Biden Scores With Post-Debate Mashup

The past two Democratic debates have found the top-tier candidates all a-bicker with one another, a spectacle that reached its apogee at the beginning of last week's debate in Las Vegas. There, the internecine entanglements were basically goaded on by CNN, who only needed a surprise paternity test to fully render themselves indistinguishable from the Jerry Springer show. The candidates, most notably Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, have, in the past, produced post-debate ads ("The Politics of Pile On", "The Politics of Parsing"), that seek to claim advantage but typically only end up reinforcing the Dems-at-each-others'-throats storyline.

That's why Joe Biden's new "mash-up" ad is pretty brilliant. Witty and smart and (at last!) positive, it cuts right to that storyline and finds the one thing that everyone on the Democratic side of the nominee-hunt can agree on: that Joe Biden is pretty great.

A good job, all around. Now, Biden just needs to button it with a statement: "I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. And, apparently, so do my opponents."

Comments

[SoonerThought]

Joe is right. Iowans take heed!

[JLee]

I would love to see Biden as Secretary of State in the new (PLEASE GOD DEMOCRATIC) administration. Richardson is someone else who's had great foreign and domestic policy expertise and would make a superb addition to the administration.

[GuiltyByStander]

Joe Biden is becoming deservedly famous for his foreign policy expertise and his regard for our safety and that of the Iraqis -- and Iranians and Pakistanis and ...

But it's worth pointing out that "Joe is Right" on a number of domestic policy issues as well. He is the necessary combination of realism, idealism and ordinary, honest hard work.

One quick example to contrast Joe with the "front-runners": both Senators Clinton and Obama have promised particular levels of emissions by, respectively 2050 and 2030. The arithmetic says that whatever is going on in the atmosphere at those future dates will have been out of their control for at least 13, maybe 23 years. This is the kind of pie-in-the-sky politicking that keeps us in trouble.

As voters, we deserve to be told what a person will do with a mandate during the time he or she has the power to do it. Not years after the rationalizing memoirs have been forgotten, but during their time in office. What would you say to a junior employee who promised the project would be better, for sure, but only after he has left the job? Give us the bad news now and tell us how YOU are going to make it work.

That's how Joe Biden handles the job and that's why I'm one of his volunteers.

[RabidRightRebel]

I have long liked what Biden has been saying about Iraq and other foreign policy issues. Its nice to see that others are also taking notice.