Biden closest thing to a professional truth-teller

[PatSeg]

<Joe Biden may be the ultimate long shot for the nomination, but among the Democratic presidential field he is also the closest thing to a professional truth-teller. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earlier this summer, Biden sketched out the realities of the Democratic policy debate. "In healthcare," he said, "we have all these great plans. Can anybody here explain to me any one of the plans that any Democrat has put forward?" Not a single hand was raised among the roughly 100 Democrats at the Blue Strawberry coffee shop. "I'm not being a wiseguy," Biden said, "they're all good plans. If plans could get the job done, we would have had national healthcare two years ago.">


http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/09/19/hillary_healthcare/

[Adelante]

1. Heh, that's the truth

"If plans could get the job done, we would have had national healthcare two years ago."

[PatSeg]

2. His blunt honesty really connects with people

People are tired of political slogans and empty promises.

[murbley40]

3. Wow!!

Positives sometimes come from unusual sources.

[murbley40]

4. kickin,kickin

[justinrr1]

5. Biden tells it like it is

And that is one of the many reasons I am supporting him!

[jillan]

6. I heard Biden once say that it doesn't matter how good your healthcare plan is - what matters

if you are going to be able to sell it.
He said that all of the plans are going to be basically the same, but the diffence will be -
Who is going to be able to convince those on the other side of the aisle that are so against a national healthcare system?
Who is going to be able to convince the insurance industry that it is time?

He's right.
Hillary had a great plan, she couldn't sell it.
Will she be able to convince the Inhofe's of the world now?????

To paraphrase what Tom Harkin said about Biden at the Steak Fry - that he has the ability
convince others.

[gateley]

7. He expresses things so succinctly. And I'm another who loves his no BS approach. nt

[PatSeg]

8. I think the American voter has become more cynical

because of the last six and half years. Many of them will respond to the "no BS approach". They are tired of being treated like children and the political cliches aren't cutting it anymore.

[gateley]

9. That's certainly how I feel. nt

[PatSeg]

10. We have to hope that we aren't alone

There are no polls to indicate how much of the population is still apathetic and complacent. The fact that so many people really don't think has always been very scary to me.

[NobleCynic]

11. If he can get higher in the polls

I might consider backing him over Edwards.

[gateley]

12. That's our greatest hope. Thanks. nt

[jillan]

13. You know how many times I have heard that -

I'm beginning to think that if all the people that say I would vote for Biden if he was higher in the polls
would just say "I'm gonna vote for Biden" he'd be higher in the polls.

C'mon - just do it.
It feels good to be a Bidenite.
Especially those of us that have been supporting him for a while.
It's exciting to watch his support grow.

[justinrr1]

14. There is a buzz about Joe

I can feel a surge in his campaign even if its not showing in the polls right now

[jillan]

15. I agree.

I'm thinking that his poll numbers are going to explode.

Good to see you:hi:

[jberryhill]

18. Cracks me up when the others talk about "experience"

Back when Delaware had primary caucuses instead of primaries, I remained steadfast at the Biden table with one of my neighbors listening to the Dukakis folks go on about how Joe couldn't win a national election.

Just give the man a microphone, and let's see.

[jillan]

19. I hope your right!

And no doubt about it, Biden knows what to do with a microphone ;)

[murbley40]

27. Delete

[murbley40]

28. Hello Delawarean!!

:hi:

[NobleCynic]

16. Ya know, you're like that little devil on the shoulder...

Quit tempting me! I'm an Edwards man! ::Covers ears with hands:: I can't hear you.

I'm still in mercenary mode though. Whomever looks like they can topple Hillary has my vote. But I do wish you luck in making that man Biden.

[jillan]

20. If it makes you feel any better

Edwards is probably my #2.

[NobleCynic]

25. Could be important to have a #2

If you live in a caucus state. Nevada is going with caucusing this time, and if your candidate of choice doesn't meet viability, you have to have a second choice.

[ginchinchili]

17. It all seems to add up to a victory in the Fall of 2008

The attributes that Sen. Biden brings to the table makes his nomination a clear choice when you weigh the nominees from an objective and pragmatic perspective. And the good news is, that's true in an objective comparison to any of the Republican candidates as well. That's why he would win the White House for the Democrats and make a great president for the entire country.

Hillary Clinton is the front runner. Her supporters point to that fact as the primary reason to support her. Take her husband out of the mix, and she wouldn't even bother to run, because there would be no chance. But the discomfort level with Hillary Clinton runs high throughout the country. Yesterday I received an email with a Hillary joke from one of my more sunburn-necked friends. Coincidentally, a supervisor of mine told the same joke in the lunch room yesterday. Today I receive another Hillary "joke" from one of those Independents who is considering voting Democrat unless Hillary gets the nomination. This is a very common dynamic.

Now, imagine if Hillary won the nomination and is out there campaigning her heart out. From the other side we have Rudy Giuliani, who will be the Republican nominee. Then war breaks out between Israel and Iran destabilizing the entire Middle East, not to mention the the potential catastrophic consequences to Iraq and our military. In your heart of hearts, who do you think the country will look to to steer us through such a dangerous set of events, a much mistrusted Hillary Clinton, America's first serious woman candidate for president (yes, our country is not that progressive yet), or the guy the country associates with getting us through 9/11? Think about it.

Now, if it was between Joe Biden and Rudy Giuliani, Biden is a man with far more experience than Rudy Guiliani at everything, a candidate who doesn't have the questionable moral baggage that Rudy carries, knows the ins and outs of Washington as well as anyone, (making Guiliani look like a little boy visiting Washington for the first time), and has the only practical plan for getting us out of Iraq, again I think the choice is clear. Personally, I think Joe Biden would clean Giuliani's clock. We'd better start turning this ship around before it's too late. Biden can win this election if we can just get him the nomination. Hillary will not cross the finish line first in a general election.

[jillan]

21. No doubt about it.

The general election campaign is not going to be a good time if Hillary is our nominee.

Just look at what they did to Kerry, and he had very little baggage.

They will find something to attack Biden on, but it will be nothing in comparison.

[eridani]

22. Yes. I can explain the Kucinich plan very easily

Health care is a right. Everybody in, nobody out, no exceptions.

[Steve_in_California]

23. Biden is the only one who can win BIG!

Just imagine what Biden would do to Rudy in a debate! Rudy will go down like WTC 1 and 2.


His timing couldn't be better: just as the Dems and GOP are at loggerheads over whether to fund the Iraq war and whether timetables must be part of the bill--along comes Joe Biden with a solution. He just introduced an amendment that calls for the adoption of his long-tenured proposal to separate the warring factions into three semi-autonomous regions under a decentralized federal system. There is simply no other viable option on the table. As journalist Jeff Greenfield noted, Iraqis are already adopting this plan on a de facto basis.

The Biden amendment has won wide endorsement and you can expect the Senate sinking deeper in to this quagmire to grab this life preserver of an amendment.

FORMER SECRETARIES OF STATE IN SUPPORT OF THE BIDEN-GELB PLAN:
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Former Secretary of State James Baker
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger

FOREIGN POLICY EXPERTS IN SUPPORT OF THE BIDEN-GELB PLAN:
Former Iraq Defense Minister Ali Allawi
Former UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke
Ambassador Dennis Ross, Counselor and Ziegler Distinguished Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Ambassador Richard Haass, President Council on Foreign Relations
Michael O'Hanlon, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Yahia Said, Director, Iraq Revenue Watch
Ambassador Peter W. Galbraith
Dr. Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, CATO Institute
Walter Russell Mead, Council on Foreign Relations
Anne Marie Slaughter, Dean of Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University
Eric Leaver, Institute for Policy Studies Research Fellow
Juan Cole, Middle East scholar and prominent blogger
David Phillips, Council on Foreign Relations, author of Losing Iraq

PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN SUPPORT OF THE BIDEN-GELB PLAN:
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico (D)
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Former Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN)
Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, National Security Advisor of Iraq
Congressman Chris Van Hollen
Iowa House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy
Iowa House Assistant Majority Leader John Whitaker
Iowa State Rep. Doris Kelley
Rep. Lisa Heddens of Ames (assistant majority leader, Iowa house)
Rep. Mike Reasoner of Creston (assistant majority leader, Iowa house)
Rep. Dick Taylor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Jack Carter, the son of former President Jimmy Carter, and Democratic candidate, Nevada
New Hampshire officials:
State Representative-Elect Jim Webber (D-Kensington)
Former State Representative Scott Green
Sanbornton Town Democratic Chair Andy Sanborn
State Rep. Bill Hatch (D-Gorham)
Rep. Stephen Shurtleff (D-Penacook)
Eileen Foley, who served for 16 years as Mayor of Portsmouth
Bob Preston of Hampton, a former Democratic Leader of the New Hampshire State Senate
Joseph Russell, former Secretary of the Stratham Democrats
Representative Michael Marsh (D-Greenland)
New Hampshire State Representative and Police Sergeant Mark Preston
Manchester Fire Commissioner and New Hampshire State Representative Robert Haley
Detective Steve Arnold, former President of the New Hampshire Police Association

Former Clinton White House Public Affairs Director Bob Weiner

EDITORIAL PAGES AND COLUMNISTS IN SUPPORT OF BIDEN-GELB:
Tony Blankley, Washington Times
Michael Hirsh,
Las Vegas Review-Journal, Editorial Board
Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times columnist
David Brooks, New York Times
Philadelphia Inquirer, Editorial Board
David Broder, Washington Post columnist
Jackson Diehl, Washington Post columnist
David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist
Bill O'Reilly, Fox News
George Packer, The New Yorker
Portland Press Herald (ME) editorial board
Delaware News Journal editorial board
The Barre Montpelier Times Argus (VT) editorial board
St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board
The Journal Standard (IL) editorial board
Marilou Johanek, Toledo Blade (OH) columnist

[2rth2pwr]

24. Depends on your definition of "truth"

"In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking."- Biden -http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060709/world.htm#1

in regards to Barack Obama, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, ... I mean, that's a storybook, man." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/us/politics/01biden.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1170392400&en=d439f44cf1b6c913&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin

It turned out Biden had also borrowed passages from old campaign speeches by Robert Kennedy and had inflated his academic record. But oratory has a long tradition of borrowing and even "heavy lifting," as speechwriters call it, so Biden stayed alive in the presidential race. The last straw, however, came when it turned out that twenty years earlier Biden had received a failing grade in a law school course for plagiarizing a legal article (he'd given a single footnote while lifting five full pages from the article) http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/plagiarism.html

[murbley40]

29. 2th2pwr

Is that It?

[2rth2pwr]

32. I detect a little hostility. nt

[ShortnFiery]

26. Biden would be a grand Secretary of State - For President? He talks too much and is a corporatist.

:shrug:

[murbley40]

30. I disagree!

[lyonn]

31. I've heard that for years? He doesn't speak enough for me

He knows what he is talking about and you know exactly where he stands. He can't possibly be catering to any corp. since his treasury is almost bare!

[PatSeg]

33. Many candidates "talk too much" and don't really say

anything. Too many generalized slogans and blanket statements. Joe Biden actually SAYS something when he speaks and it makes sense. He is not a wealthy man and is running his campaign on a shoe string. In spite of that he has returned questionable donations.