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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Geoff Altman who wrote (41165)	8/23/2008 9:32:05 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224722

Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer Saturday, August 23, 2008 (08-23) 02:02 PDT DENVER, (AP) -- The candidate of change went with the status quo. In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness — inexperience in office and on foreign policy — rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions. He picked a 35-year veteran of the Senate — the ultimate insider — rather than a candidate from outside Washington, such as Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; or from outside his party, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; or from outside the mostly white male club of vice presidential candidates. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't even make his short list. The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack. The Biden selection is the next logistical step in an Obama campaign that has become more negative — a strategic decision that may be necessary but threatens to run counter to his image. Democratic strategists, fretting over polls that showed McCain erasing Obama's lead this summer, welcomed the move. They, too, worried that Obama needed a more conventional — read: tougher — approach to McCain. "You've got to hand it to the candidate and the campaign. They have a great sense of timing and tone and appropriateness. Six months ago, people said he wasn't tough enough on Hillary Clinton — he was being too passive — but he got it right at the right time," said Democratic strategist Jim Jordan. "He'll get it right again." Indeed, Obama has begun to aggressively counter McCain's criticism with negative television ads and sharp retorts from the campaign trail. A senior Obama adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his boss has expressed impatience with what he calls a "reverence" inside his campaign for his message of change and new politics. In other words, Obama is willing — even eager — to risk what got him this far if it gets him to the White House. Biden brings a lot to the table. An expert on national security, the Delaware senator voted in 2002 to authorize military intervention in Iraq but has since become a vocal critic of the conflict. He won praise for a plan for peace in Iraq that would divide the country along ethnic lines. Chief sponsor of a sweeping anti-crime bill that passed in 1994, Biden could help inoculate Obama from GOP criticism that he's soft on crime — a charge his campaign fears will drive a wedge between white voters and the first black candidate with a serious shot at the White House. So the question is whether Biden's depth counters Obama's inexperience — or highlights it? After all, Biden is anything but a change agent, having been in office longer than half of all Americans have been alive. Longer than McCain. And he talks too much. On the same day he announced his second bid for the presidency, Biden found himself explaining why he had described Obama as "clean." And there's the 2007 ABC interview in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president. It seems Obama is worried that some voters are starting to agree.

To: Geoff Altman who wrote (41165)	8/23/2008 9:35:18 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 224722

Retiring House Republican calls Murtha cut-and-run ’idiot’ By Associated Press Friday, August 22, 2008 - Added 1d 7h ago EmailE-mail PrintablePrintable Comments(13) Comments LargerSmallerText size ShareShare Rate(0) Rate WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Terry Everett of Alabama unleashed an unusually harsh attack on a House colleague, calling decorated Vietnam War veteran John Murtha, D-Pa., a cut-and-run idiot. "Don’t talk to me about defense," Everett, who is retiring at the end of this term, said during a radio interview this week. "Cut-and-run John Murtha is in charge of the appropriations committee for defense and he is certainly no friend of the military. "And don’t talk to me about him being an ex-Marine. Lord, that was 40 years ago. A lot of stuff can happen in 40 years. Thank you for your service as being an ex-Marine but that doesn’t mean you’re (not) an idiot, and he is," Everett said of Murtha. Murtha, the House’s biggest recipient of home-state pet projects and a key distributor of them to other lawmakers as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, has been a leading critic of the war in Iraq. His spokesman, Matthew Mazonkey, said in a statement that Murtha would not "stoop to that level" by responding to personal attacks. "Congressman Murtha’s record of supporting our troops and our veterans speaks for itself," Mazonkey said in a statement. Mazonkey noted that the Democratic-controlled Congress had dramatically increased Veterans Affairs spending and recently passed a new GI Bill that more than doubles college aid for troops and veterans. Everett’s remarks were broadcast Wednesday by Dothan, Ala., radio station WWNT. He announced last fall that he is retiring after 16 years in Congress. Everett’s spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. © Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Comments(13) Comments \| Post / Read Comments Next Article in General Politics: Poll: Al Franken, Norm Coleman deadlocked in Minn. Senate race