Calling Mittens on it

We all have seen just how easily lying comes to Mitt Romney.  It is nice to see the Obama campaign call him on it.  Take it away, Joe.

Romney appears satisfied to settle for an economy in which fewer people succeed, while the majority of Americans are left to tread water or fall behind. His proposal would actually double down on the policies that caused the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression and accelerated a decades-long assault on the middle class.

Romney also misleadingly suggests that the president and I are creating an “Entitlement Society,” whereby government provides everything for its people without regard to merit, as opposed to what he calls an “Opportunity Society,” where everything is merit-based and every man is left to fend for himself.

The only entitlement we believe in is an America where if you work hard, you can get ahead.

Joe Biden -- true that

Noun + verb + 911 = Rudy Giuliani

It's so sad about Giuliani's dementia.





Condolences to Mr. Biden on the loss of his mother.

Joining the club

Joe Biden:

I share the frustration of other progressives that the Senate bill does not include a public option. But I’ve been around a long time, and I know that in Washington big changes never emerge in perfect form.

Joe Biden considers himself a progressive? Welcome to the club, Joe.

Who cares?

I'm late to the party, but I have to say, Vice President Biden speaks for me:

Mr. Biden shrugged off Mr. Cheney’s point that the old administration had left behind a review of Afghanistan.

“Who cares what — ” he said, and then stopped himself to find another way to put it. (“I can see the headline now,” said the famously free-wheeling vice president. “I’m getting better, guys.”)

But he went on to dismiss the Bush-Cheney review as inadequate. “That’s why the president asked me to get in the plane in January and go to Afghanistan,” Mr. Biden said. “I came back with a different review.”

Compare and contrast Joe Biden's disregard for the cranky crank, who single-handedly came close to destroying the reputation, treasure, and armed forces of the United States of America, with former VP Dick Cheney's disregard for the citizens of said USA:

US Vice President Dick Cheney says he is not concerned about the views the American public holds on the long-drawn-out war in Iraq.

In an interview with ABC's Good Morning America, when the White House correspondent said polls show that two-thirds of Americans believe the war is not worth fighting, Cheney responded with a 'so?'

I report. You decide.

UPDATE for a wee bit more clarity

UPDATED again for link

The gaffe machine

I was continually amazed by this as well.

Authenticity and access, that's what the campaign press corps craves.

Election scribes claim they long for candidates who venture off-script and are confident enough to reveal themselves on the campaign trail, to say what they really think instead of hiding behind consultant-approved sound bites. (The press, we're told, hates phonies.)

And, of course, the press prizes access to candidates in hopes of uncovering that authenticity, in hopes of tapping the candidate's true personality. The two -- authenticity and access -- are the cornerstones of the press' campaign pursuit.

So when Sen. Joe Biden was tapped as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, it should have been a press dream, right? Biden immediately swung open his doors to the press. And as he's done for years, he showed no hesitation in flashing signs of a caution-be-damned approach on the campaign trail. Forever comfortable in his own skin and representing something of a throwback to the era of garrulous Irish-Catholic pols who loved the art of conversation, Biden seemed to revel in his off-the-cuffs moments with voters and reporters.

And yes, sometimes that meant Biden became tongue-tied and made gaffes and had to walk back comments. But for reporters, Biden's approach sure seemed better than covering the type of play-it-safe candidates they regularly complain about. (I'm picturing Mitt Romney ... )

If anything, grateful reporters should have rewarded Biden's wide-open style (not to mention his generous access), right?

Wrong. Throughout the fall campaign, the press relentlessly painted Biden as a buffoon and a goof. Rather than reward Biden for being open and honest with voters, the press punished him for weeks on end.

Biden blinked

Unlike his opposite number, who famously told Charles Gibson she didn't blink when McCain offered her the VP slot on his ticket, Biden actually gave it some thought.

The conversation in Minneapolis ranged from foreign policy and possible appointments to the federal courts to the legislative strategy that would be needed to pass an Obama agenda. Obama wanted to know how Biden had managed his signature achievements—such as the 1994 crime bill, which added a hundred thousand federally funded police officers to city streets. He also tested Biden’s understanding of how broad his role would be, as opposed to that of another contender—apparently, Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas and the only woman known to be on Obama’s short list. “He said, ‘Well, you know, if I offered this to somebody’—he named her, a person—he said, ‘That person would be very happy if I assigned them to reorganize the government.’ And he said, ‘They’d be very happy doing that. How about you?’ ” That didn’t sound like much of a job to Biden. “No,” he told Obama. “That’s not what I want to do.”

Obama also asked Biden whether he thought that he was more suited to a different position. “He said, ‘You have a great interest in national-security policy, foreign policy,’ ” Biden told me. “He wasn’t offering me this, but he said, ‘Would you rather be Secretary of State instead of Vice-President?’ And I thought a lot about that.”

Biden consulted with his closest political advisers, including Ted Kaufman, Mike Donilon, and John Marttila, all of whom have been with him since the early days of his career. “They convinced me that I could have more influence on policy as a Vice-President with Barack,” Biden said. “And so the bottom line of all of this is that I said, ‘Barack, look, if you’re going to ask me to do this, please don’t ask me for any reason other than that you respect my judgment. If you’re asking me to join you to help govern, and not just help you get elected, then I’m interested. If you’re asking me to help you get elected, I can do that other ways, but I don’t want to be a Vice-President who is not part of the major decisions you make.’ ”

A novel idea. Choosing a vice president ready to help the president govern. The moribund McCain campaign (God, I love the way that phrase rolllllls off the tongue), should have considered that, you betcha.

During Bill Clinton’s first year as President, his most ambitious piece of legislation—a proposal to provide universal health care—was doomed as soon as it got caught in a parliamentary procedure known as the Byrd rule (named after the very senior senator from West Virginia). The rule prohibits “extraneous matter” from being attached to the annual budget bill known as reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority to pass. Instead, Clinton needed sixty votes to overcome a filibuster. “Clinton used to have some trouble with the Robert Byrds of the world,” Biden said, and suggested that he would help Obama overcome such problems. “People point out the other mistakes that Presidents have made in the first hundred days,” he said. “I predict to you that Barack will not make them.”

But he sure says "presumptuous" a great deal.

The Happy Warrior

It's pretty much all been said and written, and the polls seem to indicate that most viewers weren't taken in by the "you betchas" and the adorable bangs in her eyes.

But I will say this: Joe Biden was everything we members of what 24% Approval Rating called "The Angry Left" have been looking for in our VP nominee in recent elections. While he started off a bit shaky, he grew more and more commanding as the 90 minutes wore on (and wore they did with Palin's non-answers and Ifill's refusal and/or inability to ask follow-ups), aggressively making the point again and again that McCain represents a continuation of the last eight years. And using facts to back up the attacks.

The other thing that Madame Cura and I noticed was that Biden seemed tired at the start while Palin was caffeinated (and she does have a sexy neck...couldn't stop looking at it), but by the end, Biden seemed charged while the effort was clearly exhausting Palin. Even the greyness under Biden's eyes seemed to evaporate by the end.

I'd also really like to know what he said to her as he seemed to deliver quite a lecture on stage afterwards.

More of this, please

Today's picks

Biden? Yeah, whatever.

The real news today is the Yankees' choice of starter for tonight's game. That Rajah of Rehab, Carl Pavano.

Biden his time

So sue me, what can I say?

Anywhoo, as we speculate who Obama's VP pick might be, Publius reminds us of this precious moment from the Democratic debates:




Funny and foreign policy chops...a two-fer.

Biden VP?

Dionne thinks he's a good choice.

C&L, while still pissed about the bankruptcy bill, makes a good argument, too.