March 10, 2010
Improving Our Standing in the World
Vice President Joe Biden was expected to spend this week nurturing the Obama administration's shaky relations with Israel and building momentum for a new peace process. Instead he may have accomplished the opposite -- by stumbling into a classic Middle Eastern trap.Jackson Diehl explains Biden's falling into the trap that has been set for visiting American diplomats since at least the 1990s:
Over the years U.S. envoys from [Secretary of State James] Baker to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have learned that the trick is to sidestep such broadsides, expressing disapproval without allowing the toxic settlement issue to take center stage and derail peace negotiations. After all, most Israeli settlement announcements, including this one, are pure symbolism: No ground will be broken anytime soon, and even if the homes are eventually constructed they won’t stand in the way of a Palestinian state.By that measure, Biden flunked. Interrupted in the middle of what was supposed to be a day of love-bombing Israelis with speeches and other demonstrations of U.S. support, he kept Netanyahu and his wife waiting for 90 minutes into a scheduled dinner before issuing a statement that harshly criticized the interior ministry’s announcement. Biden chose to use a word -- “condemn” -- that is very rarely employed in U.S. statements about Israel, even though he and his staff knew that Netanyahu himself had been blindsided by the settlement announcement. So much for love bombs.
Whacking our VP is a fish-barrel activity at best, but I still have to point it because of two common themes:
- The Obama Administration will "restore our standing in the world." In the past week, Secretary Clinton stepped in it in Argentina, suggesting that the US could arbitrate negotiations between Great Britain and Argentina on the Falklands. I thought PM Brown should have offered to mediate with the US and Spain on Florida -- where's that famed wit when needed?
- Even my moderate friends still talk about "dodging a bullet" when "that woman!' was almost elevated to Vice President! Now we have different levels of Governor Palin appreciation 'round these parts, but the suggestion that she is far below VP Biden defies credulity.
January 10, 2010
Quote of the Day
"How many times is Biden gonna say something stupid?" [Candidate-Senator Barack Obama] demanded of his advisers on a conference call, a moment at which most people on the call said the candidate was as angry as they had ever heard him... -- via Allahpundit
November 25, 2009
John Nance Garner, Call Your Office!
WASHINGTON—In keeping with a longstanding Thanksgiving tradition, Vice President Joe Biden ceremonially pardoned a 4-pound yam today at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. "Under my authority as vice president of the United States of America, I hereby grant this yam full and unconditional clemency," a smiling Biden declared as he gently patted "Spud," a Beauregard sweet potato grown in Louisiana and selected from millions of candidates yielded by this year’s harvest. "May he never find himself in a casserole. Right, little guy?" Like yams reprieved before him, Spud will ride as an honored guest aboard the second float of the Disneyland Thanksgiving Day Parade before spending the rest of his life in the comfort and safety of a tuber petting zoo.
April 30, 2009
Quote of the Day
Honors to James Taranto, nailing it that nobody panicked when the Vice President said something stupid and outlandish.
Under normal circumstances, for the vice president of the United States to say what Biden said would have risked setting off a panic. Fortunately, everyone discounts for the fact that the vice president is Joe Biden.Unfortunately, if President Obama were unable to perform the duties of his office, the vice president would become president--and the vice president is Joe Biden. That's no reason to panic, only to be afraid.
UPDATE: Heh. Insty: "They told me that if I voted for McCain we’d have a Vice President who was a moron… and they were right!"
Everyone nod in agreement: Biden is the greatest insurance policy against impeachment in the history of America.
Yeah, we sure dodged a bullet with that Palin woman, didn't we?
Posted by: Keith at April 30, 2009 5:27 PMOh yeah -- she coulda been Vice-President!!
Posted by: jk at April 30, 2009 6:08 PMI believe it was Ann Coulter who originally said, in her inimitable style, that Biden's Secret Service nickname is "Assassination Insurance."
I still wonder how much his, Obama's and Pelosi's life insurance premiums went up once Hillary became Secretary of State...
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at April 30, 2009 10:44 PMThree heartbeats away from the Oval Office - and scarier still, she's prob'ly the most competent of the four, and I would never have thought I'd have said that in public.
I have this vision of Hillary doing that cackle of hers while the still-warm blood of the three of them drips from her fangs. But then I woke up and realized that vision couldn't happen; while the Prezznit and Biden are at risk, Pelosi is clearly already numbered among the undead, from the rigor mortis showing on that face of hers. Yeah, I'm going to sleep real well tonight with THAT going through my head.
Posted by: Keith at May 1, 2009 1:28 AMFebruary 27, 2009
Nobody Messes With Joe!
Insty links as "another day, another Biden gaffe:"
Wednesday morning on the CBS Early Show, Vice President Joe Biden asked, "But what I don't understand from Governor Jindal is what would he do? In Louisiana, there's 400 people a day losing their jobs. What's he doing?"But that claim is wrong if you look at the numbers from the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
"In December, Louisiana was the only state in the nation besides the District of Columbia, according to the national press release, that added employment over the month," said Patty Granier with the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
"The state gained 3,700 jobs for the seasonally adjusted employment," Granier said of the most recent figures.
Those numbers are available on Louisiana's employment website, laworks.net.
I'm guessing he didn't have the website number.
I compared the reaction to Governor Palin the other day and I will stand by it. I got to thinking last night that President George HW Bush and the supermarket scanner is more illustrative. To refresh, because the wrong story has so much currency, President Bush remarked on the latest at the time barcode readers, remarking upon their remarkability. The press picked this up as Bush is so clueless he's never seen a supermarket scanner , then he's so elitist, he's never been in a supermarket, then he's so out-of-touch you'd better vote for Bill Clinton.
The jokes keep coming and I'll never wrong that right. But suppose it were true. The President in 1991 has never seen a supermarket scanner. Would the world really stop? Yes, if I worked for the opposition, I'd play it up. But we are not hiring a guy to keep the peanut butter shelf stocked.
Here, in 2009, we have a Vice President who doesn't know what a webpage is. Contra-GHWB, he is now in charge of a public liaison campaign to track a Trillion dollars of government spending. And he doesn't know the website number.
February 24, 2009
Mixed-up, Muddled and Shook-up world 'cept for Lola
Welcome to Bizarro World, ThreeSourcers! The Refugee has attacked the heroic pilot, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger. Now, I rush to defend Vice President Biden. Odder still, we're both right. BR makes a great case that Cap'n Sully has exceeded his area of expertise, and while I love a good whack at VP Biden, I have to say that this video goes too far:
Hairplugs? personal attacks? a dubious use of a racial epithet? A gratuitous swipe at VP Quayle? The Drug-czar reference is the only issue that belongs in a reason piece and the gaffes they chose are not his worst.
I've been losing respect for Reason for years. About the time I registered as a Libertarian, I thought them pretty decent. More recently I found I had to stay out of the gravitational pull of ReasonOnline, which was barely staying in orbit, and it appears that Reason itself has not.
It just defies Reason, y'know!
Posted by: nanobrewer at February 25, 2009 3:28 PMOh No! Libertario Delenda Est!
We did a fair bit of Reason-bashing around here during the election. Matt Welch had the McCain bashing book out, and I was alarmed at the ferociousness of their attacks on Senator McCain (probably well deserved) versus their basic free-pass to Senator Obama (considerably less deserved).
This finalized my belief that having a big-L Libertarian Party was counterproductive to advancing the little-l ideas which I hold so dear. Perhaps equating a magazine and a party is not fair, but they seem to have a lot of flaws in common.
Sorry to impugn your registered party, but feel free to take all the whacks at Republicans that you want. It's all but obligatory.
Posted by: jk at February 25, 2009 4:08 PMJanuary 25, 2009
Biden Mendacity Watch
Hey, John Stossel's playing:
Vice President Biden informed ABC News that "Everyone . . . says the scope of this package has to be bold. It has to be big." Everyone? Hardly. More than 100 prominent economists signed a petition against the stimulus package, and more than 200 signed a petition against the financial bailout.
January 23, 2009
Biden Mendacity Watch
We don't have the quotidianhuckawhack® any more, maybe the Biden Mendacity Watch would be a good feature?
Professor Mankiw asks "Is Joe Biden disingenuous or misinformed?" Our VP asserts:
Every economist, as I've said, from conservative to liberal, acknowledges that direct government spending on a direct program now is the best way to infuse economic growth and create jobs.
Mankiw mentions that the statement is "clearly false" and enumerates several prominent economists who do not acknowledge.
What so disturbs me about Biden is this capacity for bald faled lies. He says things that you know he knows are untrue. When the facts are brought up the conservatives and liberals in the press say "Oh Joe's just being Joe. You know how he is." I'm sorry, that's not good enough. It should be a big deal every time the Vice President of the United States tells an untruth.
As far as "disingenuous vs. misinformed" I am thinking of a term that rhymes with "Flying Stack of Lit."
January 18, 2009
The Most Unlikable Politician Since -- Anybody!
I remain cautiously optimistic about the President-elect, but I'm not so sure about our 47th VP. Luckily, he is confident enough in his own abilities for the both of us:
He said he would bring more to the job than any of his predecessors, except possibly Lyndon B. Johnson. “I know as much or more than Cheney,” Mr. Biden said. “I’m the most experienced vice president since anybody.”Mr. Biden, who plans to resign his Senate seat Thursday, has focused on building a relationship with Mr. Obama, nearly two decades his junior. When he accepted the second slot on the Democratic ticket, Mr. Biden requested several things, including a weekly luncheon with the president, full access for him and his staff and freedom to range across all areas rather than being “siloed” in a handful of policy areas. Mr. Obama agreed.
Anybody? John Adams? Aaron Burr? Schuyler Colfax? TR? I'm in the middle of a book on Martin Van Buren and he outshines "the Senator from Baja Pennsylvania*" by a significant margin.
The VP-elect admits that maybe Lyndon Johnson (like his policies or not, he was a lion of the U.S. Senate) was maybe kinda sorta almost in Biden's league. How much of this is outrageous arrogance and how much is a complete lack of historical knowledge? The Vice Presidency is a funny job and VP Adams, Marshall, and Garner all famously lampooned their own office. But the office has been held by some political giants. And the newest occupant would do well to adopt some of his boss's humility.
Yeah, that Thomas Jefferson was an okay fellow but he was no Joe Biden!
* Hat-tips: Instapundit for the link and our pals at PA Water Cooler for the sobriquet "Senator from Baja Pennsylvania" great stuff.