Absurd questions anger Biden in Orlando

I've heard and written about probably hundreds of interviews of all of the presidential candidates since the primaries began nearly two years ago, but the one in the video above has got to be one of the more outrageous ones I've heard during this election cycle. During an interview with WFTV Channel 9's Barbara West in Orlando, Florida, Biden did a pretty good job of keeping his cool - better than I could have.

Biden fielded a litany of absurd questions ranging from the Obama campaign's alleged influence over ACORN (including an inquiry asking if Biden was "embarrassed" by his campaign's alleged association with the group); whether Obama is a "socialist"; and then West wondered about Sen. Barack Obama's comment, to Joe the Plumber, about spreading the wealth. She quoted Karl Marx and asked how Obama isn't being a Marxist with his "spreading the wealth" comment. Following those queries, a clearly frustrated Biden asked, "I don't know who's writing your questions."

To be clear, I have absolutely no problem with tough questions being asked of any of the four candidates - too often, they all attempt to set up interviews with fluff, feel-good questions that inform voters of nothing. Some terrific examples of just this are Sarah Palin's interviews with Katie Couric & Charlie Gibson, which she bombed anyway. Biden answered more tough questions during the five-minute interview in the video above than Palin has since she joined the ticket.

Following the interview, the Obama campaign canceled a Jill Biden interview for the following day. Of course, the right-wingnuts decried this "censorship" of the media, but doesn't even hold up for a nanosecond.

A few weeks ago, McCain kicked New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd off his campaign plane for questions he didn't like, and there are numerous other occasions of media censorship during the Bush years justified by media treatment it wasn't thrilled with. Anyone remember Bush saying to Dick Cheney during the '00 campaign, "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times"? Or how about Jeff Gannon, the conservative plant from Talon News, who Bush called on in 2005 during a press conference when the questions got tough? (He wasn't even smart enough to be low key, asking Bush a question that included a comment that the Democrats are "divorced from reality") Or how about the Bush administration signing conservative pundits to lucrative contracts using TAXPAYER MONEY to push its agenda in 2005? (Are you listening, Armstrong Williams?)

Getting back to the interview with Biden, for those of you who think that Channel 9's Barbara West is some impartial, tough journalist, watch how she handled an interview with John McCain on Oct. 14. I heard more softballs tossed at McCain during that tongue bath than I've heard tossed at Obama in the last six months.

Pretty hilarious that the very same media that McCain more than once has called "his base" is now the mortal enemy, totally in the tank for Obama.

Riiight.

Polls: Biden the clear winner

In case you missed it, polls show that Sen. Joe Biden was the clear winner of Thursday's night debate with Gov. Sarah Palin.

CNN, CBS and other major polls have the debate going to Biden. Additionally, Palin didn't move the meter much, despite a generally positive reception on her performance from the network talking heads (especially conservative ones). From CNN:

Is Palin qualified to serve as president?

Yes

Before debate: 42%
After debate: 46%

No

Before debate: 54%
After debate: 53%

For a debate that was considered by most to be a resounding success by many, these numbers can't be too encouraging. I've written it before and it's worth repeating - Palin's qualifications and stances on the issues matter more than most vice presidential candidates because of McCain's age and health. I'll have plenty more thoughts about last Thursday's debate later on today, as well as Tuesday's upcoming debate between Obama and McCain.

Live Blogging the Veep Debate

I watched a minimum of "pregame" coverage leading up to the debate - I'm still setting up my new Dell laptop, which is what I'll be furiously typing my live blogging comments on tonight during the debate.

It looks like they are about to get started - here we go...

9:00: Hmm - the candidates just came out, and the reception was a lot more cordial than the stand-offish McCain's demeanor toward Obama last Friday.

And I'm wondering if it's any accident that a mic picked up Palin saying to Biden, "It's so nice to meet you - can I call you 'Joe?'" Phony.

9:01: Not much time for formalities - Gwen Ifill gets right to it, about the economy. Biden's response was pretty crisp and straightforward.

9:03: Palin sounds pretty smooth and rehearsed, and of course we get a "soccer mom" mention in her response to Biden. She's already overdoing it - to listen to Palin, if the country had only listened to McCain, we wouldn't be in this mess. Hogwash.

9:04: Biden is now reminding listeners about McCain's characterization that "the economy is strong" - the first jab of the night.

9:05: Palin sounds beyond rehearsed when she's ready for Biden's reminder about McCain's goof about saying the economy is strong, and inside of one minute, she says "Maverick" twice, and she just winked at the camera. I've been won over - I've been all wrong.

9:07: Now Palin is blubbering on about the economic crisis, and in doing so, she mentions "Joe Six-Pack" and "Hockey Moms." If I hear "Hockey Moms" one more time... I was just looking around for a 6' length of rope, or a gun, but unfortunately, I couldn't find either to use on myself *Snicker*, so I must go on listening.

9:12: Now Palin is really walkin' on the wild side - "Barack Obama voted for the largest tax increase in U.S. history" - I'll have to come back to that one. Another falsehood - "Barack Obama supported increasing taxes for families making $42,000." Biden comes right back at her, saying the charge if "absolutely not true." And Biden also comes at her about "not answering the question about deregulation."

9:15: Palin just said, with a straight face, "I may not answer the questions that way you would like or the way the moderator would like, but I'm going to talk about my track record as a governor and as a mayor." Wow, talk about leaving yourself wide open - I hope Biden gets to it at some point tonight - she left Wasilla in debt, and she was and is the queen of pork in the entire U.S.

9:17: A question about class warfare - that's straight out of the GOP playbook.

9:18: A modern-day Reagan with boobs and make up - Palin just said, with a straight face, that "government isn't the solution, government is the problem." I've said it a million times - why would the American people put a party in power that despises government? (And then, wonder why the government is hopelessly screwed up.) And Palin herself even just admitted as much, saying, "We don't want to put the government in charge of anything considering how things have been running lately." The government has been largely run by Republicans during the last eight years!!

9:21: Biden, in response to some Palin mischaracterizations, specifically about the McCain healthcare plan "the ultimate Bridge to Nowhere" - easily the line of the night so far. I'm glad that Biden is hitting the fact that McCain is planning to tax people's healthcare plans that they get through their employers.

9:23: Now Palin is accusing Barack Obama of giving the tax breaks to the oil companies. Talking point alert: Palin just called it a Rescue Plan - it's not a Rescue Plan - it's a Bailout Plan, Period.

9:25: Biden is talking about a Windfall Profits Tax - good, because McCain, and all Congressional Republicans are dead set against it, and it was defeated in the Senate earlier this year.

9:27: I can't help it - the first patently absurd, bullshit alert of the night - Palin is talking about how McCain sounded the alarm that Fannie and Freddie needed reform. Hmm - she's leaving herself and McCain open to a few haymakers here - how about the fact that McCain's campaign manager's company was taking money from Freddie up until about five weeks ago.

9:30: The question was about bankruptcy, and Palin gave a one-word answer, and then reverted to something she wanted about her and McCain's energy plan. And she's absolutely full of it when she's talking about "energy independence." We have three percent of the world's oil reserves - we cannot, under any circumstances, drill ourselves out of foreign oil dependence.

9:30: And now she's using code words for global warming deniers - "the cyclical temperature change" - GOP GW deniers rejoice, without question.

9:31: Palin's answer on global warming is by far her lowpoint of the night thus far - she has absolutely no idea what she's talking about when she talks about how much America pollutes, and what our capabilities are.

9:34: Biden had better kneecap Palin on her absurd statements on energy - she absolutely has zero credibility here - she has none, and I don't care if she's the governor of Alaska or not. And the natural gas pipeline she's talking about is going to take many, many years to be operational - it's not a solution now, and she knows it. Wait, maybe she doesn't? Palin just took Biden to task for not supporting a domestic solution to our energy problems. That's because THERE ISN'T ONE, hockey mom. She just left herself open to a right cross, and Biden lets it pass. That's leaving points on the table.

9:37: Now Palin is trying to skirt around the issue of gay marriage - TOTAL, unadulterated bullshit, period. I'll have more on this after the debate. She's been the member of a church that actually prays for curing homosexuals. Minus to Biden for saying that he and Obama don't support gay marriage like heterosexual marriages. That's sad.

9:41: On to foreign policy - Palin looks and sounds like a robot, repeating McCain talking points about "winning" - I would give my eye teeth to hear Biden (and Obama!) say that "we already won the war, but we are losing the occupation."

Palin just haltingly said, "Your plan... is... the white flag of surrender." Every American should be offended at such rhetoric. It's shameless and pathetic.

She's also sounded mindlessly rehearsed when she says that Obama and Biden want to cut off funding for the troops, and blah blah blah. She just ends another feckless attack by saying, "That's another story." I was waiting for the Inside Edition logo to appear on the screen.

9:45: I smell a GOP talking point - a question about Iran and Pakistan. This is Biden's strength - Biden's talking about the "central front in the War on Terror" and how a next possible attack will come from the "hills of Afghanistan and the hills of Pakistan." Palin will no doubt repeat GOP talking points about how Obama said he "would attack Pakistan."

9:47: Palin is now blubbering on about Iran and "Ackmudinigad" (learn how to say it, along with "nuquleur") - she might as well be a tape recorder, because she's giving identical answers to what McCain said six days ago. She's now talking about how Obama would meet with our enemies "without preconditions" and she's nearly bragging that she "had a good conversation with Henry Kissinger" - oh, I guess that's when she went on her afternoon tour of diplomacy at Columbia University, which gave Cliff Notes a bad name.

9:49: Biden is coming back at her about Iran; and he's forceful, articulate, and right on, especially when he talks about how "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not the most powerful person in Iran" - he's not - the religious leaders are. How would Palin know? She doesn't - only what McCain has put it her head during debate school during this past week.

9:52: Biden is now savaging the Bush administration about Israel, and I'd love to hear Palin's response - it will no doubt involve mentioning "hockey moms" or something, if she's off message for even a nanosecond.

First true Palin moment in the night - she has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA and NO ANSWER about the Bush administration's handling of Israel - she's talking about how the Obama/Biden ticket is "looking back," and a whole bunch of empty talk about bipartisanship, etc. This is a new low for her tonight - I could swear that Katie Couric just asked her that question.

I suspect that Palin just got knocked off her talking points about Afghanistan, and Biden should whip her on this.

9:56: Whoops! Biden beat back the straw woman that Palin just set up with her mindless talking points about Afghanistan.

9:58: Palin is coming back and trying to answer, but I just can't hear or see any credibility from her - she just has talking points. She certainly can't point to her record on foreign policy, because she has none, other than looking out at Russia from her window. *Snicker*

10:04: I could swear that Palin was at a beauty pagent when she just said, "You know, you can tell that I'm a Washington outsider," and then rehashed an attack on John Kerry "I was before it before I was against it." I was waiting for her to say "Aw shucks," while sweeping a foot in a semi-circle in front of her. She also said she "watched the [Democratic] debates," but I can just about guarantee that she only watched them a few days ago during her "Debate School."

10:07: Biden is now talking about "getting, capturing or killing" bin Laden - a strong point for the Democrats - it's an indefensible, inconvenient fact for the GOP.

10:10: Palin just referred to herself and McCain as "a team of mavericks" and she winked, again. Gimme a break.

10:11: Biden is talking about the destruction of the middle class, and he's right - it's shrinking by the day.

10:12: Palin just said, "Say it ain't so, Joe" - again, what a crock. She's trying to differentiate McCain from Bush, but it's b.s. - McCain has voted with Bush over 90 percent of the time during every year of his presidency. And she just winked, AGAIN. Vice presidents don't wink, governor, but she's merely the latest mastubatory fantasy of GOP men the world over, who are no doubt tired of the likes of the despicable Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter. (Did anyone consider them attractive, ever?)

10:15: Here comes the first fearless prediction of the night - Palin is trying her hand at self deprecation - how no one got her or Biden's joke about not wanting to be vice president.

10:16: I don't like Palin's characterization about the office of the vice presidency - that the Constitution offers "flexibility" in the office of the vice presidency. Is Cheney talking in her ear? The vice president is a member of the executive branch, period. Palin just got off message, saying she "agrees with vice president Cheney." Wow - that's a whopper - I do NOT like the fact that a candidate for vice president is looking for more power for the office, specifically after the most dangerous, reckless and downright scary vice president we've ever had.

10:18: Biden is ready - "Dick Cheney is the most dangerious vice president in the history of this country." Boom.

10:20: I have to give Biden credit here - he's not being baited by Palin's little tweaks.

10:22: Palin just said Maverick for the umpteenth time (and once again!) - I think her record is skipping - someone should slap her in the back of the head. And she's said Greed and Corruption on Wall St. at least six times. It's pretty clear she's out of things to say - good thing the debate is almost over, because Palin's No Repeat Work Day is over.

10:25: They both are wrapping this up, and Palin's talking about cutting taxes, and I wish above all else that Biden would have hit her tonight about leaving Wasilla deep in debt when she was done with her two terms as mayor. Oh well - more points left on the table.

10:26: More mischaracterizations by Palin - she keeps mentioning "energy independence," which is a flat-out myth - America achieving energy independence through drilling is pure fantasy.

Her closing statement is a pretty big whopper - she's taking swipes at the mainstream media (a little Couric damage control, table 2). She also talks about Reagan (it has to be the sixth mention, at least), and more platitudes about cutting taxes that create jobs. First, those taxes have to be cuts to the right people, and by that I don't mean the wealthiest Americans.

10:28: Biden's closing remarks are pretty staid, steady and crisp - he's clearly talking to the America's middle class, citing what his father used to tell him, "Champ, when you fall down, you get back up," and he finishes by saying that America is ready to get back up, and it is.

~~
More post-debate thoughts in a bit.

Tonight at 9 p.m.: Veep Debate Live Blog

I've been looking forward to tonight's debate for quite some time - Joe Biden vs. Sarah Palin. I don't know what I'm more eager to see - how bad Sarah Palin butchers her answers, or how badly the media will be in bed with her as it continues to endlessly, shamelessly pimp her candidacy. I have a whole lot to get to, and I'll get to a little bit of it before the debate, so stay tuned.

I know that all candidates rehearse, but it just kills me how God-awful Sarah Palin has been doing during her very rare interviews with the media, including another disastrous installment with Katie Couric, which CBS released yesterday. But, off to the McCain compound in Arizona she went to Debate School to no doubt memorize the thoroughly rehearsed talking points provided by McCain and his staff of hacks. Maybe I'll be proven wrong tonight, but I don't think so.

Of course, now, since the McCain campaign, led by the empty-headed Palin, is tanking, prominent GOP members of Congress and their many, many backers in the mainstream media are already launching attacks in and about the media, specifically about tonight's moderator, Gwen Ifill.

I can't say it any better than Nicole over at C&L:

The McCain campaign is on overdrive to manage the upcoming vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. Over the last week, they have demanded limiting the response time to 90 seconds (perfect for the wordy but meaningless “pageant” answers she’s prone to give), set up the framework that tough questions are “gotcha” questions and any of Biden’s responses may be sexist and patronizing. Now they are suggesting that moderator Gwen Ifill may not be nonpartisan enough to moderate the debate, since she authored a book on politics and race, even though the McCain camp approved of her selection (you’ll remember she moderated the 2004 VP debate between Cheney and Edwards).

It's the typical play out of the GOP playbook - they clearly are desperate campaigners.

Remember how Sarah Palin's e-mail got "hacked" last week? Whoops - that didn't turn out to be the scandal they had hoped for, so now it's time to attack the moderator of tonight's debate (a debate that McCain lamely tried to have cancelled last week when he was flying into Washington to "rescue" our economy and our way of life with a lame-assed Wall St. bail-out plan, but that's another post for later).

It's also interesting that 1. the McCain camp ok'd her many weeks ago to moderate the debate, and 2. McCain came out yesterday and actually defended Ifill in the face of GOP blowhards' attacks, and today, McCain said her selection was "a mistake."

Of course, the GOP stooge Matt Drudge is parroting the GOP talking point that Ifill is "biased" and "partisan" and not capable of doing a good job. The asinine Sen. Orrin Hatch is also joining in the chorus. So be it.

It's hardly a bold prediction that no matter how Palin answers the questions tonight, the minute she's asked the slightly toughest question (such as, "Name a Supreme Court decision you've disagreed with" - more on that in a minute) - the right will scream that Ifill was asking biased questions.

I can GUARANTEE that this will happen.

Bonus - disgraced former Pennsylvania Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum (above, conceding his Senate race on election night in '06 [any excuse to re-run this picture!]) is rumored to be a part of the post-debate coverage tonight. I'm sure he already has written out what he's going to say before one word has been uttered by either candidate.

Illustration at top by Victor Juhasz for Rolling Stone Magazine

And it's Biden!

Obama has made a solid choice. Sen. Joe Biden may not have been the "sexiest" pick (in political terms), but choosing Biden has chosen a solid campaigner with plenty of foreign policy experience - Obama's chief weakness on his presidential résumé.

So far, I really have enjoyed so far is the McSame campaign's response - to run footage of Biden criticizing Obama during the primaries. My first thought was, "Is that all they've got?" Talk about taking pot shots. What's more, I don't think it will gain traction with most moderates and undecideds, either. Of course, the Republican faithful will eat it up, but big deal. Hey, this line of argument didn't work for the Democrats in 1980 after George H.W. Bush called Ronald Reagan's economic proposals "voodoo economics," and it won't work for McCain.

My chief concern is Biden's tone - I hope the Obama campaign softens his sharp edges; he has a tendency to sound bitter and angry. Note to Senator Biden - many most of us are angry, but anger is not what we need from the Democratic ticket - we need ideas.

I'm also worried about Hillary Clinton's supporters, too. In the end, once McCain hopefully gets exposed for the seriously flawed candidate he is, most of her supporters will support Obama. After all, Obama certainly is much more closely aligned with Clinton's political point of view than McCain is.

Despite not knowing who McCain's running mate is, I look forward to hearing Biden's debate skills in action during the vice presidential debate - he's a seasoned debater and will more than hold his own.

Anyway, I'm getting out of "Olympic" mode and into political mode with the convention just days away. More later. ...

Joe Biden his time... back in Delaware?

Well, the press has itself a new John Kerry - a punching bag who will get every little thing he says micro-analyzed - and it's Delaware Senator Joe Biden. However, Biden, who earlier today jumped into the presidential race, brings a lot of this on himself, too.

Earlier today (well, now, yesterday), Biden, in an interview with The New York Observer, described fellow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Ouch.

To his credit, Biden appeared on The Daily Show tonight to explain what he meant. "What got me in trouble was using the world 'clean.' I should have said 'fresh.' What I meant was he's got new ideas," said Biden.

Fair enough, but what about "articulate"?

Biden is simply a boob. Hey Joe, give John Kerry a call and ask him how to give an interview or tell a joke, and then do the exact opposite of what he says.

Hey Senator - if you have to explain what you meant by what you just said in an interview, you probably should have chosen different words.

Like Kerry's botched joke last fall, this is probably, in the end, much ado about nothing, but it's not the way to start off a presidential campaign.

His words of kindness weren't reserved for Obama, either.

On Hillary Clinton:

Referring to Hillary's proposal to cap American troops and to threaten Iraqi leaders with cuts in funding, Biden said, "From the part of Hillary’s proposal, the part that really baffles me is, 'We're going to teach the Iraqis a lesson.' We’re not going to equip them? O.K. Cap our troops and withdraw support from the Iraqis? That’s a real good idea."

Biden opined that Hillary's plan, would be "nothing but disaster."

On John Edwards:

Biden seemed to have plenty of bottled-up vitriol for Edwards. In the Observer interview, referring to Edwards' idea that 40,000 troops be immediately withdrawn from Iraq, Biden said:

"I don’t think John Edwards knows what the heck he is talking about. John Edwards wants you and all the Democrats to think, 'I want us out of there,' but when you come back and you say, 'O.K., John'" -- (according to the article, Biden used the refrain "John" in a mocking, derisive manner) "'what about the chaos that will ensue? Do we have any interest, John, left in the region?' Well, John will have to answer yes or no. If he says yes, what are they? What are those interests, John? How do you protect those interests, John, if you are completely withdrawn? Are you withdrawn from the region, John? Are you withdrawn from Iraq, John? In what period? So all this stuff is like so much Fluffernutter out there. So for me, what I think you have to do is have a strategic notion. And they may have it—they are just smart enough not to enunciate it."

Okay, then!

I can't say I completely disagree with Biden on Clinton or Edwards, but on a day where the media should have been focused on Biden's entry into the race and the substance of his comments, he proved hard to understand because of the foot in his mouth.

One thing is clear - today Biden picked up right where he left off in 1988 - trying to overcome stupid, self-inflicted distractions.

It can only get better from here, Senator.

List of '08 prez hopefuls growing. Good.

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton declared for the 2008 Presidential Race. I still believe that she can't win the presidency; she's too polarizing of a figure, but I'll certainly support her if she's the nominee.

I found the timing of her announcement to be a bit curious, though. Saturday is typically the slowest news day of the week. I figured she would declare quickly after Barack Obama did last week, but I didn't think she'd pick a Saturday.

But, I can also understand why she chose Saturday, too; since it's a slow news day, she was going to get a lot of play in the news, and she sure did yesterday. How Hillary announced her candidacy, on the Internet, is a sign of the times, too. (I'll comment about the coverage of her announcement in a separate post.)

I don't see how her candidacy is anything but a good thing. How can eight, 10 or even 12 people running for president, on either side of the aisle, be a bad thing for America? It increases our chances of stimulating, informative discussions about a wealth of ideas, and we are in sore need of that.

However, for those of you who are bothered by so many candidates, fear not - the field will get diminish pretty quickly, and it will definitely thin out before the first primaries early next year. Presidential campaigns are extremely expensive, and if candidates have trouble raising money this year, they will quickly drop out of the race.

For financial reasons alone, Hillary wasn't going to waste any time getting into the race after Obama did. Both are high profile candidates who have rock-star recognition and tremendous fundraising abilities, so one wasn't going to let the other get any significant press time or financial advantage.

Hillary has a pretty nice war chest as it is - right now, she's sitting on about $14 million, and that number will grow substantially in the coming weeks. I hate to say it, but until we get significant campaign finance reform with some teeth, money means everything in presidential races. And that gives Hillary another advantage - the Clintons have an fundraising machinery in place that will serve Hillary well in this campaign.

One big name who immediately threw his support behind Obama -- George Soros, the billionaire Democratic philanthropist. Immediately after Obama announced his candidacy, Soros wrote a check for the $2,100 maximum individual contribution for his campaign. (More on Soros in a future post, hopefully later today).

The reason the field in all parties will thin even before the start of the primaries (and even before the end of this year), like I said, is money. Michael Toner, chairman of the Federal Election Commission, has predicted that the '08 race will be "the $1 billion campaign." He also predicts that any serious candidate will "have to have around $100 million in the bank by the end of 2007."

Other declared Democratic hopefuls in the field include Delaware Senator Joe Biden (left) and Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (right). I rate both as long shots, but trying to handicap the race at this point is an exercise in stupidity. I realize it's a big story, but trying to assess who's in the lead right now is meaningless, plain and simple.

One other candidate I really hope enters the race is Al Gore, but more on Gore in a minute, too. At this point, he seems to be the reluctant candidate, but he hasn't 100 percent ruled out a run for the presidency. I wonder if he wouldn't better be served outside of government though, working on raising awareness on the issue that matters to him most, and we all know what that is. If he's gonna declare, he'd better do it relatively soon, though. However, I would guess Hillary's candidacy makes a Gore candidacy less likely.

'07 and '08 are going to be very political years, and I look forward to most of it, but there's a downside to all of this, too -- the coverage (or lack thereof). But, I'd better save that for a separate post, which I'll begin writing in a minute.