’ hearings, which Congress ordered in response to public outcry.

The commission’s purpose was to try to determine what compelled the president to launch a war against Afghanistan. What kind of intelligence suggested that such an act was justified?

The main target of the attack was bin Laden, friend to Afghanistan’s brutal Taliban regime, as well as al-Qaida training camps in that war-ravaged nation. Al-Qaida, an international terrorist network, has been blamed for numerous attacks on U.S. interests, including the USS Cole bombing, which killed 17 sailors.
Even though Bush’s military campaign was successful in ending the oppressive Taliban regime, bin Laden apparently escaped and al-Qaida continues to flourish.
Some intelligence sources speculate that bin Laden’s operatives may be trying to secure weapons of mass destruction from Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

Even though Saddam continues to send money to the families of Palestinian terrorists and is believed to have programs for developing WMD, Kerry says he is committed to containing Saddam through continued sanctions and the U.N. oil-for-food program.

In any case, experts say that intelligence about Saddam’s WMD program is just as speculative as was the intelligence that prompted Bush to attack Afghanistan. The man credited with sounding the alarm on bin Laden and al-Qaida was Richard Clarke, a counterterrorism expert who has served four presidents, including Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush and William Jefferson Clinton.

In a Jan. 25 memo to Rice, for instance, Clarke urged immediate attention to several items of national security interest: the Northern Alliance, covert aid, a significant new ’02 budget authority to help fight al-Qaida and a response to the USS Cole.

At Rice’s and Clarke’s urging, Bush called a meeting of principals and, after “connecting the dots,’ decided to wage war against Afghanistan.

What did the dots say? Not much, in retrospect. Apparently, the president decided to bomb a benign country on the basis of “chatter’
that hinted at “something big.’

With no other details on the “big,’ and weaving together random bits of information from a variety of questionable sources, Bush and company decided that 19 fundamentalist Muslim fanatics would fly airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon on 9/11.

Under questioning by the “9/10 Commission,’ Clarke denied that his memo was anything more than a historical overview with a “set of ideas and a paper, mostly.’ The bipartisan commission concluded, therefore, that Bush’s “dot-connecting’ had destroyed American credibility and subjected the United States to increasing hostility in the Arab-Muslim world.

Last week, Saddam Hussein and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat joined French and German leaders in condemning Bush and urging American voters to cast their ballots for regime change in America. Kerry was the clear response to that call.

In a flourish of irony and the spirit of bon vivant for which the new president is widely known, Kerry gave his acceptance speech from Windows on the World, the elegant restaurant atop the World Trade Center’s Tower One.

Del Dolemonte on April 7, 2009 at 7:44 PM

Warranted Acts of Grievance Reprisal

Understandable Results of American Foreign Policy

Expression of Dissatisfaction

Displeasurable Happenings in American Metropolitan Areas

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:45 PM

He started it!

No I didn’t, he did!

Liar, liar pants on fire….

clinker46 on April 7, 2009 at 7:47 PM

Thing That Will Go Unnamed.

Actions Taken By Asian Youths

blatantblue on April 7, 2009 at 7:48 PM

outsourced city planning.

sesquipedalian on April 7, 2009 at 7:27 PM

The City of New Orleans actually tried this once. The details are too bizarre to even go into here. They actually hired a city planner consultant from another part of the country ro re-plan for them.

Suffice to say, it didn’t work.

Del Dolemonte on April 7, 2009 at 7:49 PM

Another Biden clip I can use the next time someone argues that Palin was too dumb to be vice-president! Goody!

DarkKnight3565 on April 7, 2009 at 7:55 PM

“crossed the rubric con.”

If you were as smart as Obama, you would know that.

exhelodrvr on April 7, 2009 at 7:41 PM

Heh… got me!

;-o

tru2tx on April 7, 2009 at 7:55 PM

Star Trek Fans

Seven Percent Solution on April 7, 2009 at 7:55 PM

Let’s see if we can find a euphemism for terror that Joe can swallow:

.
Any Action Requiring Actual Leadership

dont taze me bro on April 7, 2009 at 7:57 PM

Unsolicited Demolition of Organic Resources (UDOR; pronounced oo-door)

“This evening, an UDOR occurred in Detroit resulting in the loss of 51 sources of taxable income. 317 taxable sources of income will be taking advantage of our world class national healthcare system effectively absorbing exorbitant amounts of the Medicare trustfund. Citizens are urged to assist the 317 in achieving an early, state funded, termination so that the state may recover taxes from the estates. Good night, and good luck!”

Geministorm on April 7, 2009 at 7:59 PM

human-caused challenges

cpr on April 7, 2009 at 8:16 PM

Anthropogenic Relatively Significant Events.

Maquis on April 7, 2009 at 8:19 PM

Jet to Building Accidents?

carbon_footprint on April 7, 2009 at 8:21 PM

Comment pages: 1 2