Barack Obama has chosen Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate, a pick designed to shore up the Illinois senator's foreign policy credentials in advance of the November election against John McCain.
Biden's selection was confirmed by a Democratic source after an evening of speculation that centered on the Delaware senator when it was reported that the other top contenders were no longer under consideration. Biden had been considered the frontrunner for the job in recent weeks -- a position confirmed by a last-minute, unscheduled trip last weekend to meet with the president of Georgia.
News of the pick was reported in advance of the Obama campaign's planned Saturday announcement to supporters via email and text message.
Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 at the age of 29. A month after his election, his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. Biden has not been seriously challenged since that first election -- a reflection of both the Democratic roots of the state and Biden's skillfulness as a politician.
Long rumored as a candidate for national office, Biden launched a presidential bid in 1987 that was gaining traction until a video was leaked to the press that showed striking similarities between a speech by Biden and an address by British Labour Party politician Neil Kinnock. Biden sought to beat back the controversy but subsequent allegations about plagiarism and resume inflation in law school forced him from the contest.
Biden was subsequently stricken in early 1988 by a brain aneurysm from which he recovered fully. Once his health improved, Biden threw himself back into the day to day working of the Senate where he chaired the high profile Judiciary Committee from 1987 until 1995. In that role, he chaired the controversial Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. Biden has also served several stints as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a perch from which he has emerged as one of the leading voices in the Democratic Party on foreign policy matters.
Two decades after his first bid for president, Biden launched a second candidacy in 2007. He was never considered anything more than a longshot due to the presence of both Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the contest but acquitted himself well in the eyes of the Democratic establishment. Biden proved that the charisma that had recommended him as a rising star in the 1980s was still very much part of his political portfolio; he also excelled in the myriad debates held among the Democratic aspirants during the primary season.
For Obama, the Biden pick is a sign that he and his campaign believe that foreign policy matters will be front and center in the fall election. Biden brings the Democratic ticket immediate gravitas on issues ranging from the war in Iraq to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Georgia.
McCain has made no secret that he believes Obama's experience in public life ill suits him to handle the complex world situation into which the next president will immediately step. Biden, a serious politician with a far deeper resume than Obama, will complicate -- if not entirely blunt -- Republican attacks on the Illinois senator's readiness for office.
We'll have far more about the pick both on The Fix and the washingtonpost.com site more generally throughout the day. In the meantime, make sure to check out the case for and case against Biden as vice president we made in this space. They should provide a blueprint for how Democrats and Republicans will try to define the Delaware senator in the coming weeks and months.
That's a lie - we all know that Steven Colbert will be the VP. Wait for those text messages.
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
It's nice when the other side does your work for you.
Something tells me that McCain is really scratching for things to say. If Biden didn't want the job, he could have just said no.
As far as picking someone with a LOT more time in the Senate than himself, I think it's a good idea: I'd rather see someone in the VP's office that can get the job done rather than a yes man or someone like Dick Franken... err... Cheney... you know, a guy that'll go around the President with the DOD Secretary.
Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.
IMO he should have picked Hilary...but that is just my opion...and I would not have picked her if I were in his shoes.
My thoughts on Biden are that he is an arrogant lifetime politician, hardly the politics of change.
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
Wade Jarvis wrote:IMO he should have picked Hilary...but that is just my opion...and I would not have picked her if I were in his shoes.
My thoughts on Biden are that he is an arrogant lifetime politician, hardly the politics of change.
Oh god no. If you want to increase voter turn out on election day, pick her as VP. People WILL show up to vote - against her. And I couldn't blame them.
I'm not terribly fond of Biden and there certainly are better people I would have liked to see him pick, but Biden does increase the chance of victory alot for Obama. You can't do much good for a country if you loose(unless you consider how much the Bush Administration has been moving to alot Obama's foreign policy positions - after initially mocking them - and are now they are having great success with those policies - in that way he already won).
What I HATE are those stupid PUMA(Party Unity My Ass) bitches that have their panties in a bunch that Obama beat Hillary and more now that she didn't get chosen. What a bunch of whiny loosers. They just bough too much into her self-entitlement BS. And if you ask them - the only reason to choose Obama over her is sexism(funny that I know plenty of women - my mother included - who can't stand Hillary). So by that "logic," we will say that anyone who didn't vote for Obama was racist, and so anyone who voted in the Dem primaries was either racist or sexist. Alot(over half IIRC) of those idiots are so pissed that she got shot down that they are swearing they will vote McCain just to spite Obama. I wish people like that would just hurry up(preferably before November) and put themselves out of everyone else's misery.
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
Bastardking3000 wrote:Wade Jarvis wrote:IMO he should have picked Hilary...but that is just my opion...and I would not have picked her if I were in his shoes.
My thoughts on Biden are that he is an arrogant lifetime politician, hardly the politics of change.
Oh god no. If you want to increase voter turn out on election day, pick her as VP. People WILL show up to vote - against her. And I couldn't blame them.
I still think it would have been a landslide victory but we might as well agree to disagree on this. Probably the biggest reason I said I would not have picked her if I was him is it would have been more like a co-presidency with her.
I really want to see the PUMA supporters act a fool and cause an uproar. So far they have been pretty tame and lame as it relates to my enterainment value. I will agree they do need to get the @!#$ over it. Most of them are voting for Hilary just because she is a woman and they are sore loosers.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, August 27, 2008 6:42 AM
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
Well Biden did pretty well with his speech at the DNC
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
Everyone at the DNC has done great so far. Im still pissed I have to work tonight so Im gonna miss Obama's.
Bad Ace Design wrote:Everyone at the DNC has done great so far. Im still pissed I have to work tonight so Im gonna miss Obama's.
You have the internet. You ain't missing anything except commercials.
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
Bastardking3000 wrote:Bad Ace Design wrote:Everyone at the DNC has done great so far. Im still pissed I have to work tonight so Im gonna miss Obama's.
You have the internet. You ain't missing anything except commercials.
Good point, I saw Michelle and Biden via the internet. I cranked the radio so I got to hear Obama live
Bad Ace Design wrote:Everyone at the DNC has done great so far. Im still pissed I have to work tonight so Im gonna miss Obama's.
Yeah they've mostly been pretty good. Hillary Clinton was corny IMO, but then again I hate that bitch with a passion so I'm fairly biased.
John Kerry
probably gave the speech of his life - if he had been like that in 2004 he'd probably be in the White House right now. Ironic indeed that he is the one who demonstrated so well how McCain - since deciding to run for president again - has flipped on everything including the kitchen sink. The man speaks so boldly against HIS OWN BILLS. LOL. The lengths he goes to in order to appease his base are amazing and quite disturbing. I'm ashamed to admit that I ever admired that McCain. His answer to every criticism, every one of his mistakes, and well just plain everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - is that he was a former POW. His service was admirable, but it makes me sick so see how be plays it.
Funny how I once hoped(but didn't think it would actually happen) that the race would somehow come down to Obama vs McCain - at the time I admired both and thought that would be a could-not-loose election for America. How wrong I was.
quote=Lord of War(movie)]There are only 2 tragedies in life. One is not getting what you want, and the other is getting it.
I just watched Obama's speech
in high definition. That speech was nothing short of amazing. Wow. If too many people caught that one, John McCain is in serious trouble. I find it hard to believe(and yet I know better - Obama bashing is the new "Chuck Norris joke") that anyone could watch that speech and honestly say that they would not be proud as hell to have that man be your president. I know plenty of people still wouldn't, and that fact boggles my mind. I've seem and heard plenty of BS so far, but I've yet to see a serious,
LEGITIMATE reason not to vote for Obama. I don't imagine that holding my breath is such a good idea.
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
...and now that McCain has picked someone that can only be categorised and potentally america's future MILF, i can see how hard the rest of the would is laughing harder than the past 2 elections.
I can honestly say, no matter who wins, 4 years later, unless a 3rd part scores a coup, we're not gonna be better off in 4 years than we are now.
Goodbye Callisto & Skađi, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.
[quote=Keeper Of The Light™ (Strazca)]...and now that McCain has picked someone that can only be categorised and potentally america's future MILF, i can see how hard the rest of the would is laughing harder than the past 2 elections.
I can honestly say, no matter who wins, 4 years later, unless a 3rd part scores a coup, we're not gonna be better off in 4 years than we are now.I generally feel the same about politicians as you do, with Obama being the ONLY exception in my lifetime. I think he actually wants to and maybe can improve things. The political scene will change ALOT if he get power. As soon as he makes it harder(but certainly it can never be made impossible) for politicians to get rich off their politics aka sell out America to special interest groups, there will be a most interesting and amusing stampede of "rats fleeing the house." The general rule of thumb is that anyone you would WANT to be president wouldn't touch the job with a 50 foot pole, but there is an exception to every rule, and I think Obama may be just that rare exception to said rule.
Plus even if you believe(and in every other election you WOULD be correct) that election day is just pick-your-poison day, certainly not all poison is equal. Think of election 2000 as Moonshine(alcohol IS poison) vs anti-freeze. America went with the sweet, sweet taste of anti-freeze. Or did we choose mercury? Ah mercury, sweetest of all the transition metals...
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
