Hillary Clinton, GOP Senators Cheer Biden VP Pick

Obama spokesman Bill Burton sends around warm statements about the Biden VP pick from three GOP Senators (who, it should be noted, buck the party's rhetorical line on a relatively regular basis).

Sen. Chuck Hagel: U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel issued the following statement today following Senator Barack Obama's selection of Senator Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic Vice Presidential nominee: "Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century. An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden's selection is good news for Obama and America," Hagel said.

Sen. Richard Lugar: Tbilisi, Georgia - U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar made the following statement today en route to Tbilisi. "I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate. I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy..." LINK

Sen. Arlen Specter: Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, a Republican who serves on the Judiciary Committee with Biden and often rides Amtrak with him to Washington, also offered praise. "No one on the Democratic side knows more about foreign policy than Sen. Biden," Specter said. "He's been an articulate spokesman on the subject. He also knows about domestic policy. He's been a leader on crime control." LINK

Also, from Sen. Hillary Clinton:

"In naming my colleague and friend Senator Joe Biden to be the Vice Presidential nominee, Senator Obama has continued in the best traditions for the Vice Presidency by selecting an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant. Senator Biden will be a purposeful and dynamic Vice President who will help Senator Obama both win the Presidency and govern this great country."

Comments

[McChimp]

Anyone saying that Obama is going against his message of change by picking Biden never supported Obama in the first place.

Obama needed someone experienced - Kaine, Bayh, heck even Hillary weren't experienced enough to deliver an Obama win.

Kathleen Sebelius is experienced as governor of Kansas, but there was the risk of turning off Hillary voters, and she is not much of an attack dog for Obama.

Wes Clark was too military for Obama, and not much of an attack dog either.

Chuck Hagel is a Republican, he would have turned off liberals and was pretty much a Bush cheerleader except for the war.

John Edwards was doing fine until he was exposed for cheating on his sick wife.

Joe Biden is the man that has it all: smart, experienced, knows when to and not to attack, and how to pull his punches. True, he can be a loose cannon at times, but he is nothing compared to McCain's temper, McCain is just a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode. It's going to be great seeing Biden push McCain's buttons and crushing likely VP Romney with one punch.

Obama is the laid back cool guy, Biden pulls out the KO haymakers. What a perfect contrast. I will be looking forward to seeing President Obama and Vice President Biden being inagurated this January.

Obama/Biden 08

[SimonNZ]

Amen brother!

[NoSillyName]

Biden is brilliant, tough, knowledgeable & rational on foreign policy. I have admired him for many years. Obama is also brilliant and has the good judgement to select those who are strong where he is weak. That's what a smart CEO does.

[Tenley]

Yep, that kind of judgement is critical.

[chinationreport]

Biden will be the person to shape our next China policy and maybe our wallet. See his experience with China, on defense, Taiwan, Tibet, debt, trade with China:
http://www.chinationreport.com/JoeBiden.html

[DrToketee]

Once the convention is over and the spotlights have been finally turned off of the narcissistic Clintons, I hope Obama exiles Hillary and Billary to the Virgin Islands to campaign and let Joe go to work to help win it. There's nothing worse than to see two months of a pouting Hillary Clinton and a stewing Bill Clinton out on the campaign trail giving flacid speeches ...

[NoSillyName]

DrT, I couldn't have said it better!

[honeydiva]

h r c is an excuse for the crap these fools are still willing to engage in. she really can't do a thing with her supporters. Most of the lingering b s is because rich white women can't have their way...and that's all it is.

[Aleka4]

Yea...from what I have seen, CIinton behaves much better than her rabid little freaks do. She actually shows some class. I wonder if they ever stop to think how much they must embarrass her.

[lejoueur]

This is BIGGER than Hillary. I supported her but she does not own my vote. This is about democracy. 1 person, 1 vote.

[havisham]

that's a really astute analysis, honeydiva. i'm going to assume you intended to post about another article.

[honeydiva]

no, i meant to post it right here and thanks for your astute observation of my astute analysis.

[barbwiregrrl]

Honey Diva,

you might want to use your energy for positive work on getting Ob@ma elected instead of raging like you sound like a GOP minna bird. Really check hisotry youwill see the hatred you spew is the exact hatred that Rush and his boys used todo.

So pat yourself onthe back you sound JUST LIKE THE GOP!

Work on getting Ob@ma elected adn shut the hell about CLLNTON already.

Thank you.

[SurrealPumpkin]

I'll Second that Motion, Barb

[barbwiregrrl]

FOCUS on the ELECTION
Enough negative you sound like Rush

[LanguagePolice]

I AM SO TIRED OF SEEING STUPID SPELLING MISTAKES!!! THE RED HEADLINE ON THE FRONT PAGE SAYS "LUGER". THAT IS THE NAME OF A GUN, OR A PRODUCT OF A RESPIRATORY CONDITION.

The man's name is "Lugar". Is the Internet going to ruin the English language?

[wanj]

I like your name ;-)

[NoSillyName]

Unfortunately, the English language, as misused and abused here in America, is already in a serious decline.

The distinction between "bring" and "take" has either been misplaced or completely lost. That bugs the crap out of me. And that's only one example.

LanguagePolice, you and I should start our own blog.

[LanguagePolice]

How about the "double subject" that even anchors are using? Even Wolf Blitzer did it yesterday. It's like "Joe Biden- he..."

When I hear things like that I get this wierd sensation that Sister Mary Battleaxe is breathing down my neck.

[lejoueur]

I can't wait to get my voice heard at the convention. Vox populi, vox dei. Rules are supposed to allow the clearest expression of the voice of the people. Our voices will be heard.

[DaOne]

bonne chance avec ca.

[InfiniteShibumi]

Yep. Buona fortuna.

[NoSillyName]

So, what do you want to say?

[Tenley]

Um, do you think anyone has somehow missed all your screaming?

[joanno]

Hillary needs to remind her miffed female supporters that their signature issue, choice, will be toast under a McCain presidency who has made it clear that he will nominate strong conseratives, who could be counted on to overthrow ROE, to the inevitable 2-3 openings on the Supreme Court that are coming. Feminists need to get a grip about this...wha­t is more important, having Hillary on the ticket or preserving choice? Supporting McCain by voting for him or not voting for Obama would be a supreme act of self destruction and would certainly signal to the Democratic Party and all of America that choice need no longer be a signature issue...is this really what they want to see happen?

[thankulord13]

If they were going to get rid of choice it would have been done already. The right will never do that because if the abortion issue is off the table they won't have a issue to run on... oh I forgot there is still the gays that they can attack.

[jeg]

If McCain gets to choose the next three Supreme court justices, there will be no civil liberties in this country.

We will finish becoming a police state, with no legal recourse.

Roe V. Wade will be just one among many issues.

[CJNJ]

I am really sick of hearing this. It's not true! They haven't done it already because they haven't had enough votes on the Supreme Court, period! Once they do (which will for sure happen under McCAin) then it'll be toast as soon as the crazies bring an abortion case there.

There are plenty of other issues that they can run on....gays­, taxes, muslims, etc. To many of these evangelicals, this is amatter they'd die over.

[SurrealPumpkin]

Don't forget, that once Roe v Wade is dead there are all those uppity women to shepard back into the kitchen. I wonder how Meg Whitman feels about that.

[JiminNC]

Well, maybe you are right. I am glad I don't have ovaries.

[Tenley]

OMG okay if this is what feminists really believe -- that choice is just so darn secure these days it ain't ever going away. Wow. I mean, Wow.

[slayer2369]

It's not the perfect selection. It does take away from the "change" slogan when you have a tenured guy like Biden. He has had "diarrhea of the mouth moments", he did say a few months back during the debates that McCain was more qualified to be prez than Obama, and to some degree he does magnify Obama's weaknesses.

However, no presidential candidate is perfect, and if Obama is serious about being the best commander-in-chief he can be, then it is good to choose someone who can help strengthen him in those areas of weakness.

Biden also will not step on his toes, unlike Hillary, who has proven to be more about keeping up her and her husband's cults of personality, and doing what's only good for her and Bill, then doing what is best for the country.

I'm curious as to who McCain's going with...Rom­ney? Lieberman? Pawlenty?

[Sloopydrew]

How often do we get a ticket with TWO people from the North (esp. a Democratic ticket?)? Thanks to Obama not selecting Hillary, this is the first time in TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS that a Clinton or Bush won't be somewhere on the ballot. There's plenty of change here.

[justobserve]

That alone is a great change!

[havisham]

you can say "change" until you're blue in the face, but if you fail to articulate your agenda and convince people that you know how to implement it, it does no good. as for the "change" of no clinton or bush on the ticket, i would say two things. first, it is unfortunate and misleading rhetoric that lumps clinton and bush together as though there was no difference between president clinton and presidents bush. secondly, we can only hope that obama runs a successful presidential campaign as clinton did, and i would add that we could expect a lot more meaningful "change" if we could encourage obama to raise the capital gains tax to the level that it was under clinton. a governement has to have money to balance its budget and to implement progessive "change" (healthcare, infrastructure, education, energy research), and the easiest place to find some cash is in a tax on corporate gains. we can only hope that obama's sympathies are in the right place, because mccain's sure as hell are not.

[Oldtt]

Two candidates from the North is what Dems always try to avoid in order to pick up a swing state or two in the South or West. Apparently Obama feels that he needs the help with foreign policy creds more than regional ticket balance, since Biden can't help deliver any native son electoral votes like Bayh might have done. If he can sell voters the same logic as Bush & Cheney promoted - that the President only needs good advisors - then Obama's gamble might pay off. If the GOP uses Biden's creds against Obama, Biden's selection could be a negative.

[CJNJ]

You can still say it's change....­why?

Because we've had 8 years of hell and Biden votes against Bush almost all of the time.

Because Biden is not your typical Washington "insider" - he doesn't live in Washington, he's not making millions, etc.

Seems like a good balance of change and experience to me!

[foreffectivegovernment]

slayer2369: You said, "...he did say a few months back during the debates that McCain was more qualified to be prez than Obama." Yeah, it is really stupid of Biden to say what everyone except you knows is fact. To assume that a person who has been in an occupation for 30 years is not more qualified than someone who has just hired in is like saying that Bill Clinton is not more qualified to be President than Obama. Oh Wait, Obamabots have said that , haven't they.

[ladyv]

That quote wasn't about Obama. That was a quote about McCain compared to Bush - that McCain was a better choice than what we currently have in office. That's why they had to edit it the way they did, so it would give the impression he was comparing to Obama instead of Bush.

[Tatiner]

A disaster, perhaps--if such offices matter--the difference between victory and defeat. I see a slight rationale for his appointment, foreign affairs. But:

1. He's run for the top office repeatedly and the American people denied him repeatedly
2. He articulated Obama's greatest weaknesses: he's done nothing, he's been in the Senate for five minutes, and doesn't deserve to run for the presidency let alone win the office.
3. His state is the size of my backyard and winning the vote of everyone in it will not benefit the campaign
4. I remember his pandering chair of the Clarence Thomas nomination. A fawning, embarrassing disaster.
5. He's got a big mouth.
6. He's not Hillary.
7. His nomination will not molify her estranged supporters and give them no reason to vote for the top of the ticket.

[ThirdSection]

Weren't those the same reasons that Hillary was supposed to defeat Obama?

[ozcreations]

I think all the Hilary Clinton Supporters who cannot buy in to this great choice should just change parties.

If you like WAR Vote for McCain
If you like a Supreme Court with revisionist rullings from the right Vote for McCain
If you like how the economy is going Vote for McCain
If you want a totally disfuntional Exec. branch Vote for McCain

Otherwise get over it and vote for the Party Ticket

[1stRepublic14thStar]

I'm SICK of being told to get over it. That's what Bush and the Republicans who hijacked the 2000 election told us. I sure as hell don't have to take it from DEMOCRATS. Oh, I'm sorry, not Democrats, Obama supporters. Because Obama supporters care about only one election and one candidate. You think Obama is a one man show who is so great he doesn't need the support of anyone else? Fine -- don't come bitching to me if he comes up short. I'll vote for him as the least bad option, but that's all I'll do.

[whsmith]

I'm pretty sure you're a die hard Hillary supporter.­.. having said that... Biden's "big mouth" could be the biggest asset he brings to the campaign IMO - America likes it when people say what they mean - and so far whenever democrats are able to bluntly articulate their message of moving away from the last 8 years of disastrous republican policy - they are winning. On Biden criticizing Obama's inexperience in the primary: everyone has already heard this theme from all of Obama's opponents whether they were democrats or republicans - it has been the biggest criticism. Who better to say: "Look America, I've gotten to know this man, many of us may have had our doubts before because he was a phenomenon that came seemingly out of no where, but the more I have gotten to know him the more he has won my trust - in both his judgment and his character - so much so that I am willing risk my own name and reputation to serve under him". Biden can say "yes, I was skeptical, but Obama has proved his case to me". I think if he addresses this directly, and does it properly - it could end up being a being a big winning point for Obama.

[08politicaljunkie]

In competition, disparaging remarks are often made about the opponent. Barack Obama, this relative newcomer, was beating them all; so, they -all- went for the jugular: His "perceived" lack of experience. In sports it's called "talking smack." Except in sports, the game is won by physical means -- scoring points; in politics, it's won by influential means -- affect voters' perception.

Throughout all of this, however, Obama's demonstrated that it does not take thirty years of experience, at least not the kind D.C. career politicans have, to use sound judgement, to enact fair legislation, to improve the living standards of all its citizens.

I believe people have forgotten that we representatives to work on our behalf. They're there to design laws to protect us, not to exploit us. They're there to regulate trade so that it's fair and competitive, not for corporations to make "them" individually wealthy. They're there to protect the rights of ALL of us, not just those of us who can provide them with private jets and island vacation homes.

Barack entered the scene trying to "change" the way our government works. He's trying to restore it to its original purpose. He's opening it up for it to be inclusive. We shouldn't have to PAY additional money to be heard; that's what our taxes are for. We elected those people. We gave them their authority and their paychecks. They work for us! ... Although this millenium, they've been working against us. And we need to change that.

[08politicaljunkie]

*I believe people have forgotten that we ELECT representatives to work on our behalf.

(3rd paragraph correction)

[CJNJ]

Biden has the opportunity to say "A year ago I didn't think this guy was ready...bu­t, in the last year, he's proven to be right on so many issues and has shown superb judgement. Afghanistan, timetables for Iraq, etc were all Obama's ideas that are now enacted, despite John McCain being against them."

He's got a big mouth, but that's not necessarily bad....we need a little "attack dog" out there.

Hillary's supporters are being stubborn and ignorant. I'm a lifelong feminist and have worked on many feminist causes. You'd have to be an idiot to think that McCain is somehow a good second choice to Hillary. He's the anti-Hillary! Obama shares most of the same policies and has overcome considerable bias too.

[InfiniteShibumi]

You hit the nail on the head there, CJNJ. Maybe some PUMA readers visiting this site will take your words to heart.

[08politicaljunkie]

I hope Biden reads your remark and repeats it verbatim.

[08politicaljunkie]

Oops!

I hope Biden reads your remark and repeats it verbatim, and cites you as the author!

[laughing]

[Bitsko]

Since the Dems have a record of installing Reps as Secretaries of Defense, looks like Hagel will get the job. I'd love to see him step on a few toes and egos over there.

[NoSillyName]

I like Hagel.

[colette]

Bravo!
Funny to hear the pundits spin and spin and spin. Gee, great pick -- but wait, a minute does this mean Obama is acknowledging his weakness on foreign policy experience -- but great pick -- but gee, remember when he called Obama "clean?"..­...

Clearly, all of us addicted to cable punditry have to constantly remind ourselves that they have to fill a lot of time with blabber...­...

[Ajegunle]

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ON THE LEFT CORNER, THE UNSTOPPABLE DEBATING MACHINE, THE PRINCE OF STRAIGHT TALK, THE PRIDE OF SCANTON PA, THE KING OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS----------

"FIGHTING" JOE BIDEN.

[pqn]

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I AGREE!

[SheriChardonnay]

this is an ad....OBAM­A/BIDEN are u listening!

[pjn]

Joe will be an excellent attack dog against McSame too. Let's see what he says about the ad that McSame is playing...­..

[BrianMac]

That's what I was telling my friend this morning who was getting all "handwringy" about the choice. Biden will get his teeth into the McCain Straight Into Depression machine and will not let up. He's not afraid to fight brutally. Notice I didn't say "dirty." You can be brutal without being dirty and I think Biden is the person for it.