Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (756374)	12/26/2006 2:26:58 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Sen. Biden says intends to run for president By Richard Cowan 32 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), one of the Democratic party's leading voices on foreign policy and a sharp critic of President George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war, on Tuesday said he intends to run for president in 2008. ADVERTISEMENT "It is my intention to seek the nomination, and it's my intention sometime in the month of January to set up the appropriate mechanism to be able to raise money for that purpose," Biden said near the end of a telephone news conference that centered mainly on Iraq. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama currently are viewed as the leading likely contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, which will be decided in early 2008. Bush's term ends in January, 2009, and he is barred from seeking a third four-year term. Biden, who sought the 1988 presidential nomination only to quit in 1987 amid accusations he plagiarized some of his stump oratory and early academic work, would enter the race as some prominent Democrats are bowing out. Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana earlier this month announced he would forego the 2008 campaign. His decision came after Obama attracted large crowds in New Hampshire, one of the early states to choose presidential nominees in 2008. The perceived star power of Obama and Clinton could make it difficult for other Democrats to amass campaign contributions needed for a successful White House run. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is expected to announce his candidacy this week. Edwards was running mate in 2004 to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in his failed bid to unseat Bush. With no end in sight to the unpopular Iraq war and with Bush weighing a possible surge in U.S. combat troops there, Iraq is likely to loom large in the 2008 presidential race after it contributed to the Democratic win in November's congressional elections. As the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden will have a forum for criticizing Bush's handling of the war. Biden said his panel is planning three weeks of high-profile hearings starting on January 9. Biden criticized calls by some Republicans to boost combat troops in Iraq, telling reporters: "We've already broken Iraq. We're about to break the United States military." Bush is preparing to announce a new policy on Iraq in early January. The 64-year-old senator, who was first elected to the Senate in 1972, said Bush should follow recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which called for reducing the U.S. military presence to encourage Iraqis to take more responsibility to establish a political settlement among warring factions. Two Democrats already have announced long-shot runs for president: Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an unsuccessful candidate in 2004.

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (756374)	12/26/2006 3:38:05 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Biden vows to fight any Iraq troop boost By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Incoming Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden, a potential Democratic presidential candidate, said Tuesday he would oppose any effort by President Bush to increase U.S troops in Iraq as part of a new war strategy. Biden also announced he has summoned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to testify before his committee next month to discuss the administration's new plan for Iraq as soon as it is made public. The Delaware Democrat took advantage of a quiet holiday week to draw attention to his own proposal for Iraq, which includes beginning a drawdown of U.S. forces and finding a political settlement among the various ethnic factions there. Biden has spoken candidly of his desire to run for president and has made repeated visits in the past year to early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. But he is trying to find room on a crowded stage of Democratic contenders that includes Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois. Biden warned that congressional Republicans — not Democrats — would suffer in the 2008 elections if they do not join him in speaking out against Bush and opposing troop increases in Iraq. "Absent some profound political announcement . . . I can't imagine there being an overwhelming, even significant support for the president's position," he told reporters during a telephone conference call Tuesday. If the violence continues two years from now, "every one of those Republican senators — and there's 21 of them up for re- election — knows that that is likely to spell his or her doom," Biden said. Bush has not announced whether he plans to increase the number of troops in Iraq, but administration officials say that option is among several being considered. Also, Bush last week said he wants to expand the size of the Army and Marine Corps to lessen the strain on ground forces. The move was seen by many military experts as laying the groundwork to announce early next month a planned surge in forces in Iraq. Military experts and some ground commanders are skeptical that a surge in ground forces could work to settle the violence in Iraq. Those concerns were expressed in a new bipartisan report on Iraq. "Sustained increases in U.S. troop levels would not solve the fundamental cause of violence in Iraq, which is the absence of national reconciliation," the Iraq Study Group concluded. But others, including Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., — another possible presidential contender — and experts at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, say a surge in forces could hold off the insurgency long enough to build up the Iraqi security forces and form a political settlement. Biden, who will head the Foreign Relations Committee when Democrats take control of Congress next month, said he wants to hear from Rice on Jan. 9. The senator said she has agreed to testify, but only after Bush announces his plan on Iraq. The president is expected to deliver a speech on Iraq sometime before his State of the Union address on Jan. 23. Biden said he hopes the hearings will generate bipartisan consensus in Congress that will pressure the president to abandon talk of increasing troop levels in Iraq. There are currently an estimated 140,000 troops in the country. "Even with the surge of troops, in a city of 6 million people you're talking about a ratio that would still be roughly above one to 100," Biden said of Baghdad. "It's bound to draw down support that we need in other parts of Iraq, including Anbar province." Biden also said he believes Democrats' political vulnerability on Iraq is limited. "I think we'll only have to accept responsibility for the war if we remain silent," he said. Biden said he delivered this message in a recent meeting at the White House, where he told Bush: "Mr. President, this is your war."