Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A hat tip to Joe Biden (updated)

Readers alert: After I posted a reader alerted me to a WaPo story in which Joe Biden retracts the remarks for which I'd commended him.

What a downer for decency!

You can read about it here.

I'll post further on this tomorrow.

John
__________________________________________
The AP reports - - -

Barack Obama's running mate says a campaign ad that mocked Republican presidential candidate John McCain as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate was "terrible" and would not have been done had he known about it.…

"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail, still doesn't understand the economy, and favors $200 billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class," the ad says.

Asked about the negative tone of the campaign, and this ad in particular, during an interview broadcast Monday by the "CBS Evening News," Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, said he disapproved of it.

"I thought that was terrible, by the way," Biden said.

Asked why it was done, he said: "I didn't know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we'd have never done it."

The entire AP story’s here.

Comments:

I commend Sen. Biden for his boldness and decency in condemning Team Obama’s cheap and stupid ridicule of Sen. McCain who has considerable trouble using a keyboard because of injuries he received while a POW and being tortured.

To me, Biden’s comments represented a candidate putting “country before party.”

If you play Monopoly, you know about the “get out of jail free” card.

As a way of saluting Biden’s very decent action, I’m giving him a JinC “gaffe pass.”

So the next time he gaffes, you’ll hear nothing from me.

Thank you, Joe Biden.

9 comments:

Jim in San Diego said...

As a citizen sick and tired of the negative politics of hackdom, I congratulate both Sen Biden and JinC.

We would all benefit from more cross-party mutual respect, based on respectable deeds by both sides.

Jim Peterson

Anonymous said...

Biden later retracted his statements critical of the Obama ad. His later statement indicated he agrees with it. So much for "mutual respect."
Tarheel Hawkeye

Jim in San Diego said...

Tarheel,

Can you identify the source of your information that Senator Biden withdrew his statements critical of the Obama ad?

Jim Peterson

Anonymous said...

Washington Post reported it this morning. I guess St. Bartack took Joey boy into the woodshed...
TH

Anonymous said...

John, I know you are giving Joe Biden a pass, but for others, there is a blog that lists Biden’s gaffes, a witty blog it is.
--------------------
Political Truth: Exposing Obama and the DNC

"Here a gaffe, there a gaffe, everywhere a gaffe gaffe...

Oh that Joe Biden, what a card he is. This has not been a good 48 hours for good ol' Joe, he's done everything from contradict his running mate to getting caught in yet another lie.”......

JWM said...

To Jim, TH and others visiting here.

I followed up on TH and he's right.

Here's the link:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/
the-trail/2008/09/22/
biden_walks_back_comment_on_te.html

I'm going to put an alert at the head of the post now and put up a separate post tomorrow detailing what's happened.

Good hearing from you, Jim.

I know you, TH and I wished Biden hadn't backtracked.

John

Anonymous said...

Re: Biden retracts statement:

John,
I vote that the Biden gaffe grace period is over-
-------------
http://www.citizensugar.com/2069040

Excerpt:
“He [Biden] retracted the statement and issued the following:
Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Sen McCain’s ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize, especially when they continue to distort Barack’s votes on an issue as personal as keeping kids safe from sexual predators.”

Anonymous said...

If you told me that a US Senator had shown some decency and then repudiated himself for it later, Joe Biden would definitely come to mind first.

Such generosity to an opponent is certainly out of character for a man who gives 0.2% of his income to charity ($380 a year over the past 10 years) and pays the women in his office about 2/3rds what the male staffers are paid on average.

I'll give him some credit for setting the record straight. He has spent 36 years being a duplicitous dirtbag. He wouldn't want to ruin his hard earned record.

Anonymous said...

Old Joe is having a bad run - seems he was asleep at the switch in his US history class in high school (and college) since he has FDR as president in 1929 explaining on television about the stock market crash.

He probably needs to get a good night's sleep. He, McCAin, and Obama would best serve the nation by putting politics aside and spending some time in Washington trying to make some real decisions about the proposed bailout of Wall Street.
cks