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Terms of Endearment

When, say, Trent Lott makes a “racially insensitive” remark (even one I happen to believe, despite my noted dislike for Lott, he did not intend), Democrats and the mainstream press depict those comments as a kind of slipping of the mask, behind which lurks the ugly manifestation of a black-hearted racist.

Yet when Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s ubiquitously Brylcreemed VP pick, makes “racially insensitive” remarks of a far less roundabout nature, that, according to NYT reporter John Harwood, is a sign of strength and character — and, best yet, suggests that Biden is at heart just a regular Joe:

He is not somebody who is infused with political correctness, the verbal equivalent of putting his pinkie up when he opens his mouth. So this is what, the way ordinary voters are as well. They’re not always worried about sort of calibrating every single word by “ooh, is this racially insensitive?” That’s something that Joe Biden brings as an asset to the ticket. The gaffes actually show one of his strengths.

Now, it will probably not come as a shock to some of you that I actually agree in part with Harwood: I think that political correctness has done the hard work of shutting down critical speech by allowing those who cannot survive on ideas to in turn thrive on policing the way ideas can “legitimately” be expressed.

But what troubles me about Harwood’s comments is that they are, I’m willing to bet, not the expression of some broad belief in freedom of speech, but rather are a pragmatic rhetorical attempt to rescue Biden from the very kinds of criticisms Harwood would be loath to defend were the target someone like Trent Lott.

— All of which points back to the animating tenet in “liberal” ideology — namely, that, simply by virtue of adopting the left-liberal agenda, one is good, and so his “mistakes” are but minor slip-ups, hiccups in a life of sublime goodliness. Whereas any kind of minor slip-up by those on the “right” (classical liberals included, these days) are to be seen as brief inadvertent flashes revealing their grubby souls — even when those flashes are either admittedly unintended, or else have to be run through a special code book to prove visible to the watchdogs of all that is good and righteous.

BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY!

related, and related, 2 (too).

****
update: More, from Allahpundit

126 Replies to “Terms of Endearment”

  1. […] Goldstein sums up: All of which points back to the animating tenet in “liberal” ideology — namely, […]

  2. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – The Obamasmurfs have officially abandoned the “hopey changiness” fundamental theme of his entire campaign, and direvtly acknowledged the “rookiness inexperience” problem of the junior Senators candidacy.

    – Early barrative against some of the problems this VP choice engenders:

    – Well yes Biden is “Old Washington”, but hes the RIGHT kind of old Washington.

    – Well yes, like Hillery. he voted for the Iraq war, but hes since renounced that chioce and said if he had to do it all over again he’d vote differently.

    – Whistling past the cemetery. The Left has completely reversed course at this pount. Exactly the same as their candidate.

    – Hey, at least Biden thinks that Obama is a “clean Black guy”,so there is that.

  3. Brian says:

    Once again, an inaccurate post from Jeff G. You cannot Brylcreem hair-plugs. It creates a fire hazard.

    But I guess you’re right about the whole race thing.

  4. kelly says:

    Biden? Biden?!?

    Smells like desperation. And hair plugs.

  5. happyfeet says:

    Question. Are we allowed to mention his middle name?

  6. Bubba Thudd says:

    “…lipping of the mask, behind which lurks the ugly manifestation of a black-hearted racist.”

    Black-hearted?!

    RAAACCCIIIISSSTTTT!!!

  7. sherlock says:

    “The gaffes actually show one of his strengths.”

    That is factually true… since he is a Dem, he can say any stupid, ignorant, or insensitive thing he wants and media whores like Harwood will cover his ass for him. Hell of a strength!

  8. Sdferr says:

    Turdus Migratorius is the scientific nomenclature for “Common American Robin”. Since Joe Biden’s middle name is Robinette, perhaps he would be called Turdunculum Migratoriaculum in Linnean speak? Or is it Turdillius Migratorius? Any help Biologists?

  9. It’s a cant with candor.

  10. happyfeet says:

    oh. It just looked French to me is all. Also Biden is a big pusher of “card check” and trial lawyers love him to pieces. He would be more useful to these people in the Senate, really, but I guess the most important thing to know about Biden is that he really really believes he’s much much smarter than he really is. He has a lot of conviction about that.

  11. happyfeet says:

    ack.

    As president, I will immediately sign the Employee Free Choice Act into law. I will guarantee that the National Labor Relations Board returns to being a fair forum to contest unfair labor practices. I will appoint people to the Department of Labor who understand the value of unions to our economy and will make sure that pro-union officials play senior roles at the Departments of Commerce, State, Agriculture, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services.

    ohnoes, really. Joe Biden. Because Bernie Sanders was just too damn Jewish.

  12. dre says:

    Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr There I said it. I feel bitter and clingy.

  13. PMain says:

    Let me see if I get this right…
    Obama has chosen a former Presidential candidate, someone who belatedly advocated John McCain & Bush’s Iraq & foreign policy, to sure up his own lack of experience & add some 2nd hand credentials to a lackluster political career… in short, he needs someone like McCain to beat McCain.

    I’m going to love hearing the Obamabots spin the fact that this white, 6 term Senator, Washington insider, who voted for Iraq represents any of Obama’s stated policies. But then again given the fact that Barrack’s policies switch from audience to audience, faster than he’s witched logos, I guess it’s better to hedge their bets.

    My God, is it me or are the only Democrats showing any balls or backbone Hillary Clinton & Geraldine Ferraro? You know a political party is truly dead when the only political consistency is coming from the Clinton camp.

    At least the commercials will be entertaining, in a car wreck sort of way.

  14. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – This is fucking High-larious. The Obamasmurfs have just put out the notice that Obama and Biden will not be “seen” together after today announcement in Springfield until after the convention.

    – They can’t even stand to have their rookie candidate seen on the same stage with their ecperienced VP pick.

    – Talk about jumping the shark.

    – And all sorts of exciting “words” are coming out of the pro-Hillery groups in anticipation of a bloody showdown in Denver.

    FOR THE UNITINESS!!!111eleventyonesaa11!!

  15. McGehee says:

    So that’s why Obama picked him? Because he has an even more ridiculous middle name???

    I guess we’re just lucky Kucinich’s middle name isn’t Nebuchadnezzar.

  16. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – From the Huffington Post – Arrianna at her best:

    “Ever since I passed out from exhaustion, broke my cheekbone and got five stitches over my eye a year ago, I’ve become an evangelist for the need to occasionally disconnect from our always-connected lives.”

    – All of which simply proves the old adage that 6 inch spike heels and 20 year old scotch don’t mix.

    – Where is Huffy now that the Dembulbs need her?

    – In Greece, drying out.

  17. Salt Lick says:

    Not dispositive, but a tidbit on Harwood.

  18. happyfeet says:

    But what that New York Times guy seems to be saying is that Joey brings a refreshing lack of political correctness to balance Baracky. But the obvious real reason is cause Baracky doesn’t know dick about foreign policy, and it’s just a bonus that Joey has no tact.

    The media was saying hey Baracky – we have you covered on the economic thing but you have to give us something to work with on foreign policy. So he gave them Joey.

    Here’s another bonus:

    Along with many others, I have been closely involved in this effort. In 1990, when I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I wrote the Anabolic Steroids Control Act, which added ‘anabolic steroids’ to Schedule Three of the Controlled Substances Act and began to list a host of substances falling within that definition. In 2004, I proposed legislation to update that law and added the substances ‘THG’ and ‘Andro,’ and their chemical cousins, to the list of anabolic steroids.*

    So he gets his orders from the same people that get NPR to keep pushing and pushing on this. I still just don’t get at all where this fetish comes from that these people have with criminalizing steroids and stuff.

  19. Steve says:

    Great site!

    Would you like a Link Exchange with The Internet Radio Network? At the IRN you can listen to over 70 of America’s top Talk Shows via Free Streaming Audio! In addition you can email the President, VP and Congressional Leaders!!
    http://www.the-irn.com

  20. Pablo says:

    I was subjected to some CNN this morning and a couple of statements from the anchors stood out. One, Biden is a working class guy. Yep, a guy who has been a US Senator for 35 years is Joe Lunch Bucket. Two, Biden isn’t a Wshington guy. He doesn’t keep a place in DC, he goes home to Delaware at night. Yep, a guy who chairs the Senate Foreign relations Committee and spent 16 years chairing the Judiciary Committee is a Washington outsider. Oh, and while we’re at it, John McCain doesn’t know how many houses he owns, despite the fact that he wasn’t asked that question and despite the fact that he actually doesn’t own any houses.

    Some days, I wanna go all Elvis.

  21. Sdferr says:

    If Joe Biden has his way with things (and John Harwood is here to see to it that he does), before we know it all the piping plovers will be dead and all the subcontractors will once again be white [there was ever a time when this last was true of the world?].

  22. B Moe says:

    Working class guy = Union whore in MSM speak.

  23. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – Actually some of the pols are already pointing out that Joe failed miserably with the lunch bucket crowd in his two previous runs.

    – So that dog don’t even hunt. Which leaves it at what does Obama get out of this nomination, other than hes not Hillery.

  24. […] Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom frames the double standard perfectly: All of which points back to the animating tenet in “liberal” ideology — namely, that, simply […]

  25. happyfeet says:

    Pablo, if those are the talking points CNN got from the campaign, that means it really for real could have been Edwards, and that Joey’s foreign policy committee assignments are what’s the bonus part. That’s interesting.

  26. Pablo says:

    Oh, Baracky says we’re in a recession. To hell with those stupid economists with their racist numbers and statistics. We’re fucked, dammit! We need Joe Biden!

  27. Pablo says:

    Jeff, if it so moves you, a discussion on Joe’s baby, VAWA, would be apropos.

  28. happyfeet says:

    BBH, I think it signals they wanted someone to carry an economic attack message more than anything else. Biden attacks enthusiastically, he’s a lot like Schumer, and … oh… I just refreshed … Pablo is right … it’s all economy all the time from here til November.

  29. Self-hating boomer says:

    O M Gawd. Hussein/Robinette ’08. This is more fun than Milhous.

  30. […] Goldstein at Protein Wisdom frames the double standard perfectly: All of which points back to the animating tenet in “liberal” ideology — namely, that, simply […]

  31. David Warner says:

    BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY!

    I think of our contemporary left as a sort of James Gang robbing the trains carrying the tribute vice plays to virtue, leaving virtue destitute and vice unatoned.

  32. happyfeet says:

    Second-quarter U.S. growth notched a better-than-expected 1.9 percent annualized pace and economists think it could be revised even higher.*

  33. guinsPen says:

    We need Joe Biden!

    Baracky/Honky ‘008 !

  34. Sdferr says:

    “…That’s something that Joe Biden brings as an asset to the ticket. The gaffes actually show one of his strengths. …”

    Right here is where Harwood demonstrates the stones of a man who knows his next paycheck is already money in the bank. Far from a bug, he poses, Biden’s gaffes are a feature…because Biden is so much like those ordinary people he’ll be fighting for!

    When he can manifest this much courage and for now, seem to pull it off, why is it that John Harwood still reminds me of nothing so much as a female Bassett Hound snuffling along in search of her next discovery?

  35. B Moe says:

    Hot Air and Ace have uncovered an epiphany at Kos:
    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/1/31/11112/2465
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/23/73138/9880/164/5734
    The comments in that second link are absolute gold. Children play acting at being grown-up.

  36. Salt Lick says:

    Not to hijack this thread reminding me of all the times I’ve been called a racist, but did everyone know that US Olympic Volleyballers Misty May and Kerri Walsh are not only great American women but also George Bush fans?

  37. Pablo says:

    From B Moe’s second link:

    Lunch bucket working class Biden says a few politically incorrect things now and then, even about his own boss, but the boss can handle it because he knows Joe’s a good guy and because he’s more than comfortable with who he is as a person.

    A 66 year old man who’s been a United States Senator since he was 30 is Joe Fucking Lunch Bucket. You’d think I’d have noticed the tumble down the rabbit hole.

  38. Pablo says:

    More on Joe, especially interesting in light of VAWA:

    “In my house, being raised with a sister and three brothers, there was an absolute – it was a nuclear sanction, if under any circumstances, for any reason, no matter how justified, even self-defense – if you ever touched your sister, not figuratively, literally. My sister, who is my best friend, my campaign manager, my confidante, grew up with absolute impunity in our household.”

    And this was the good senator’s bell-ringer: “And I have the bruises to prove it. I mean that sincerely. I am not exaggerating when I say that.”

  39. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – So his sister kicked his ass. He’ll fit in perfectly with the poufy Obama crowd.

    – “If nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve….In other words I’m totally not interested in the VP job.”

    – ‘Course if you actually were to, you know, ask me, I’d be on the next flight to accept.

  40. psycho... says:

    simply by virtue of adopting the left-liberal agenda, one is good

    Almost. Sometimes. But never quite. There’s another layer to peel off this.

    Because not everyone who makes the show of conformity is given a pass. Some are fair game for a Souljahing, and some aren’t. And you know who’s which without even thinking about it.

    Take the Sistah herself on one hand, and, say, Ayers on the other. Who gets that pass? You know.

    Ludacris on one, Biden on the other. Whose transgressions of ritual decorum don’t count? You know.

    Lieberman or Byrd? Tough one? Kind of. But you know.

    And you knew before it happened.

    Because you know — whether you’ve thought about it or not — what the “agenda” is “adopted” to signify.

    Pretend, just for a moment, for illustrative purposes, that you’ve been lied to. Crazy, I know. But pretend.

    Pretend — pure thought experiment, here — that the difference between Obama and Clarence Thomas that determined their respective roles in the racial theatrics of the day isn’t what it’s said to be, even by those who decry it — that Thomas’s almost-perfect Constitutionalism and Obama’s Marx-accented non-thinking aren’t really what decided who’s the Tom and who’s the First Black President-in-waiting.

    What was decisive?

    Pretend Jesse Jackson meant what he said, and he didn’t mean for us to hear it. What was he talking about? He’s in the shit. He knows things.

    What?

    Right. That.

  41. Mr. Pink says:

    You figure Chris Mathews came a little in his pants when he heard the news?

  42. JHoward says:

    He is not somebody who is infused with political correctness

    He’s not? I mean except for what — had he been Republican and said such things — would have branded him a Racist! forever elsewhere, how then to explain one of the most damaging bills and policies in recent memory if not that it plays sweetly to the PC weakminded in the music of gender bias?

    Being entirely PC-motivated policy, it even props up one manufactured victim group at the expense of taxpayers and the real victims of its eventual actions, pretty much filling all the known definitions of PC, Harwood.

    Or was it sufficiently unPC-like of me to mention such a thing that the issue shall be, PC-like, utterly ignored?

    Hat trick!

  43. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – As one pundit put it…”If Obama actually does manage to win, at least now he’ll have adult supervision.”

    – Its going to be interesting to watch the reaction of the Hillery supporters.

  44. David Warner says:

    Well, so far the ridiculous comb-over demographic is 2 for 3.

    Is this a sign that America is finally ready to overcome its sordid past of combover/toupee atsniggering?

    I wasn’t one who lost too much sleep worrying over an Obama assassination. Now we have President Biden to contemplate.

  45. Ric Locke says:

    ST, did psycho hire you to make his point, or are you a sock puppet?

    Regards,
    Ric

  46. Great Mencken's Ghost! says:

    So Obama’s commitment to change boils down to a serial primary loser whose greatest foreign policy pronunciamento was on how to slip a knife past GI body armor on Fox.

    That’s like entering an Edsel Car of Tomorrow in NASCAR…

  47. Carin says:

    If I may be so bold boring and irritating, sir.

    Fixed that for you sinister.

  48. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – Has anyone else noticed that the Left has finally stopped talking about current events completely, and now just go for ad homs 100% of the time.

    – I wonder if the children of the Left will ever come to see this lack of substitutive approach for the immaturity it represents.

  49. steveaz says:

    Sh_t! This is getting out of bounds.

    If Biden were to wear black-face at the Dem’s convention, Harwood would write that Obama’s VP is just a “regular Joe bondin’ with the Black Community.”

    What’s next?

    What a Hoot!

  50. urthshu says:

    I thought ST’s remark rather funny in a The Shining sort of way.

    Come play with us, Jeffy, 4everaneveraneveranever…

  51. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – The MSM has taken a crap shoot on a long shot, and theres going to be a lot of people looking for jobs if the messiahs camp can’t find a way to stem the bleeding. Biden isn’t it.

  52. McGehee says:

    @ #44: STOP LOOKING AT ME!!!

  53. dre says:

    Is it racist to say that Baracky has a new pit bull? Oh hell I denounce myself for such a thought.

  54. geoffb says:

    One thing about putting Biden on the ticket. Both are Senators as is McCain. The “hale fellow well met” among the Senators is legend. The one thing that seems to get McCain’s back up is being mistreated by a colleague. Biden in attack dog mode should make for some interesting ads by McCain as he will take it personally and Biden is as gaff prone as Obama.

  55. geoffb says:

    I denounce myself for using “one thing” twice.

  56. dre says:

    Please it’s The One™

  57. TheGeezer says:

    Biden, in the last twenty years, has made criticism of any opponent’s foreign policy experience modus operandi of his campaign efforts, even against Obama. It will be great, the boming weeks.

  58. TheGeezer says:

    “coming weeks”, dammit.

  59. WTF are you muttering about Sinister?

  60. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – No luck sinister. Nothing “sinister” going on. the software swallows comments once in awhile. But you can hope.

  61. dre says:

    “How will our Republic stand.”

    With a knucklehead as President and a honky lackey?

  62. The Lost Dog says:

    Did anybody follow the link to Jacob Weisberg at Hot Air?

    I think Weisberg will be stuck in a pretzel shape for the rest of his life. The funny thing about all this intellectual contortion by the left, is that they actually BELIEVE it! “Yesterday? What does that have to do with anything? Joey (out to) Lunch Box is <i?Da Man!”

    That’s some brilliant stuff, that is. And pretty scary, too.

    But at least now we have dueling morons on the Dem ticket. No more screwing around. Asininity rules!

    This could be fun, though. I can’t wait for the Dem convention! I’m packing in the beer and White Castle’s already.

  63. […] Protein Wisdom – Jeff is a dying breed, he still fights Liberal hypocrisy as if it’s something that people might eventually acknowledge. 2. Atlas Shrugged – It’s […]

  64. Rusty says:

    As of right now it looks like the presidency is McCains to loose. Obama would have done better to choose Joseph Mengele.

    The clowncar that is the democratic party careens madly down the interstate, no adults at the wheel. The crash is going to be spectacular. I can’t wait.

  65. ST says:

    “With a knucklehead as President and a honky lackey?”

    That is very logical.

    What’s really interesting is the way this thread traveled up and down the memory hole, shedding various undesirable notions along the way.

  66. guinsPen says:

    All except for you.

  67. dre says:

    “What’s really interesting is the way this thread traveled up and down the memory hole, ”

    Yea in all 57 states in this mean country. Cluster f@@k on the left.

  68. ST says:

    Whatever, wussies…

    Free Market of Opinions! The bestest, lestest bogus opinion will prevail!

    Tax cuts increase revenues! It’s a FACT!

  69. dre says:

    “Tax cuts increase revenues! It’s a FACT!”

    IF IT MOVES TAX IT, IF IT KEEPS MOVING REGULATE IT, IF IT STOPS MOVING SUBSIDIZE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  70. dicentra says:

    I wonder if the children of the Left will ever come to see this lack of substantive approach for the immaturity it represents.

    You never recognize immaturity until you’ve grown up a bit and get past that stage.

    So, there’s your answer, I’m afraid…

  71. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – I think all progressives should have the Laffer curve tattoo’d to the insides of their eyelids at birth.

  72. Sdferr says:

    Apparently Iraqis know a jerk when they see one and they’ve seen one in Joe Biden. I wonder how Maliki’s lean toward Obama is going over with the regular folks in Iraq now? Not so well, I’d wager, with Split-Em-Up Joe on the ticket. Long memories, those Arabs.

  73. Rich "El Tejon" Cox says:

    Hey forget the politics. I need to GIS his new wife. And McGhee, I would have no problem with another 2.5 months of Kucinich using the wife-o-metertm.

  74. Rob Crawford says:

    Tax cuts increase revenues! It’s a FACT!

    To a point, sure. Check the historical record. Why do you treat this as some sort of myth?

    Hell, even Obama admitted this is true, when he admitted that he’d raise taxes despite it lowering revenues. He just doesn’t view the tax rate as primarily a means of paying for government services, but rather as a way to achieve some bizarre sort of rebalancing of karma.

  75. geoffb says:

    With the Obama/Biden ticket the Dems may be trying to bring back 1960. Two Senators, younger one in the top slot. Both representing different power bases of the party.

    In 1960 it was geographical, Northeast and South. 2008 it is identity groups. Obama African-American and progressive groups. Biden, unions especially government ones.

    Of course that is just one level. On the important ones they don’t match up. Kennedy wasn’t a flake and for all the faults of LBJ he never had hair plugs, plagiarized anyone and was a formidable politician.

    The 2008 pair, Eh, not so much.

  76. Mark A. Flacy says:

    As of right now it looks like the presidency is McCains to loose.

    That’s a relief. People were telling me that it was his to lose.

  77. happyfeet says:

    oh. it’s a play on words. or something.

  78. happyfeet says:

    Why does this strike me as a condescending thing that Baracky is foisting Joe Biden off as being of presidential caliber? Cause what if he really believes it?

  79. Jeff G. says:

    Nothing from ST in spam or moderation. Found a JD post and a BJTex post in mod, but that’s it.

    And no, I haven’t deleted anything. But then, you all knew that.

  80. thor says:

    #

    Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 8/23 @ 8:30 pm #

    – I think all progressives should have the Laffer curve tattoo’d to the insides of their eyelids at birth.

    Ask your tattoo dude if he can fit “noselong huckster horse-whispering limericks” in 36-point font on your forehead. I’ll pay for it if he can.

  81. happyfeet says:

    Probably not. Hey though, maybe it might could fit on Joe Biden’s head cause of his enormous brain. He’s like that guy from Superman with the enormous brain except he’s not green.

  82. dicentra says:

    I think all progressives should have the Laffer curve tattoo’d to the insides of their eyelids at birth.

    Trouble with the Laffer curve is that it has two sides. You’re on the left (back) side of the curve, and lowering taxes does in fact result in lower revenues. Because on the extreme Left (heh), you have 0% taxes raising exactly nothing.

    But using taxation as a form of Making Things Fair or of Punishing The Rich or of playing Robin Hood or summat — that’s what it’s really all about for some of them.

    I’d say that Obama’s in that camp, but the more I hear him, the more I agree with Rush: Obama’s a sponge. He absorbs the language and the superficial forms of the ideas that he seems to espouse, but he’s never thought things through. Probably because he can’t. As a narcissist, it’s all about appearances anyway — depth is as foreign to him as it is irrelevant.

    I’ve known people like that before — some in academia — who were good at parroting what they’d been hearing around them, but they don’t know anything beyond the words. They can fool those who aren’t familiar with the actual issues, but to the rest of us, they’re babbling fools.

  83. easyliving1 says:

    Are all Democrat politicians lawyers?

    Where’s teh change I’ve heard so much about?

    Obama/Biden, Kerry/Edwards, Gore (enrolled only and quit, but still a 1L)/Lieberman, Clinton/Gore, Dukakis/Bentson, Mondale/Ferraro; all lawyers but 1L Al.

    Johnny Mac to the rescue!

  84. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – That would certainly go a long way to explain why you hear the theme from Harvey Birdman every time Obama opens his mouth.

    – thor, if you were ever dumb enough to show up in my neck of the woods I’d have Bubba the tattoo dude shove his needle up your ass and tattoo a brain on the inside of you empty skull….. dooode.

  85. Pablo says:

    OK, I was confused as to how Joey B could possibly not be a Washington insider after 35 years in the Senate. Now, I understand. It doesn’t matter how long or how much you’ve been playing the Washington game, strolling the halls of Capitol Hill and pulling the levers of power. It turns out that being a Washington insider (I’m guessing the definition of that has now been revised) is merely a state of mind, so if you don’t feel like a Washington insider, you are not a Washington insider. The Speaker of the House is not a Washington insider.

    No word on how Ted Kennedy feels about his insider status.

  86. Pablo says:

    Why does this strike me as a condescending thing that Baracky is foisting Joe Biden off as being of presidential caliber? Cause what if he really believes it?

    Does Baracky not realize that the attraction of a Biden presidency has been repeatedly found not to exist?

  87. JD says:

    Biden is from Washington, but not of Washington. That is what they told me. Whatever that is supposed to mean. Maybe somone like ST or Miss Cleo or Dr. Weasel, who are all fluent in idiot, could explain that.

  88. Rich "El Tejon" Cox says:

    dicentra absorbs the language and the superficial forms of the ideas that he seems to espouse, but he’s never thought things through.

    This also makes someone controllable. Which raises the theory the Biden was hefted on Oboy by the machine, who fear losing total control. I think it might actually have been a control shift in the party behind the curtains. That is, the grownups have come back home from their “card party.”

  89. B Moe says:

    That is, the grownups have come back home from their “card party.”

    They may be home, but they apparently haven’t sobered up yet it they think Biden is the man.

  90. Rusty says:

    lose…………………………………….wiseass.

  91. Swen Swenson says:

    As of right now it looks like the presidency is McCains to loose.

    That’s a relief. People were telling me that it was his to lose.

    Thou shall not flaunt Muphry’s Law..

  92. Swen Swenson says:

    On further review the officials in the booth have determined that both the spelling and grammaticial errors were in the original and Muphry’s Law does not apply. My bad.

    I blame the Law of the Hammer and I do loves Muphry’s Law, which hasn’t been brought up in these parts yet this week..

    So.. How about that Little Joe Biden? Pit bull or leg humper? You be the judge.

  93. MarkD says:

    Leg humper. Would you share a foxhole with Joe? I’m sure there would be a reason why he let you down, and it’d be a really goood one, but still.

  94. Sdferr says:

    Whether pit bull (which I doubt) or leg humper David Harsanyi points back to one respect in which Biden is a jerk, namely with regard to his having pre-judged the Haditha Marines as being involved in an atrocity. He has yet to apologize for his error.

  95. Mark A. Flacy says:

    lose…………………………………….wiseass.

    I’ve been told by many people that I am a complete asshole. I feel that I’ve failed here. *sniff*

  96. When does the Official PW DNC Coverage start? Chop chop.

    Fox News is already covering the crazy protesters.

  97. geoffb says:

    Headline in my Sunday fishwrap, “Decades later: Biden has helped change Washington”.

    Decades of change but no mention of what the change was, is, or will be. I suspect change, as usual from the left, for the worse.

  98. happyfeet says:

    It’s cause Joe is never far from his enormous brain, geoffb. He’s actually shown considerable restraint I think.

  99. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    “Headline in my Sunday fishwrap, “Decades later: Biden has helped change Washington”.

    – Well then, there you go. Its all fixed, courtesy of good ole Joe and his tireless efforts, so now we won’t be needing all the hopey changiness stuff, and the messiah can go back to running numbers For teh Rugala!.

    – Wow, that was easy.

  100. McGehee says:

    Notice the headline doesn’t say, “Decades later: Biden has helped improve Washington.”

  101. cranky-d says:

    All change is improvement, dammit. Get with the program, McGehee!

  102. geoffb says:

    When you said a green guy with an enormous brain, Gazoo is what I thought of first.

  103. Rich "El Tejon" Cox says:

    cranky-d: All change is improvement

    Unless it is climate change. But I forget, is it getting hotter, or colder? Maybe now it is GOOD climate change….

  104. The Lost Dog says:

    “El Tejon”,

    I think climate change is a brilliant tactic. This way, no matter which way temperatures go, we are evillll!

    There is a perfect climate, I guess, but the “climatologists” just haven’t told us what it is. It is a well guarded secret, as is the fact that their “climate models” are hopelessly infantile, and are unable to include all the facts of climate variables, as they exist. They don’t even know what many of the variables are. It’s Voodoo science.

    They just don’t have all the variables (and in reality, probably never will), and all of them ignore sun’s cycles – which correspond quite closely with the so called “warming” of the Earth in the last 40 or so years.

    This is what the left calls “science”. It’s about comparable to predicting the exact fall of 100 coin flips accurately.

    They can’t even agree on the average temperature of the Earth, for starters.

    Well, I have to go pray to our new terrestrial God, Al Gore.

  105. Andrew the Noisy says:

    Biden….really?

    Looks to me like O! is running scared to the fact that he can’t pull away. Either that or he’s too dumb to realize that being in the Senate for a handful of decades does not mean you possess gravitas, leadership, or intelligence.

    Biden…what a maroon.

  106. Aldo says:

    The “Hope and Change” candidate picked one of the insidiest of all Washington insiders to be his Vice Presidential running mate, so how does the Los Angeles Times introduce the guy in their front-page Sunday edition headline? Joe Biden, Regular Guy

    The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is Joe Sixpack!!

    I can’t decide whether the Obama campaign tells the Los Angeles times what to write, or whether the campaign just writes the newspaper and skips the middle-man.

  107. lee says:

    Now that the most liberal member of the senate has chosen the 3rd most liberal member as his running mate, I’m curious if McCain will pick the 2nd most liberal member as his running mate, just so those independents and disgruntled (Hilliary being the gruntled) democrats will keep the faith and vote McCain.

    It might be the mavericky thing to do.

  108. Rich "El Tejon" Cox says:

    @108 It seems still like the party hoisted him with Joe. They needed to counter the elitism, immaturity, and helps with unions. In their mind at least. I do not believe it hyperbole to say this was NOT an Obama choice.

  109. Aldo says:

    #110 Rich,

    You do have a point. I like the way you put it at #90, the grownups have come back home from their “card party.”. Whether it was Obama himself who chose Joe or the institutional party, it is clear that the choice signals a desire to distance the Democrats from the neo-McGovernite wing of the party represented by DKos.

    Still, I was sickened by the way the LAT coverage dovetailed so neatly with the Obama campaign’s talking points, almost as if the same people were writing both.

  110. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    “…almost as if the same people were writing both.”

    – Now theres a Shockah.

  111. Rusty says:

    #97
    Well. I suppose that’s better than being an incomplete asshole.

  112. happyfeet says:

    Gazoo is eerily Bidenesque I think. Good catch.

  113. geoffb says:

    I never would have thought it if you hadn’t written about a big brained green guy.

    This is going to be one weird week. I see that PJM is having Zombie cover the convention. Should be some good photos.

  114. TmjUtah says:

    If the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae meltdown breaks out into common knowledge, with the sad, sordid legacy of legislative enabling that has led to what may be the hangman’s drop to the next Great Depression… and MSM is forced to put names on the legislators who greased the gears…

    What kind of presidential campaign can two varsity and one rookie senators expect to conduct?

    On to DENVER!!!

  115. The Lost Dog says:

    To a point, sure. Check the historical record. Why do you treat this as some sort of myth?

    Hell, even Obama admitted this is true, when he admitted that he’d raise taxes despite it lowering revenues. He just doesn’t view the tax rate as primarily a means of paying for government services, but rather as a way to achieve some bizarre sort of rebalancing of karma.

    Rob Crawford,

    I meant to say this before, but had to go do something.

    Obama’s reason for raising taxes, I think, has more to do with punishing certain people, more than it does with any kind of bizarre karma.

    You rich filthy pricks!

  116. aahgfsuh says:

    I i saw the hot discussion about this topic on richmingle.com just now.

  117. Pablo says:

    Fox News is already covering the crazy protesters.

    Jason Mattera is on scene doing a somewhat familiar shtick with the moonbats. Good stuff.

  118. SGT Ted says:

    Tax cuts increase revenues! It’s a FACT!

    It is a fact, you fucking moron. Proven empirically by John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and GW Bush. GO ahead, look the numbers up on the IRS website. I know it’s not as fun as spraying leftwing propaganda out your ass, but there it is.

  119. Mikey NTH says:

    #77 geoff b:

    As Bill Mauldin noted in a cartoon, LBJ was an inspired choice for JFK, because LBJ could get the south to rally to the Democrats.

    (The cartoon showed a young lieutenant JFK with a clipboard standing over a cot marked ‘Dixie’ and old sergeant LBJ saying ‘All present and accounted for.’ And LBJ made sure they were present whether the malingering goldbricker wanted to be.)

  120. Mikey NTH says:

    What I don’t understand is that people were expecting change from a politician that is part of the Daley machine of Chicago. Isn’t ‘Daley machine’ and ‘change’ like matter and anti-matter?

    Unless the change-stuff is all bally-hoo. Now that I can believe in!

  121. Lisa says:

    Awww, I see we are feeling oppressed again. “Why do they scorn me when I call them niggers?! Damned hypocrites!!”

  122. McGehee says:

    Has someone hijacked Lisa’s nick now?

  123. Sdferr says:

    Hell no. Lisa is good to go.

    Oh, and OT, Gustav is gonna be awful, a killer. Less acutely painful but more generally immiserating, watch for oil prices to spike like crazy for the next week. A whole lot of people are going to be hurt by this storm.

  124. thor says:

    Lisa, was that a aluminum can crushing of right-wing memes last night or what?

    *squish*

  125. Blitz says:

    Lisa? Please explain your last comment. You’re usually not into the “cynn” level of commentary, and I’ve not seen where anybody used any type of race card here.

    This thread was about Joe Biden, you know, The “clean articulate” guy! So I’m kinda lost as to what you mean. Thanks in advance?

  126. Blitz says:

    OH….and SHUTUP THOR

Comments are closed.