Saturday, August 23, 2008

Joe Biden?

I try to get excited about politics. I try. I used to give them money, but I had a long talk with myself and I stopped doing that. It's not supposed to be about money, it's supposed to be about ideas. It is about money, but I don't have to support a bad idea.
I saw the stories yesterday that said Barack Obama was ready to announce his running mate, just as the Democrat convention was about to start. I went to Obama's site and signed up for the text message alert so I'd be on the announcement list.
The little chime went off and I opened the text message. Joe Biden, it said. Joe Biden? The politics of change meets business as usual in Washington. The perfect pair, I suppose. Just as Joe's hair plugs were starting to blend in and he had maxed-out his golden tan, he'll be ready for prime time politics.
Ugh.
The guy who declared that "you can't go into a 7/11 without an Indian accent" is the Democrat vice-presidential nominee.
The guy who in September 1987 had his own presidential campaign run into serious trouble when he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by Neil Kinnock, then-leader of the British Labour Party.
The guy who, while a first year law student at Syracuse Law School, plagiarized a law review article in a class paper he wrote.
Biden also released his undergraduate grades, which were unexceptional. Further, when questioned by a New Hampshire resident about his grades in law school Biden had claimed falsely to have graduated in the "top half" of his class, (when he actually graduated 76th in a class of 85) that he had attended on a full scholarship, and had received three degrees. In fact he had received two majors, History and Political Science, and a single B.A., as well as a half scholarship based on financial need.
During Biden's 2007 presidential campaign, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen said that Biden's candidacy might be endangered by his "manic-obsessive running of the mouth."
Two years ago when Gentleman's Quarterly profiled the senator, the headline read "Joe Biden Can't Shut Up."
A January 31 remark on fellow Democratic candidate and Senator Barack Obama is frequently transcribed as, "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."
Now Joe is part of the story. Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert and [egad] the Republicans are sharpening their pencils. Am I still excited about politics?
Not so much.
And get ready for a lot more of these ...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Choosing Joe Biden as his running mate - will this increase or decrease Obama's chances to be elected?
What do you think?

kimmyk said...

i know nothing about this guy.
i read the headlines news about him yesterday and i see good points and maybe some bad. not sure.

but still, all the bad rolled up into one big heaping lying mess, is it worse than another republican in office? i don't think so.

Anthony said...

junior: Biden's foreign policy experience (he's head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) is supposed to enhance Obama's chances. They like him abroad, but abroad doesn't vote.

I'm thinking the Repugnicans will find a way to turn it into a negative that impressionable Americans will eat up.

Kimmyk: You're right, it's not worse than what we have, but I fear that the GOP will make it sound as though it is.