Biden Flummoxes Crocker With God Question

Senator Joe Biden may not have impressed enough voters while he was out on the stump to sustain his campaign, but he truly finds his stride in the committee chamber. As Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, his level of critical rigor took a much deeper root in the gathered Senators than we saw in this morning's Armed Services Committee hearing - there was far less cheerleading as even conservatives like Dick Lugar, George Voinovich, and Chuck Hagel went on the offensive in their interrogations of Petraeus and Crocker.

But Biden may have gotten in the lick of the day when he pinned Crocker down, asking the Ambassador to make a critical distinction between the threats posed by al Qaeda in Iraq and the large al Qaeda organization currently sheltering in the tribal regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

BIDEN: Mr. Ambassador, is al Qaeda a greater threat to U.S. interest in Iraq or in the Afghan/Pakistan border region?

CROCKER: Mr. Chairman, al Qaeda is a strategic threat to the United States wherever it is, in my --

BIDEN: Where is most of it? If you can take it out, if you had a choice, the Lord Almighty came down sat in the middle of the table and said Mr. Ambassador you can eliminate every al Qaeda source in Afghanistan and Pakistan or every al Qaeda personnel in Iraq, which would you pick?

CROCKER: Given the progress made against al Qaeda in Iraq, the significant decrease in its capabilities of the fact it is solidly on the defensive and not in a position as far --

BIDEN: Which would you pick, Mr. Ambassador?

CROCKER: I would therefore pick al Qaeda in the Pakistan/Afghanistan border area.

BIDEN: That would be a smart choice.

Story continues below

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[WATCH.]

It is a smart choice. As we have already noted, al Qaeda in Iraq is an inconsequential group of about 850 individuals, a "microscopic terrorist organization."

Read HuffPost's full covereage of the Petraeus hearing.

[This entry has been corrected from its earlier posting.]

Comments

[GhostintheMachine]

BIDEN: Where is most of it? If you can take it out, if you had a choice, the Lord Almighty came down sat in the middle of the table and said Mr. Ambassador you can eliminate every al Qaeda source in Afghanistan and Pakistan or every al Qaeda personnel in Iraq, which would you pick?

CROCKER: Given the progress made against al Qaeda in Iraq, the significant decrease in its capabilities of the fact it is solidly on the defensive and not in a position as far --


Biden thinks he is so clever, but he actually made a case for the surge being effective. The fact that the US military and the Iraqiis turned the table on Al Queada in Iraq now makes it clear that they are less of a threat in Iraq than before. That is not news, it has been published extensively over the past year.

[davesideas]

huh?

[JudgeCrater]

"...has been published extensively" in such respected places as the Journal of Hurriedly Retracted Fox News Headlines.

And define 'before.' Provide hard numbers supporting your claim. You can start from 2002 when the number was zero.

[Sneakerface]

Being a Delawarean, Biden is my Senator and he has done a great job . I think he'd make a great VP or cabinet member. I"m just not so sure I'd want to see him CAMPAIGN with Obama. He can be a bit of a liability due to his tendency to make brash, foot-in-mouth statements which, while always well-intended, are frequently twisted by today's "gotcha" media. But I admit, he has gotten much better with this, especially as evidenced by his acknowledging his tendency to be long-winded by giving some straight , one word answers while pursuing the Presidency. I just don't want to see him blow it for Obama.

[karaplanet]

He would make a great VP or cabinet member, but I think that we would be losing a fabulous bulldog in the Senate. IMO, we simply can't afford that. Look at all the wussies that lined up to brown-nose in the hearings yesterday. Almost lost my lunch....

[Raymondf]

well as a proud and happy conservative I have stirred the pot enough for tonight see you tomorrow.

[jadez]

the reason people didnt vote for biden is because he doesnt hide his intellect and play verbal games to make people like him.

and since most americans are dumb-bells they resent him for that.

[KINOKO]

Precisely...that's why we have the "Sheeps choice" candidate, Hillary Clinton.

[Mojane]

The immense ignorance of nearly every American and too many of its Congressmen and women about the Middle East, the history of the countries, the cultures, the religions, the food, the EVERYTHING is appalling. We are surely not being educated by the media. Good God forbid.....too boring....put people to sleep....let's interrupt with Breaking News of the latest house fire in Podunk, USA. We are in a world of shit that our great leaders have led us into and no one knows what the f..k their talking about and when someone does, we switch to a commerical!!! There is little said about what we've done to the region, to Iraq alone, to the people, to its infrastructure, to the refugees, the numbers killed (way, way, way more than we have). O, what the hell, it's too late. We are doomed.

[ChiGuy]

Obama should give him a cabinet post.
Hopefully Secretary of State.

[BlueBoomer]

So where were all of you "Biden Rocks" people when he needed you?

I can only hope for the justice of those who now see how great BIDEN is become as frustrated as those of us who saw it from the beginning are.

The idea of him as All Talk Obama's VP is insulting...Secretary of State, OK...But it's still f*cked up that he's not THE candidate for POTUS', cause he's the one we really need.

[SifSkade]

Love Joe Biden. And am eternally grateful for his presence on these Senate committees because he always brings the noise and the funk, cuts to the chase, and drills down to the bottom line.

[Raymondf]

finally, thank you.

[richsmith]

That was rich. It's like that great Monty Python episode. An honest answer was dragged out of him, otherwise he would have come across as the incredible schmuck that he is, dragged out with foot shuffling and mumbling. Remember when Eric Idle was asked if he could have any wish in the world, aht would it be, he answered with extreme foot shuffling and mumbling that he would have Rachel Welsh sit on his face.

[Raymondf]

such language.

[plainsman]

Quit trolling the comments posting empty garbage like this. At least learn how to use an adjective. Such naughty language or maybe even shake it up a bit. Maybe something like "That's so Stern of you."

[emeryr]

Um, Jason? As a proud Buckeye (who isn't all that proud of my senior senator from the great state of Ohio), it's GEORGE Voinovich, not Pete.

[Raymondf]

Iran developing advanced centrifuges, won't be long now.

[Danny]

Wasn't Iraq "developing centrifuges"? And then it was revealed to be false. Is this the way we are going to lie our way into conflict with Iran? PLEASE, PEACE, NO!

[Counterglow]

I hear they've ordered some "rocket tubes" too. Hey, it worked once...

[Raymondf]

yes! but these are advanced, next step within 1 year the big boom.

[imusintheevening]

Can you blame them? With madmen like Cheney and Bush threatening to invade their country they are only acting in their own National Security interests. You see, it works both ways.

[Raymondf]

Yes I blame them I sure don't blame Bush, and Chaney.

[Raymondf]

Maybe the bad intelligence, but I don't blame Bush and Chaney.

[SifSkade]

The Pentagon would love to deal with this, but all hands on deck there are really busy responding to the fact that many foreign countries recently have imported a large number of black suitcases, which, as we all know, are only used to contain bombs.

[ZsaZsa]

Won't be long now until what?

[jadez]

ignorant clown.

enlist!..course you never will..

[Raymondf]

would if I could, but I'm to old I'm 65, Oh! maybe I will they can use me as good will ambassador, or a greeter at the local Wal-Mart.

[nellie]

We have got to get out of that country.

[suntzu]

The problem with Biden's analogy -- using God to vanquish al Qaeda in Iraq or Afghanistan -- is bound to infuriate Muslims all over the world, something we don't need if we are going to have any influence in moderating jihadism. This kind of thing only feeds it. Biden is a very smart man, with his heart in the right place, but his words often trip him up. This is one more occasion. He may not be too good a choice for Secy of State, if that is even an option. Senator is just fine for him.

[Obamaalltheway]

Please, you sound just like the media, taking his statement out of content. I'm sick of people like you.

[Raymondf]

All I can tell you to do is upchuck.

[Raymondf]

remember he's a democrat, and if a dem gets elected, United Arab States of America.

[MDTERP]

Biden as Obama's veep. You confuse style with substance. Biden would have made an excellent president and if people had listened to the issues instead of, as always, picking at soundbites we might have a chance for a truly informed and experienced president. Bruce Wayne did not play second fiddle to Dick Grayson.

[elbowguts]

What's your point here? Biden's too good to be Obama's vice president? That's kind of academic at this point..

I seriously doubt that Biden would be insulted by the offer.

But I agree that it is really a shame that more people didn't listen to Biden earlier on in the war fiasco. The idea of a loose 3-state confederation in Iraq deserved more consideration. I'm not saying it was a slam dunk solution, but it would 've provided a more transparent framework in which to work out the grudges and power struggles.

[BlueBoomer]

SOME of us were smart enough to know that JOE BIDEN was unquestionably THE MOST QUALIFIED candidate right from the beginning...
AND, some of us were convinced enough to try to get others of you out there to pay attention to the issues and push away from the media kool-aid bar...

But too many of you were too busy parrotting the "he's a plagerist" (for doing EXACTLY what Barak Obama did earlier this year, eliciting barely a yawn from the media)...and parotting the "he voted for the war" (as if ANYBODY voted "for the war")

AND obviously you REALLY weren't paying attention, since the Senate DID PASS the IRAQ Senate resolution he co-wrote with a significant BI-PARTISAN majority,... A RESOLUTION VOTE THAT BARAK "Mr. Better Judgement" OBAMA CHOSE TO NOT EVEN SHOW UP FOR... THE SAME DAY HE DIDN'T SHOW UP TO VOTE on the Kyl-Lieberman IRAN Senate resolution (he cricitices Hillary's vote, as if he had voted the other way, but in fact, HE DIDN'T VOTE AT ALL...

I guess the good thing if he's elected POTUS is that he won't have to show up for Senate votes (altho' if he's VP, he's also president of the Senate...oops)

You wanted HillBama, America... and you got 'em... For my money, they're sloppy seconds.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

Ha ha! Biden comes up with a sound-bite and you bow down and call him Bruce Wayne... ha ha ha!

[Counterglow]

Biden has come up with a lot more than a sound bite over the years. He is a brilliant politician, and therefore unelectable to the office of President. Americans generally like a president they can relate to, and Biden's just too intelligent and well-informed for your basic dittohead or Clintonista or Obama-worshipper or to feel comfortable with. They'd actually have to transcend their gape-jawed addiction to TV news and do some real learning. Not many of them are up to it.

[cblcar]

Amen to that!

[nellie]

Before you disparage Obama based on a comparison with Biden, don't forget that Biden has a lot of admiration for Obama and would probably disagree with you about serving as Vice President.

[Marsangusidaho]

I was fortunate enough years ago to have drinks with Sen. Biden and a good long discussion about a range of things, both mundane and timely and political. He was fascinating. I do hope that he will be asked by Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama to be part of the administration, and I do hope he accepts.