Campaign 2008

[SuperJerk 0]

Obviously this is a ploy to get more support among blue-collar voters that backed Mrs. Clinton in the primaries. The press has been fawning over the idea of Biden as the running mate for quite some time, so there's not going to be a problem with them criticizing this choice right out of the gate. Still, a 35 year veteran of Congress on the "Change" ticket? Risky. I'm not sure how Biden's record on Iraq is going to help or hurt this campaign, but I've said before that Biden's on what do do with Iraq was probably the best one.

[EricMM 0]

Is Obama less "change"-y because he has an experienced VP?

 

Really?

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Joe Biden is a damn good choice for VP. He's a straight shooter who's got the foreign relations and judiciary experience. He'll mop the floor with the G.O.P. Veep candidate (Mitt Romney me thinks) in the debates. Things are definitely looking up for progressives although I think John Edwards would've been the VP choice again if it hadn't been for the affair issue.

[SuperJerk 0]

Is Obama less "change"-y because he has an experienced VP?

 

Really?

Maybe.

 

It might be harder to convince people he's new and different than typical Washington politicians when the person who he is essentially saying "this person can take over for me someday" about someone who has been part of the power establishment since before most of us were born. Obama's "Washington is broken" message is in danger of being overwhelmed by a "only Washington insiders can lead" message.

 

 

Interesting, though, we may be seeing a return to Washington-insider domination of the executive branch. No governor was elected president from FDR to Carter, and then after that (with one exception), we elected nothing but governors president. In the post-9/11 world, like in the generation following WW2, foreign policy may play a bigger role in presidential politics and some Washington experience will be considered essential to the job.

[RepoMan 0]

Obama/Biden was my second favorite choice for over a year after Obama/Richardson. The only thing I worried about Obama's lack of experience was in foreign policy. Otherwise I view the less time in DC = less corruption and adopting of the hegemony of bland, middle of the road, voting not to lose politics.

 

I hope the Dems embrace Biden’s bluntness. The Dems’ main weakness in my lifetime has been being wishy washy control freaks, afraid to express their true feelings. In general, they try to make everyone happy and in turn inspire no one (I‘m looking at Obama‘s answer about abortion in the Evangelical forum for the most recent and most cring worthy example) . I agree that the VP picks will have a minute effect on this election, but turning Biden into an old establishment carrier politician white guy would be a huge mistake.

 

The GOP in general has no probleme with blunt assholes. It makes them look like they actually have principals they stand by. If I was a Dem stategist, I’d continue to let Obama be the chocolate charisma, Biden be the vanilla bluntness.

[At Home 0]

Joe Biden is a damn good choice for VP. He's a straight shooter who's got the foreign relations and judiciary experience. He'll mop the floor with the G.O.P. Veep candidate (Mitt Romney me thinks) in the debates. Things are definitely looking up for progressives although I think John Edwards would've been the VP choice again if it hadn't been for the affair issue.

 

Or perhaps being one of the foremost reasons behind losing in 2004.

 

Are we forgetting that? He was the veep nominee for 2004. Cheney wiped the floor with him in the debates, he didn't carry his home state, and was a shit-tay candidate when push came to shove.

[Guest WhackingCockDick]

I know Biden is a really bright guy, but I just can't stand the bastard.

[At Home 0]

Nor could you stand Obama.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Czech fears change!

[At Home 0]

Czech, you racist.

[Guest WhackingCockDick]

Good sequence of posts here.

[Art Sandusky 0]

By change, I meant old white guys who act uppity too.

[Guest WhackingCockDick]

I just remember finding myself exasperated with him during the justice nomination hearings. The worst kind of say-nothing blowhard.

[At Home 0]

Good sequence of posts here.

 

[godthedog 0]

i like biden and i like the idea of an obama-biden administration, but i don't think this really does anything to help him get elected. not like there was anybody before going, "biden, YEEEEEEEEEAH!!!"

 

i think bill richardson would've been better, not least of which because it would be a riskier ticket. obama's gradual shifts in policy are making him look less and less like an agent of change/man of integrity, and that would've been a nice way to give the campaign some balls again.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

not like there was anybody before going, "biden, YEEEEEEEEEAH!!!"

 

Me. I was. That was my exact reaction when I got the txt message at 2:30 in the morning. I think I woke up my neighbors.

[SuperJerk 0]

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) – In another bid to restore party unity, the Democratic National Committee voted unanimously Sunday to restore full convention voting rights to Florida and Michigan delegates.

 

The move, which had been sought by former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton since shortly after the primary season began, was endorsed by presumptive nominee Barack Obama last month.

 

Florida and Michigan Democrats had been penalized by the DNC Rules Committee for holding their primaries in January, in violation of party rules. Under the initial penalty, Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates, and barred from attending the convention.

 

Clinton and Obama agreed not to campaign in either state and Obama’s name did not appear on the Michigan ballot. Clinton won both primaries in January, and — locked in a tight battle to win the nomination — urged for full delegations from both states to be seated. Her effort failed, and she conceded to Obama shortly after the primary season ended.

 

In June, the Rules and Bylaws Committee had voted to allow both states’ delegations to be seated at the convention, with each delegate awarded half a vote divided between the candidates based on a formula devised by party officials.

 

The number of delegates required to claim the Democratic nomination will rise as a result of Sunday’s decision.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/...a-and-michigan/

 

CNN's message board for this article is full of angry Clinton supporters claiming this is too little, too late, and they're voting for McCain.

 

Clinton's campaign, of course, wasn't just fighting to get full votes for Florida and Michigan, but if you recall, they were trying to make sure Obama got 0 delegates from Michigan.

 

 

Exclusive: Obama- Clinton feud reignites

 

As Democrats arrived here Sunday for a convention intended to promote party unity, mistrust and resentments continued to boil among top associates of presumptive nominee Barack Obama and his defeated rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

 

 

One flashpoint is the assigned speech topic for former president Bill Clinton, who is scheduled to speak Wednesday night, when the convention theme is “Securing America’s Future.” The night’s speakers will argue that Obama would be a more effective commander in chief than his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

 

The former president is disappointed, associates said, because he is eager to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas — emphasizing the contrast between the Bush years and his own record in the 1990s.

 

This is an especially sore point for Bill Clinton, people close to him say, because among many grievances he has about the campaign Obama waged against his wife is a belief that the candidate poor-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms.

 

Some senior Democrats close to Obama, meanwhile, made clear in not-for-attribution comments that they were equally irked at the Clinton operation. Nearly three months after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the nomination contest, these Obama partisans complained, her team continues to act like she and Bill Clinton hold leverage.

 

After a period earlier this month when the two sides were working collegially over strategy, scheduling, and other convention logistics, things turned scratchy again in recent days.

 

Some senior Obama supporters are irritated at how they perceive the Clintons fanned — or at a minimum failed to douse — stories that she was not even vetted as a possible vice presidential nominee. This is because she told Obama she preferred not to go through the rigorous process of document production unless she was really a serious contender, an Obama associate noted.

 

One senior Obama supporter said the Clinton associates negotiating on her behalf act like “Japanese soldiers in the South Pacific still fighting after the war is over.”

 

A prominent Obama backer said some of Clinton’s lieutentants negotiating with the Obama team are “bitter enders” who presume that, rather than the Clintons reconciling themselves to Obama’s victory, it is up to Obama to accommodate them.

 

In fact, some senior veterans of Clinton’s presidential campaign do believe this.

 

“He has not fully reconciled,” said one political operative close to the Clintons, “and he has not demonstrated that he accepts the Clintons and the Clinton wing of the party.”

 

While the Clintons have a relatively easy job in Denver — to deliver gracious speeches and accept what are likely to be loud cheers from their supporters — it is “Obama who has the heavy lifting” this week, this aide said.

 

This is because large numbers of Clinton backers — 30 percent in a recent ABC/Washington Post poll — are still not backing Obama over McCain.

 

The peevishness on both sides and the volume of behind-the-scenes catcalls are noteworthy because both the Clinton and Obama teams had resolved in pre-convention talks that it was overwhelmingly in the interests of both sides to get along.

 

Obama spokesman Bill Burton dimissed the chatter about Bill Clinton’s speech time and subject as meaningless scuttlebutt...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080825/pl_politico/12782

[Art Sandusky 0]

Thanks, media! I would have never thought there was a rift within the Democratic party unless you told me about it!

[Guest WhackingCockDick]

Just a procedural note here as a tealie, when we're bringing up articles in this, and really, any other thread, try to provide more of your own content than somebody else's. Really, just a link to the article and a few pertinent lines should suffice, followed by whatever your thoughts are. There just gets to be a lot of in-thread scrolling and reading after a while. So just consider that, please.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Don't tell me how to post you furfag.

[SuperJerk 0]

Just a procedural note here as a tealie, when we're bringing up articles in this, and really, any other thread, try to provide more of your own content than somebody else's. Really, just a link to the article and a few pertinent lines should suffice, followed by whatever your thoughts are. There just gets to be a lot of in-thread scrolling and reading after a while. So just consider that, please.

My rebuttal to that would be that: (a) it innoculates us from charges we are taking stuff out of context, and (b) sometimes people used to provide links to articles and then claim they said the opposite of what they really did.

 

But, hey, if you'd rather read what I have to say than the works of professional journalists and pundits, that's your call.

[SuperJerk 0]

Best. Fox News segment. Ever.

 

 

 

[At Home 0]

"Fuck corporate media!"

[SamoaRowe 0]

Oh my, that just made my day. So I just learned that not wanting to talk to Fox News = hating freedom of speech.

[snuffbox 0]

Do you not believe in freedom?

[SuperJerk 0]

Okay....the McCain house thing was funny for a couple of days, but give it a rest already.

 

This is as dumb as the Republicans joking about Al Gore inventing the internet since 2000....except Al Gore lost....

 

So is the secret to winning an election finding some really dumb wisecrack to drive into the ground?

[SamoaRowe 0]

Do you not believe in freedom?

 

Nope, and I'm in favor of clubbing infants.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Of all people, Daddy Yankee supports McCain.

[Myxamatosis 0]

I consider myself apolitical ... but man does it make me sick to see these middle-aged Democrat goofs dancing at the convention when the election is neck-and-neck ...

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Okay....the McCain house thing was funny for a couple of days, but give it a rest already.

 

This is as dumb as the Republicans joking about Al Gore inventing the internet since 2000....except Al Gore lost....

 

So is the secret to winning an election finding some really dumb wisecrack to drive into the ground?

 

In a way, yes. Politics is shaped by repetition. It's only old to you because you follow politics closely. Gore's boring and invented the internet. Bush is dumb and mispronounces words. Kerry is a pussy. McCain's old. Obama's an inexperienced secret muslim with a faked passport.

 

I was just shocked that the normally passive Democratic politics actually jumped on it as hard as they did - usually the Republicans are the aggresive ones.