I have no doubt that Biden will continue to say stupid things for the duration of his time in the limelight, and that I will continue to be exasperated by them. However, as long as he doesn’t do stupid things, I can probably live with that.
Hardly. Obama summoned the Chief Justice to stifle the legions of idiots who would have denounced President Obama’s legitimacy because he didn’t satisfy Article II, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, to the letter:
“Clause 8: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’”
As to the OP: in 2005, the then Senator Obama voted against Chief Justice Roberts’ nomination to the Supreme Court, citing “philosophical differences.” My opinion is that President Obama, in silencing Biden, was going out of his way to show that he would not stoop to pettiness or vindictiveness against a former political adversary. His platform was inclusiveness and setting aside political rancor, after all, and it would have been disheartening to see him abandon that on Day One. I also believe that he is trying to re-establish a tone of dignity and grace to the Office of the Presidency that has been sorely lacking these last few decades, thanks to his predecessors Clinton and Bush. And I’m certain that he would have really appreciated if Vice President Biden would have followed his lead instead of acting like a randy frat brother.
Besides, no one with the sense of a cumquat would try to alienate the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
You’ll get used to it in a few years, although it’ll flare up again after Obama is re-elected, which I’d already put a hundred bucks on.
The Republicans are going into a very bad stretch. They’re going nowhere in 2010 or 2012 and 2014 is a tossup. The bitching’s going to be long, loud, and pointless.
I thought the video of Obama doing the bump at one of the balls was more interesting.
I wasn’t aware that all those signing statements were secret.
good one.
No please don’t. We have a president whose intellect is capable of doing the job and not being a political figurehead. Let’s stay with that theme in both parties. In either party let’s shoot for candidates with the intelligence to handle complex issues and the integrity to actually serve the citizens of this country.
That excludes Palin IMO.
He regretted it. He called her to apologize that day. Despite the witnessing, he isn’t perfect, but he also is willing to acknowledge when his actions don’t meet with his own expectations. He also apologized for taking some easy openings against Keyes during the senate race.
He could shoot someone in the dick.
“Butters, it’s not cool to shoot someone in the dick!”
-Joe
That is not how it was presented on Olbermann last night. It was presented that he was meeting with the Chief Justice, informally, and they were discussing it lightheartedly and decided that a re-do was in order. Then Roberts went to put on his robes, and swore Obama in, slowly this time. There were witnesses. So, the story being put out doesn’t make it sound like Roberts was summoned.
I have been watching every second of footage I could of Obama since his speech in 2004. I have been watching Biden since his appearances on the Daily Show leading up to the primaries. I have been studying interactions between people for far longer, and knowing the history leading up to the 3 seconds, knowing how Obama conducts himself in public, knowing what Obama has said of what he wants the tone in Washington to be, knowing how he was disappointed in his own campaign against that clown Keyes when his campaign was more respectful and serious than any other I have followed closely, knowing all that, the 3 seconds spoke volumes.
And I have to say this about Biden, I think Biden has a very keen mind. I think he really is very sharp and his high reputation on foreign policy is well earned. From my review of his habits, and his finances, he seems to be as honest a politician as we have seen. His persona of affable, gaffing, Joe allows him to say things that others cannot. It also is very disarming. He comes off as a buffoon at times and recently as an old fool, I am sure it allows him to see and hear things he would not otherwise be privilege to. He puts me in mind of the fictional Daniel Waterhouse posing as a fool who really is quite the spy, or the Lord John Marbury an eccentric, flamboyant diplomat whose keen mind and careful guidance avert a nuclear war.
That said, if Obama is to raise the tone in Washington, Biden will need to stop some of the foolishness.
This is rich coming from the guy who posted a thread almost weekly for the last 8 years along the lines of “Bush is a poopyhead simply for existing.” One of the worst of these incidents is where you railed on Bush for not visiting the injured vets at Walter Reed even one time (with nuch wailing and emphasis on Not. Even. Once!). When someone posted a link of a visit by Bush to Walter Reed, you then railled against him for only visiting once!
Not that I’m defending the OP of this thread, just pointing out that you youself are not the model of a good opposition poster.
(aside) Maybe Obama will have a different running mate in 2012.
I’ll be thrilled if this is the kind of thing we end up talking about for the rest of the Obama presidency. It beats the snot out of talking about non-existant WMDs/outing CIA agents/waterboarding/warrantless wiretaps/politicizing the Justice Dept/throw in your own favorite Bush admin misdeed here.
Obama seems to be the type of person who doesn’t let things fester or get out of hand. I would be amazed if Obama didn’t have a private conversation later with Biden to warn him about that sort of thing. If not, he will certainly do so the next time it happens. I would imagine the conversation going something like: “Listen, Joe: you know my philosophy, and this is how we are going to conduct ourselves. Your behavior today with ___ was unacceptable to me and I won’t tolerate it in the future. If you wish to retain your duties as now assigned, or expand them in the future, you’ll respect my wishes.” It’s what any competent manager would say to an errant employee, and I’ve done so in the past.
I think you must be confusing me with someone else. I haven’t pitted Bush in years, and I certainly never started any Walter Reed thread. I don’t even remember reading or posting in anything like what you describe.
Just to double check, I did a search for every pit thread I’ve ever started about Bush. I got 9 results, the last one was in 2005. None of them had anything to do with Walter Reed. You aren’t talking about me.
I wonder what the chances are that Obama will run with a different veep candidate in 2012 …
So pitting a president for trashing the constitution and killing thousands needlessly = pitting the president b/c his vice-president put his foot in his mouth.
Gotcha.
I’ll guess 0%.
Unless Biden snuffs it, or beats up a girl scout or something.