Joe Biden

Sarah "Barracuda" Palin and the Piranhas of the Press.

{...}From the beginning, and for the ensuing 10 months, the coverage of this governor consisted of a steamy stew of cultural elitism and partisanship. The overt sexism of some male commentators wasn't countered, as one might have expected, by their female counterparts. Women columnists turned on Sarah Palin rather quickly. A plain-speaking, moose-hunting, Bible-thumping, pro-life, self-described "hockey mom" with five children and movie star looks with only a passing interest in foreign policy -- that wasn't the woman journalism's reigning feminists had envisioned for the glass ceiling-breaking role of First Female President (or Vice President). Hillary Rodham Clinton was more like what they had in mind – and Sarah, well, she was the un-Hillary.

 

"The fact of the matter is, the comparison between her and Hillary Clinton is the comparison between an igloo and the Empire State Building," Chris Matthews said on MSNBC's "Hardball" last October. (Note to Chris: That's not a "fact;" it's closer to a simile, and an ad hominem one at that.) But Matthews was hardly alone.

 

"This is not a serious choice," said Eleanor Clift, a regular on "The McLaughlin Group."
 

"It looks like a made-for-TV movie. If the media reaction is anything, it's been literally laughter in very, very many newsrooms."

Howard Fineman, Clift's Newsweek colleague, in an appearance on MSNBC, said that McCain's choice of Palin undermined the planned story line of the GOP convention, which was going to be that Obama lacked the readiness to lead the country. "Well, Sarah Palin makes Barack Obama look like John Adams."

 

The first thing reporters and commentators seemed to have noticed about Gov. Palin was her physical beauty. The second was that she had a bunch of kids, the last one born with Down's syndrome in spring 2008. For some reason, these two facts infuriated many Democratic activists and bloggers – and some liberal journalists.

 

The most egregious example was posted on Daily Kos on Sept. 12, 2008 by Paul Lewis Hackett III, a trial lawyer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran of Iraq, who ran in 2005 for a vacant seat in the House from Ohio's second congressional district, losing narrowly in a district President Bush had carried easily just a year earlier.

Fretting that the Obama campaign was going to lose Ohio to McCain, Hackett proposed his own solution: A series of savage attacks on the GOP ticket focusing on Sarah Palin and her family. Here is what he wrote:

 

The message (would be) simple and the professionals can refine it but essentially it should contain these elements: Sarah Palin? Can't keep her solemn oath of devotion to her husband and had sex with his employee. Sarah Palin? Accidentally got pregnant at age 43 and the tax payers of Alaska have to pay for the care of her disabled child. Sarah Palin? Unable to teach her 16 year old daughter right from wrong and now another teenager is pregnant. Sarah Palin? Can you trust Sarah Palin and her values with America's future?

 

Apparently, Hackett took the rumors of an affair from the National Enquirer, which offered no proof, or even evidence. He then segued into an even uglier line of attack, arguing that it's irresponsible to bring a handicapped baby into the world. This is not "pro-choice," it's pro-eugenics. It's also creepy and illiberal, and reinforces conservatives' worst fears about Democrats and the issue of abortion. And, oh yes, Bristol Palin's age was wrong. She was nearly 18 when Hackett wrote this screed, not 16. This proved a harbinger, too, as misinformation slipped easily from the left blogosphere into mainstream coverage.

 

This New Journalism, if you can call it that, exhibited in 2008 was epitomized by an eradication of the lines between fact and opinion – and, even more troubling, between reporting and propaganda. Some journalists were content to repeat Democratic Party talking points or bloggers' rumors as though they were established fact, interspersing them with ideological commentary in a kind of toxic stew.

"She is a far-right conservative who supported Pat Buchanan over Bush in 2000. She thinks global warming is a hoax and backs the teaching of creationism in public schools," wrote Jonathan Alter in Newsweek on Aug. 29, 2008. Actually, she did not support Buchanan, she questioned whether climate change is man-made (not whether it's occurring) and gave creationists the most minor of rhetorical nods – and never questioned the teaching of evolution in schools.

 

But so it went.{...}

 

By far, this is the best rundown on the shameful doings of the press during the election. 

Go read.  It's long, but it's well worth your time. 

Yes, Sarah Barracuda bitchslapped Biden tonight. 

It was pleasant to watch, but I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed.  I expected more combativeness. I wanted more bitchslapping, and then for her to ask, "You want some more?  Because I'm just dying to serve it up, big boy."  

At least, that's what I would have liked to see, but given her interview performances, and how she had to make up for lost ground, perhaps that was asking too much. But the thing is...there was plenty of low-hanging fruit (Iraq, Fannie and Freddie, Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad, etc.)  that was hers for the taking, if only she'd wanted to...and she apparently didn't want to.  I have to think, perhaps, she was cautioned about getting into a pissing match with Biden.  It's one thing to come up with one zippy comeback.  It's another to keep coming up with them.  Problem is, if there was ever anyone who would have screwed up a zippy comeback quicker than she would, it's Joe Biden.  Perhaps this was an actual campaign strategy decision, so as not to affect her overall likeability factor, but I felt a little let down.

She again did what she needed to do, and while that may be "the soft bigotry of low expectations" playing out again, all you need to do is ask W. how it worked out for him. 

Of course, you have to ring the doorbell at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to do so. 

God love Joe Biden.  Really and truly.  The man just doesn't know how to keep from putting his foot in his mouth.

Two quality samples.

About the financial crisis:

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed," Biden told Couric. "He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'"

Franklin Delano Roosevelt got on the television? Never mind that in 1929, Herbert Hoover was president.

{ht: Weekly Standard}

And...

Biden says Obama doesn't support clean coal, when, in fact he does. 

{ht: Ace, who has more on the subject.}

BRING THE DEBATE ON, BEEEEYOTCHES!

Seriously, cannot freakin' wait for this.  I'm squriming in my seat, like a little girl with the potty on her mind, waiting for this thing.  It's going to be awesome. 

Oh, Biden.  You ignorant slut, I love you.

{...}When telling the story of how his granddaughters had a slumber party with Barack Obama’s daughters during the week of the Democratic National Convention, Biden equated it to what he says Americans want.

“I believe that's a metaphor, a metaphor for what the country is looking for. They're looking for a sleepover with people they like!”

Yes, Joe.  Because what the American public really wants is pillow fights, stale popcorn, and cheesy horror flicks at three in the morning. 

The debate cannot come soon enough.

{ht: Tracy}

This has got me to wondering just how bad it's going to be for Biden at the Vice-Presidential debate on October 2.

Forget Cheney demolishing Fluffy Hair.  Forget just about every Vice Presidential debate since 1988.  The ultimate put-down came in my hometown of Omaha, in the autumn of 1988, when former Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen demolished his opponent, former Indiana Senator Dan Quayle with the efficiency of a samurai and a razor sharp Katana.

Remember this?

Say what you will about the Dukakis ticket, and there's not much, ultimately, to say, but that was the single-most effective moment of that particular candidacy.  Methinks if the Democrats had had the brains to put Lloyd Bentsen up for president in 1988, the world might look mighty different today, and not least because of his cutthroat comebacks.  Watch him while Quayle is talking.  He's practically licking his chops.  Never mind that Quayle was, essentially, right: Quayle went after the Holy Grail of the Democratic party---John Kennedy.  He had to be shut down, and Bentsen, a Kennedy contemporary, was just the guy for the job.  Quayle, essentially, handed the katana to Bentsen and told him to whack his head off. 

Now, my particular fantasy is about Joe Biden, and how he's going to act at the Vice-Presidential debate.  Because, as we all know very well by this point, Biden is a legend in his own mind.  He fancies himself the elder statesman.  What's more is he honestly believes he is the elder statesman.  This is not a man who is familiar with his own weaknesses.   I suspect he's going to be looking for a "Bentsen Moment": One that will not only prove that Sarah Palin is inexperienced, but will seal the deal so he can spend the next eight years, living at the Naval Observatory and rolling down the window of his limo, asking people in neighboring cars if they have any Grey Poupon.  

This, I believe, shall be his undoing. 

Because Sarah Palin isn't Dan Quayle.  And Biden's no Lloyd Bentsen.  I hope she gives him the opportunity to make an ass out of himself, because whatever comes flying back at him won't be, "That was uncalled for, Senator."

The scenarios that are running through my brain are just delicious, like a big slice of German Chocolate Cake, with caramel-coconut frosting.  Mmmmmmm.  Tasty.