Why does anybody care what Biden says!?

[RiverStone]

In this voters eyes, Joe lost all credibility to represent our party as a Presidential contender when he was the ONLY Democratic presidential candidate in the Senate to vote for Shrub's supplemental war funding bill last May.

Yea, yea --- I know, he voted for "body armour" etc. That was bullshit; there was already plenty of money in the pipeline. I'm so damn sick of any politician, Dem or rethug that either enables or serves as an apologist for this corrupt administration's insane war. I for one, will not forget or forgive that vote.

I wish Biden would just give it up. He's a bright guy, but I put him in the same cowardly class as everyone else on the Hill that voted for Shrub's war in May and before that...and before that.

What about September Joe? How will you vote?

[MadMaddie]

1. Joe said that he would have Hagel as his VP...bye..bye..Joe

[TwilightGardener]

8. Didn't he HAVE to pick a hypothetical GOP running mate, according

to the question? Seems kind of unfair to dis him for answering a question honestly.

[saltpoint]

2. Joe Biden is one of the great Democrats.

He has held on in the Senate even as it deteriorated and chased many of his stalwart colleagues away. George Mitchell bemoaned the collapse of the chamber's integrity and respect for its history and protocol. So did Bill Bradley.

Biden acknowledged that weakening of the chamber's spirit but remained for the good fight. His constituents have wisely returned him to that seat many times and are likely to do so again, so long as he is not the president, or perhaps Secretary of State, or perhaps another role.

There are dozens of Democrats I love more even than the thousands I love more than Republicans. Joe Biden is a defining Democrat for me and always has been.

He had significant help on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in strangling the nomination of John Bolton to the United Nations -- yet another of Bush's brilliant appointments -- and his words and his powers of persuasion in that fight were among the best I've witnessed in a very long life so far.

I don't agree with every vote every Democrat casts. I also don't get my shorts scrunched worrying about it when there are larger landscapes to navigate.

Biden is very likely the Senate's best mind on foreign policy.

What do you mean, Who cares what he says? I do.

[RiverStone]

3. There is no larger landscape than Iraq

Old Crusoe, you said: I don't agree with every vote every Democrat casts. I also don't get my shorts scrunched worrying about it when there are larger landscapes to navigate.

With all due respect, we can agree to disagree on this one.

There is no "larger landscape" in today's world than the death, destruction, and untold horrors - not to mention the over $500 billion cast that has fallen into the vortex of the Iraq war.

Yes, I do not agree with every vote every Dem casts - but MORE than any other vote --- I passionately disagree with Joe's last vote of YEA for the war supplemental. That vote held greater ramifications then any other; as will subsequent votes to continue Shrub's war --- until the funding stops!!!

For me personally, that singular vote was a deal buster when it came pondering any support for Biden (regardless of past accomplishments).

peace :)

[saltpoint]

9. Hi, RiverStone. I acknowledge that many Democrats have other

favorites in the race. I'm supporting Edwards, but in that larger stakes race I'm for the blue team, no matter who's nominated. Senator Clinton is less a defining Democrat for me at the moment, but if she is nominated in Denver and wins the general election her two-to-three Supreme Court appointments will cast a more just shadow over my remaining years on the planet. I'll give her that much, and I'll give her that much with genuine gratitude.

Agree that the landscape view is not the same for all of us, and that's probably to the better. If I were hiring a manager for my business, I'd want Dennis Kucinich in charge of labor issues. I'd want Joe Biden in charge of the international zones. Give me Senator Clinton for the committee on professional women's concerns. Certainly I want John Edwards on health care and poverty. If Barack Obama would consent, I'd like him to coordinate my company's relations with neighborhood and community groups. And so on. I find strength and virtue in all of them, and one of them is going to be our nominee. It might also be Clark or Hart or Gore, although no official word from any of them to date. I'm drawn to the strength of our candidates based on the range of virtues they exhibt and represent in a landscape that President Bush has begun to destroy and dismantle.

The deal-breaker for me is Republican registration. I won't back any Republican, even Hagel, who spoke bravely againt Bush on Iraq (though on little else). And not even John Danforth, who, for a Republican isn't all that horrifying; he's just not my cup of tea.

On the blue side, I'm drawn to and interested in our field. I like our chances in 08. I narrow the entire presidential race to maybe these names (subject to change): Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani. Of 300 million U.S. citizens, that's only 9 folks, and one of them is going to be our next president. I put Biden proudly in that bunch of 9, and I know he has the chops for the job.

[RiverStone]

12. Great team you put together!

And I'd support every role player as mentioned Old Crusoe; though my fantasy football quarterback of said team would be Al Gore.

In the real world, I'm currently supporting Obama and believe he fits the mold of the saying, "be the change" more than any other established candidate.

Glad to hear you won't back any rethug! That's one deal breaker I think 99% of DU would agree with (minus resident trolls of course).

[saltpoint]

13. The magic elves tell me that not only will Al Gore jump in in October,

but that he'll win the Nobel Prize as well.

Which ought to realy piss off Bill Kristol.

[RiverStone]

14. K&R the magic elves!

:applause:

Yea, I can see why elves would support Al; elves are also quite the environmentalists ya know :)

[saltpoint]

16. That they are. Resourceful and cunning little rascals, they are.

And I love 'em.

Eve was right to hide all those kids in the deep wilderness. You can't kick someone out of Paradise if they're small and that far deep in the woods. That Eve knew which end of a battery you stick in a flashlight.

All these years people have believed the elves -- the land spirits -- were just pretend.

They were wrong. Al Gore doesn't need Shrum if he has the elves working for him, and of course that's what elves do -- they undertake the necessary procedures in the wild to protect their domain.

And they were there first.

[Swamp Rat]

4. Biden often rubs me the wrong way.

Sometimes he comes off as a slick salesman and this irritates me.

BUT, he's very intelligent and I believe he cares about his constituents and this nation.

I really enjoy watching him eviscerate the dimwits on the other side of the isle. :D

[karlrschneider]

6. He -seems- to be a pretty likeable guy but I don't trust him.

Coral snakes are kinda pretty critters, but....well...

[saltpoint]

10. Swamp Rat, many people on DU love your images that you share with

us but the last line of your post there is why I like your posts and look forward to reading them.

That is a beautifuly written sentence in the English language.

It's got whip-snap.

You're good with the images, yes. But you're even better at words.

[Swamp Rat]

15. Danke schöen

Really! Thank you beautifully, as they say auf Deutsch. :D

This compliment comes at the perfect time, as I have writer's block and cannot finish my thesis. :(

I don't know what is wrong with me. I have all the data I need (well, I could always collect MORE data), a computer, and plenty of paper, yet I am stuck. I have just two weeks to bang out a draft, and two weeks to edit for copy. My previous drafts - to repeat the word - were literally eviscerated by my adviser, and now he only wants a finished version (with a new narrative). :scared: I am under such a severe time constraint and nervous as hell, and all the crap going on here in New Orleans around me is a major distraction, not to mention politics. This thesis must be completely done before the start of the next semester because I am also working on a PhD in another discipline.

Thanks again for your kind words. I'm not naturally verbose, so that is why I revert to what I term fotovandelism when I need to say a lot.

Note: No Thesauri were harmed in the making of this post. :)

[saltpoint]

17. My bet is that you get that thing done, and that it will be imminently

readable.

Your advisor is a "mean old daddy" but he's not as tough as you are talented.

Put on a hell of a big pot of coffee and kick some syntactic butt.

We're with ya.

[Swamp Rat]

18. Thanks

I am going to bed in a few minutes because I decided to change my sleeping habits from vampire to daywalker. This I have done before, with fairly successful results: tomorrow I am shooting for an 8 am bugle call. ;):D

I hope to be waking up at 4-5 am by the end of this week, and look forward to be producing consistent methodical writing by Wednesday afternoon. Tomorrow I go stock up on lots of microwaveable bean burritos, milk, bannanas and cereal. :D .... and a spicy alligator andouille po-boy wit red beanz an' rice fo' lunch! ... Mm!! Dat sho' tas's GOOD!! :9

[saltpoint]

19. Well, by god, I'm stoppin' over at your place for chow.

Sounds pretty yummy to me.

Good luck on that writing, good sir, and getcha some much-deserved rest.

[Swamp Rat]

21. Tell me a little about Seamus Heaney's "Door into the Dark."

... about the allegory of facing up to the dark with grim determination. :D

This will put me into a good space as I nod off. :)

[RiverStone]

20. From Biden to red beanz!

Perfect segue!

Ah Swamp, what if ya take your adviser out for a big plate of spicy alligator andouille po-boy wit red beanz an' rice?

Would that lighten up his literary sensibilities? Geez, why do some folks have to be so damn serious?

The good news is it's already wrote --- now you just have to put it to paper.

Best wishes~ :)

[Swamp Rat]

22. Obrigado

Thanks... I have been talking to people in Brasil at the same time as y'all, but my brain is begining to shut down...sooo sleepy .. :boring....... vou mudar ao português e sonhar de comer carangueijo e beber guaraná na praia com minha beleza e meus cabas de peste bebendo cachaça ..... tô zzzzzzzzzzz

[H2O Man]

23. Well said.

There are some issues that I disagree -- strongly -- with Senator Biden. But I still respect him as one of the smartest individuals in Washington.

[leftofthedial]

5. biden's predatory lender bill (bankruptcy protection act)

screwed more Americans faster than any single thing the repukes have done

[napi21]

11. I don't agree with that! That bill did ONe thing wrong, and that was

not having n exemption for medical expenses. THAT'S IT! The rest of the bill was fine IMO.

I like Joe because he's a "what you see is what you get" politician, and there are very few, if any, like that left in the House or the Senate! I happen to think he would make an excellent President, although it seems I'm sure in the minority on that one!

[Bluebear]

24. The rest of the bill was fine . . for credit card companies. nt

[BuyingThyme]

7. Cute and likable.