Of course in that regard she (Elizabeth Alexander) is hardly different from most of her ilk, sent out to force-feed the public with inanities to preserve the reputations of their bosses. Her boss, Senator Joe Biden, just took some justifiable flak for doing a volte-face on Obama and Afghanistan. Mark Murray and Domenico Montenaro wrote on First Read:
While Joe Biden is defending Obama over the Illinois senator’s lack of subcommittee hearings on the issue of Afghanistan, opponents of Obama’s candidacy have reminded us of some unflattering things the then-Biden campaign said on this topic.
On Aug. 1, 2007, when Obama unveiled his counterterrorism agenda, the Biden camp fired off a snarky email congratulating him for his “Johnny-come-lately position” on Afghanistan, noting that during two Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Afghanistan and other subjects, Obama didn’t ask questions about the Taliban, Al Qaeda, or Afghanistan. (We also wrote on it here.)
“We find it a little disingenuous that Sen. Obama is hailing this as a new bold initiative when he has neglected to join his colleagues in the Senate when the opportunities have been there to redirect our forces into Afghanistan” Biden campaign manager Luis Navarro said at the time. “It’s good to see Sen. Obama has finally arrived at the right position, but this can hardly be considered bold leadership.” Ouch.
Poor Elizabeth Alexander, Biden spokeswoman, was rushed in for this puerile defense:
“I doubt many people would be surprised to find out that Senator Biden and Obama ran against each other last year. Unlike Senator McCain, Senator Obama understands that the responsibility of the next President goes beyond being Commander-in-Chief for Iraq — he has to be Commander-in-Chief for America’s security in the world. That’s why he supports re-centering our foreign policy and beginning a responsible redeployment of American combat forces from Iraq.”
Say what? John McCain not aware of global scurity? Is that a laugh line or about the dumbest “talking point” you could dredge out of the remains of a limited mind? Inthis endless politics season, the level of discourse is increasingly wretched and insulting.
For Ms. Alexander’s benefit, John McCain discusses “global” issues here. Care to compare that to Barack Obama or even the vaunted Senator Biden?
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16 Comments
1. Captain Hate:If it’s any consolation to poor Ms. Alexander, nobody takes her boss seriously. I don’t know how she can look at the plugs and keep a straight face; she earns her salary just by doing that.
Jul 17, 2008 - 4:25 pm 2. Jay:Um, Roger? There are better ways to defend McCain than to put your 15 minute video up against Biden’s 36 years of service in the Senate.
I can see how you all find it easy to pile on Biden (small state senator, twice-failed presidential candidate, etc.), but he is sharp, having been one of only a few Democrats to come up with a plan for Iraq (partition) that is championed by at least one person who is right about the progress we are making there, Michael O’Hanlon.
Bush had Biden on his shortlist for State after he was reelected, and it would’ve been a good choice, given that he played an important role in getting Quaddafi to cool it.
Jul 17, 2008 - 9:16 pm 3. Big City Boy:Um, Jay? I would imagine our host is completely cognizant of Biden’s record. All the more reason to be disappointed in his playing such a tawdry political game.
My own point of view of Biden is that he is a gifted man overwhelmed by his own narcisissm – the kind of guy who thinks he needs hair plugs.
Jul 17, 2008 - 11:47 pm 4. ic:Jay: “Bush had Biden on his shortlist for State” Don’t make me laugh. Bush was never that stupid.
The only thing Biden is expert in was plagiarism. He could plagiarize better than anyone, better even than Obama’s speech writer who plagiarized (or recycled?) his speeches. Biden did not plagiarize another person’s ideas or politics, that would be too mundane. He plagiarized another politician’s biography in his first run for the presidency. At that time, Al Gore has not invented internet yet, so Biden thought it was safe to steal a Brit politician, Kinnock’s life story.
Biden will never be appointed a cabinet post by any president that needs Congressional hearings. It would just be too embarrassing to the president.
Jul 17, 2008 - 11:49 pm 5. srlucado:“In this endless politics season, the level of discourse is increasingly wretched and insulting.”
Absolutely. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, here comes another one.
What concerns me is that the public is getting overwhelmed by the white noise and won’t bother distinguishing between blather and important discourse. After a while, it all looks like partisan posturing.
Scott
Jul 18, 2008 - 3:29 am 6. Captain Hate:“Bush had Biden on his shortlist for State after he was reelected, and it would’ve been a good choice, given that he played an important role in getting Quaddafi to cool it.”
Yeah Jay it was all Biden; the war on terror had absolutely nothing to do with it. Are you auditioning for Alexander’s job?
Jul 18, 2008 - 5:37 am 7. Lem:I doubt many people would be surprised to find out that Senator Biden and Obama ran against each other last year.
To see who could make more verbal gaffs… and surprisingly Obama was the winner.
Jul 18, 2008 - 7:25 am 8. jedrury:Jay:
As written earlier, Biden is defeated by his arrogance and narcissism. The flannel mouth of the Senate, the man who knows all and tells all, all. Joe Biden is the personification; Ego, find another name and it shall be Bidenesque.
In short, he is off putting like a light switch, and Obama would be insane to make him VIP. Even in the secret confines of deep dark liberal Washington, he is a joke. A phony who has power because he has sat in the Senate for decades, rising to power by sheer utter longevity, not by brilliance or achievement.
Jul 18, 2008 - 7:31 am 9. Jay:“Yeah Jay it was all Biden; the war on terror had absolutely nothing to do with it. Are you auditioning for Alexander’s job?”
Captain, really, reading people like you is like watching primates throw their own feces. Leave aside the fact that Biden, like myself, supported both wars Bush has waged (a poorly-named war on a tactic, if you ask me; wouldn’t want to name the enemy now, would we?). I’m not saying Biden had everything to do with it, but anyone with any understanding of the Quaddafi situation knows the president trusted the Senator enough to send him to negotiate with that thug. As much as a naked partisan like yourself hates to admit it, Biden’s tactics worked, along with, for once, whatever it was the president was throwing at the wall.
Jul 18, 2008 - 8:42 am 10. Jay:By the way, here is the actual response of Biden, not his mouthpiece.
http://tinyurl.com/6kl7vt
Jul 18, 2008 - 8:46 am 11. Captain Hate:“Leave aside the fact that Biden, like myself, supported both wars Bush has waged”
“I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost,” Biden said. “They have no answer to deal with how badly they have screwed it up. I am not being facetious now. Therefore, the best thing to do is keep it from totally collapsing on your watch and hand it off to the next guy — literally, not figuratively.”
Wow, strong support Jay; really digging in for the long haul when things got rough, no? It doesn’t take much integrity to say you support something as long as nothing goes wrong. Do you know the difference between an opinion and a fact?
Jul 18, 2008 - 9:24 am 12. Jay:“It was a shameful thing to ask men to suffer and die, to persevere through god-awful afflictions and heartache, to endure the dehumanizing experiences that are unavoidable in combat, for a cause that the country wouldn’t support over time and that our leaders so wrongly believed could be achieved at a smaller cost than our enemy was prepared to make us pay. No other national endeavor requires as much unshakable resolve as war. If the nation and the government lack that resolve, it is criminal to expect men in the field to carry it alone.”
Oh Captain, my captain, do you know who wrote that? It was your candidate, John McCain, in his introduction to Halberstam’s book about Vietnam, The Best and The Brightest.
Now, before you jump me for bringing in Vietnam, know this: Roger and his crowd are the ones who always bring in a certain other war, World War II, to “dig in for the long haul” and justify every administration failure and excess in Iraq, so apparently, they are for comparing wars, but only when it suits their purposes.
In another sense, though, these amateur comparative historians are correct: universal lessons can be gleaned from war. Chiefly, national unity and sacrifice always matter. So, Captain, the next time you rip those who actually hear from constituents and are actually faced with making decisions about war and peace, ask yourself these questions: 1) Is there a shared sense of national unity in this country, 2) Is there a shared sense of sacrifice in this country, 3) In a war such as this, which the president has rightly identified as a battle like no other, against an enemy like no other, how can we continue indefinitely in Iraq with public support for the endeavor in profound jeopardy, some soldiers doing as many as four tours, and gung-ho hawks like yourself willing to do little more than pop off at a keyboard?
Jul 18, 2008 - 10:16 am 13. Captain Hate:Geez Jay, I don’t know how to answer all those gloomy questions because I’ve been reading elsewhere how improved things are in Iraq and how the troops are itching to go to Afghanistan where they won’t be so bored. Since you said you supported the war (calling it a “fact”) I figured you’d be happy about that; sorry that your MSM buds are keeping that under wraps. I’d link a tiny url to Michael Yon’s site but I’m just a feces-flinging primate incapable of performing advanced things smart guys like you do. You’ll find your way there I’m sure.
I’m tired of taking up bandwidth playing whack-a-troll with you; Roger or somebody else in “his crowd” can have at it.
Jul 18, 2008 - 11:06 am 14. Colette:Oh, I dunno, Jay, maybe the same way we continue indefinitely in Germany and Japan. If casualties continue to drop AS THEY ARE and Iraq gets its act together AS IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS DOING, public support for the endeavor won’t be in profound jeopardy. BTW, what exactly do you do besides pop off at the keyboard?
Jul 18, 2008 - 11:38 am 15. Barry Dauphin:Spokeswoman, smokewoman. Biden is paid to insult our intelligence regularly. Too bad his toxic goo isn’t confined to Delaware.
Jul 18, 2008 - 4:09 pm 16. Neo:The Omaniac word for this election .. banal.
Jul 20, 2008 - 8:26 pm