He can't possibly believe that simply choosing a female running mate will bring women to vote for him.

If that is his motivation, it is insulting to women. Women care about issues more than just gender. I don't care if she is a mom, a wife, a worker, a woman. She stands on the opposite end of every issue that I care about.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today with much dismay over the fact that we were not able to pass the energy extenders, the tax extenders, the package of important provisions for our country's economy because of this obstructionism on the other side.

Let me tell my colleagues why this was so important to me. We only got four Republican votes for this package. I think it is outrageous when you look at what we are dealing with.

This administration wants an ownership society. When you get laid off, you’re on your own. Can’t get unemployment? You’re on your own. Please.

This guy’s an idiot. Either that or he thinks we’re idiots. I don’t know which is worse.

Frankly, this was another all-style, no substance performance. Sen. Obama is the quintessential empty suit. Michael Steele is right- He’s all platitude and no attitude.

Word before the speech was that this would be a workmanlike speech. It wasn’t. It was just about platitudes.

So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am president.

Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes -- cut taxes -- for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: in 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last 30 years, and John McCain has been there for 26 of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Sen. McCain took office.

Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.

As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy -- wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.

America, now is not the time for small plans.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American -- if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime -- by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less -- because we cannot meet 21st century challenges with a 20th century bureaucracy.

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility -- that's the essence of America's promise.

Clueless

1. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.)

2. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)

Brown has a knack for the impolitic; Bachmann clung to George Bush so tightly after this year’s State of the Union address that some joked he might need a restraining order.

The GOP’s presumptive nominee, John McCain, doesn’t support drilling in ANWR, and the majority of the committee’s members didn’t want to put the platform at odds with him, according to Congressional Quarterly.

"Increased atmospheric carbon has a warming effect on the Earth," The Hill reported the draft document as saying. "While the scope and long term consequences of this warming effect are the subject of ongoing research, we believe the United States should take measured and reasonable steps today."

New Biden TV ad pushes Iraq exit

By ABBY SIMONS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

August 18, 2007

With an Iowa cornfield as his backdrop, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden opens the first of his televised Iowa campaign ads the same way he has begun nearly 70 stump speeches across the state this year.

Absent dramatic music or a well-honed voiceover, he tells a story.

"It was my fourth trip to Iraq, we were leaving Baghdad. It was pitch black," Biden begins before describing the sight of a flag-draped coffin strapped in the middle of his C-130 plane.

"They turned that cargo plane into a cathedral," he says "And all I could think of was the parents waiting at the other end."

The 30-second commercial is part of a quarter-million-dollar ad campaign that will launch Sunday emphasizing the Delaware senator's campaign focus, a detailed plan to end the war in Iraq.

The televised spots will also feature a 60-second ad of the same nature, said Larry Rasky, communications director for the Biden campaign. The advertisements will air on all major networks.

Rasky said the campaign decided to launch the ads around Labor Day, when historically it has seen Iowans "really start to focus" on the potential candidates that have campaigned before them all summer.

The 30-second ad features only Biden, and differs from other candidates' spots that feature their positions on a gamut of issues, as well as a plethora of schmoozing with Iowans. That's the goal, Rasky said.

"There's no question that Iraq is the major issue on the minds of the voters and there's also no question that Joe Biden has been the leader in trying to push George Bush to get out of Iraq," he said.While Biden trails the latest polls with about 2 percent of support among Democratic candidates, the campaign's hoping the ads help.

"It will certainly raise the senator's favorable name recognition, but as for the horse race question, I think it remains to be seen as to when people really begin focusing on making that choice, but it will happen over time," he said.

Reporter Abby Simons can be reached at (515) 284-8136 or asimons@dmreg.com

Biden proposed expanding the maximum amount available in Pell Grants from $4,310 a year to $6,300. Legislation signed by President Bush in September would increase the current amount to $5,400 by 2012.

Biden proposed hiring an additional 100,000 teachers to help reduce class size, aimed at average classes of 18 students. The federal government would assist states in doing so by providing $2 billion a year in grants to attract more teachers and pay for incentives. He added that teachers should be able to start their careers at a minimum of $45,000 per year.

Tragedy Strikes

However, Biden's victory celebration was short-lived. Just days before he was set to be sworn in, his wife, Neilia, and their three children got into a car accident. Neilia and their youngest child, 18-month-old Naomi, were killed. His two other sons, ages 4 and 3, were seriously injured.

Biden got the fateful phone call while at the Senate.

"I said, 'She's dead, isn't she?' I don't know what the hell made me say that. And I walked out," Biden said. "I was so angry."

Biden even contemplated suicide as a rational option after the accident.

"I never went to the bridge," Biden said. "I'd get up in the middle of the night, go out and take out a bottle of Scotch & and I'd sit at the table and I'd try to make myself just lose it. I couldn't bring myself & but the hardest part is you feel guilty when you realize you want to live. If the love was as great and as profound as you believed it to be, why would you still want to live?"

However, with the help of his friends and family Biden was pressed on and continued in the Senate, with a few alterations to his lifestyle. His sister and family moved in to Biden's home to help with the children.

"Being a single parent is hard," Biden said. "I couldn't afford to have someone take care of my kids. But I had my mother, my brothers, my sister  I had a family that just took care of me."

Biden also made the decision to commute daily to Washington from his home in Delaware. To this day, Biden still rides the train every day to work.

"My being home every day was sort of the touchstone for me. And even though all three of my kids now are out and they're grown up, I still go home every day," Biden said.

Mr. Biden has survived so much personal and political catastrophe that not much about this race — not his distant standing in the polls nor his own missteps — seems to get him down. It is the last, great ride of his White House ambitions, and this time, unlike 20 years ago, he seems determined to make it right.

“This has been the easiest campaign I’ve ever run in,” Mr. Biden said cheerfully in an interview in a van at the Iowa City Airport, where he was about to board a four-seat airplane and head off into the icy December blackness for an event at Grinnell College. “I haven’t had to game anything. For real. I know what I believe, I know what I want to do, and I’m just comfortable saying it, and laying it out there.”

Joe Biden: Biden was extraordinary today. Not only did he speak specifically and with authority on issues both foreign and domestic, he was able to tie all of his arguments together under the umbrella of taking action and setting priorities. Biden also beat back the toughest question of the day when moderator Carolyn Ashburn asked him whether his past verbal gaffes in relation to race reflected a level of discomfort with the issue. "I got involved in politics because of the civil rights movement," Biden said with real emotion, adding that his career in the Senate reflected that commitment. When he finished speaking, all of his rivals offered a "huzzah" for his answer. Biden also played to Iowans' vanity by praising them as the foundation of democracy and asserting their right to be first. A complete performance by The Fix's Iowa darkhorse.

"Admirably, he seems to regard the glibness that is often the norm in presidential campaigns as a personal affront.

In the CNN/YouTube debate last month, he reacted with genuine impatience to sloganeering about pulling US troops out of Iraq immediately. "Let's get something straight," he said. "It's time to tell to start to tell the truth. The truth of the matter is if we started today, it would take one year - one year - to get 160,000 troops physically out of Iraq, logistically. That's number one. Number two, you cannot pull out of Iraq ... unless you have a political solution. I'm the only one that's offered a political solution."

It was a classic Biden moment - impassioned, serious and not overly concerned with eliciting approval.

Such views are among those that have exposed the senator to his share of sniping from the liberal blogosphere. He has been by turns conciliatory and confrontational in response. His campaign took exception to a suggestion by Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that he had sought to avoid a recent bloggers' convention. But Walter Shapiro last month reported Biden's complaints about the oft-expressed intention of the ultra-liberal netroots to "take back" the party. "They don't own the Democratic party. What are they talking about?" he pondered.

Biden's uneasy relationship with the grassroots shouldn't be taken to mean that he is reflexively centrist on every issue. He is an emphatic supporter of US intervention to help staunch the outrages in Darfur. "Where we can [help], America must," he said in the CNN debate. "Why Darfur? Because we can. We should now."

Biden has weaknesses, of course. A presidential bid came unhinged in 1987 when he appropriated, without attribution, a famous speech by Neil Kinnock. He has a reputation for being undisciplined. And this year's campaign was almost stillborn when, in an interview with my New York Observer colleague Jason Horowitz, he described Barack Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

The words clanged horribly. Yet, as Peter Beinart pointed out in the New Republic, "stupid, insensitive remarks shouldn't sink political candidacies unless they bespeak some larger animus ... His long career in congress suggests no sympathy for racists."

The reality, unfortunately, is that Biden's many strengths will count for nothing if his ability to raise money does not improve. Asked in Iowa last month how he might break into the first tier of Democratic candidates, Biden replied, "I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do ... I thought a lot more about what I would do as president than how to get elected president. I'm trying like the devil to change that."

Still, it's far from impossible to see a scenario in which Biden could vault into serious contention. The shallow opportunism of John Edwards becomes more apparent with each passing week. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are much stronger, but not without their respective Achilles' heels.

In Clinton's case, her high unfavorability ratings remain, as does the suspicion that, if asked what she thought of today's weather, she would calculate the electoral pros and cons of every possible response before replying. Obama has the charisma to drown Biden, Clinton and everyone else, but he has made some foreign policy missteps recently and his debate performances have been more halting than many expected.
Biden says that "honest to God" he believes he will be his party's presidential nominee. Perhaps time will prove that optimism misplaced. Or perhaps the Dems will eventually turn in his direction.

At the least, the senator from Delaware is worthy of much more serious consideration than he has so far received."

The Aug. 2 letter from Mark Olson displays no remorse for his past behavior. He blames others by saying that he is the victim of "misinformation and politically malicious lies".

He judges others but is incapable of self judgment. He wants to convince us, as he has convinced his wife, that his re-election is "so important" that he must run. He sees his "eight victorious elections" as a sign of God's support. History proves that political success is not a sign of righteousness. Marks self love has led to the false pride, arrogance and ambition that will eventually undo his political career. He needs private, not public redemption.

Mark is a carpenter who, as a legislator, has participated in creating an economy in which it is difficult for a carpenter to find enough work to support a family. This, I believe, is the real driver behind Mark's need to run.

A legislator receives excellent pay for the hours worked and high quality health care and retirement benefits all paid for by the taxes that Mark claims he doesn't like. The job doesn't need Mark, Mark needs the job.

There are other good people running for this position that are more deserving.

Ron Thiessen

Becker, Mn

The Republicans have been accusing the Democrats of exploiting Marks legal problems and until now that was a weak case as Democrats have not commented on the internal problems of the Republican Party inSD16.

Now they can point to letters like this one and unite their party against the Democrats.

Thank God this guy steps up and writes a letter that may end the internal Republican fighting and unite their party.

The author is a director of the Sherburne Co DFL which makes this letter even worse. Instead of sticking to facts and sighting quotes from Olson, he plays DR. Phil and wildly speculates about Olson’s motives for running.

This is a text book example of how not to win votes and influence people. A 100% negative letter against a candidate never works with undecided voters or swing voters. It may make the base happy but they were already with you.

Let’s hope in the future both sides will speak for a candidate instead of confining themselves to being wholly negative.

A letter from Jeremiah:

Dearest Bemidji,

Hello there. I am Jeremiah Liend. Today I filed for the office of mayor. It is a decision I have considered well during the last four years. Four years ago I ran for the same office on a platform of change. I ran with a campaign budget of $200. I ran for the common man. Over 1,200 fine people cast their lot with me in the belief that I had the ability to affect change and I thank them for their votes. Four years later I have seen little change for the better.

The last few years I have been listening. I do not listen merely in conference rooms or halls. I listen where my people congregate. My people work the unpleasant jobs that keep the stuttering gears of commerce grinding away. My people are uninsured and desperate for a chance. My people are a renegade assortment of artisans and merchants hoping for the American dream to be more than just that. My people are mad as hell. They are the people who encourage me to fight the good fight and to that end, I enter the ring. To my people I tip my hat and assure them that a vote for me is a vote for them.

There are a number of failures and shortcomings I could rail against. Every mistake over the last four years has been mentally catalogued and filed. But I do not want to play that game. I don’t want to tear anyone down or point fingers. Rather I would like to offer a vision of something better. More complete and powerful than anyone is willing to offer these days. Inside me dwells a pack of dreams and machinations to make Bemidji into the city I know it can be.

The people in power want to see Bemidji evolve into the next Brainerd or Saint Cloud. The cities they strive to become are limited by their fear of the unknown and the grumbling dissent of the old guard’s status quo. I have no such fear. When I look into the future I see Bemidji taking it’s rightful place as the crowned city of the Mississippi, a sibling of the Saints Paul and Louis and the mouth to New Orleans roar. The one city the mighty Mississippi would travel north to visit deserves better. I defy those who claim it cannot be done. We are a community of great people and I truly believe that, working together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

I have assembled a series of stratagems called “The Bunyan Initiative”. It’s end game is to make our city famed and prosperous. Our Florence but requires the Medici, men and women with the power, will, and ability to invest in the vast reserves of talent we have left unexplored for far too long. When I look at the marvel of Bemidji what I find most amazing [and tragic] is not that it lacks in ability and resource, but that our leaders have not used them. Production companies lurk in basements, desperate for assistance. Local business owners facing recession combat a legion of corporations without ally or weapon. Three great colleges see students arrive, learn, and escape without a second glance to an anemic and failing job market.

Amid it all I find myself wanting only one job and one charge. I want the office of mayor for but a two year term in which I hope to wrestle the wheel of progress away from the discouraged and fearful and direct our course into a bright new future. A future where taxes are eliminated and not raised. A future where our people speak out and our leaders listen. This is your wake up call to the revolution. You need not live in anger and fear of being ignored any longer. I will bring your word to those in power and they will tremble from your assembled voice.

I make these promises: First; I will fill every vacant downtown storefront with local business owners by the end of my two years. The first component of “The Bunyan Initiative” details just how to do it. Second; I will always vote for bids to go to local companies. The time of throwing your tax dollars out of Bemidji will end. We are not a group of bumpkins and incompetents but a powerful assembly of greater Minnesota’s best and brightest. And finally I promise to place the struggling masses of rent-poor wage-earners that this city is built on in the forefront of every policy I enact and every vote that I cast.

Four years ago I ran on a platform of change. I ran for the common man and nearly a quarter of Bemidji believed I had the ability. Four years later I have seen little change for the better. This time around I am taking no prisoners. I need your help to make this revolution a reality.

If everyone who voted for me in the prior election convinced two other people to vote for me, it would be a victory for the books. I thank you in advance for your time, your vote, or any other assistance you would lend to me.

Yours most sincerely,

Jeremiah T. Liend

The Aug. 2 letter from Mark Olson displays no remorse for his past behavior. He blames others by saying that he is the victim of "misinformation and politically malicious lies".

He judges others but is incapable of self judgment. He wants to convince us, as he has convinced his wife, that his re-election is "so important" that he must run. He sees his "eight victorious elections" as a sign of God's support. History proves that political success is not a sign of righteousness. Marks self love has led to the false pride, arrogance and ambition that will eventually undo his political career. He needs private, not public redemption.

Mark is a carpenter who, as a legislator, has participated in creating an economy in which it is difficult for a carpenter to find enough work to support a family. This, I believe, is the real driver behind Mark's need to run.

A legislator receives excellent pay for the hours worked and high quality health care and retirement benefits all paid for by the taxes that Mark claims he doesn't like. The job doesn't need Mark, Mark needs the job.

There are other good people running for this position that are more deserving.

Ron Thiessen

Becker, Mn

Worlds Apart
McCain's Clarity vs. Obama's Nuance

By Sally Quinn

Monday, August 18, 2008; Page A11

When I was little, I had a recurrent dream that there was a terrible earthquake. My father, his body a horse with wings, swooped down from the sky, kneeled so I could jump on his back and flew away just as the earth cracked open beneath me. It was my most comforting dream. I want to live in that world again. I want to live in John McCain's world. My father was a military man. My parents were friends of McCain's parents and lived in the same apartment building. My father's closest friend was Barry Goldwater, McCain's mentor. Those were the days when men were men, when the differences between good and evil were clear, when they knew where they stood on every issue, when life was less complicated, when there was an air of insouciance, no matter how difficult the issues.

I want to live in a world where Gen. David Petraeus and Meg Whitman, former chief executive of eBay, are the wisest people I know, where offshore drilling will help ease our energy crisis, where a guy stays in a Vietnamese prison camp even when told he could get out, and has great stories to tell. I want to live in a world where I was absolutely certain that life begins at conception, where a man is a maverick and stands up against his Senate colleagues when he disagrees with them, where the only thing to do with evil is defeat it, where a guy will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of Hell to capture him.

I want to believe that our biggest enemy is radical Islamist terrorists. I want to be part of a world that doesn't have to raise taxes; where America is a beacon, a shining city on a hill; where our values are simply Judeo-Christian values; and where a man always puts his country first. I want to be one of "my friends."

By the time McCain finished his interview with pastor Rick Warren at the Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, Saturday night, part of a forum that also featured Barack Obama, I was curled up in a fetal position in my chair, wrapped in a mohair throw, practically sucking my thumb.

McCain did a great job of making me feel confident. He was clearly in his element at Saddleback, among supportive evangelical Christians, and he went a long way toward alleviating their fears about his inability to communicate with them in their own language.

Obama came first, and he handled himself well in front of an audience that clearly disagrees with him on many issues. He also managed to put to rest the notion that he is a Muslim, which 12 percent of Americans still believe he is. He talked directly to Rick Warren as though they were having a real conversation, whereas McCain played to the audience, rarely looking at Warren. He was low-key, thoughtful and nuanced.

That kind of nuance is hard to understand sometimes -- it's unclear, complicated. Obama's world can be scarier. It's multicultural. It's realistic (yes, there is evil on the streets of this country as well as in other places, and a lot of evil has been perpetrated in the name of good). It's honest. When does life begin? Only the antiabortionists are clear on that. For the majority of Americans (who are pro-choice), it is "above my pay grade," in Obama's words, where there is no hard and fast line to draw on what's worth dying for, and where people of all faiths have to be respected.

I would rather live in McCain's world than Obama's. But I believe that we live in Obama's world.

Afterward, the commentators talked abut how Obama needs to have better stories, to be more accessible and less aloof, and to have sharper, shorter, simpler answers rather than be so cerebral. But Obama is authentic. He is who he is. To try to change would be a mistake. Al Gore's handlers decided he was too stiff and tried to loosen him up. What they did was rob him of his authenticity instead.

This was not a debate. There was not a winner or a loser. The one sure winner was Rick Warren, who overnight changed the face of evangelicals in this country from the cartoon caricature of rigid, right-wing fundamentalists to one of open-minded, intelligent, concerned citizens. There were grumblings that the forum should not have been held in a church. But Warren managed to keep the religious aspect of the event to a minimum, including in his questions. And he followed his own advice, the lead sentence of his best-selling book "The Purpose-Driven Life." It wasn't all about him.

Now, can we have more of these events in Catholic churches, mosques, synagogues and ethical society meeting halls? Or would that be too much Obama's world?

The writer is a co-moderator, with Jon Meacham, of On Faith, an online conversation on religion.

WHY Joe Biden?

First, Senator Biden is as strong a Union (A 91% rating from the NEA and a 100% rating from the AFL-CIO) supporter as any one could possibly be. As an educator I am always concerned about the tactics used by many Republicans that work tirelessly to chip away and eventually abolish the teachers unions that provide the relatively meager wage I currently enjoy.

Second, and far less calculated, is the sense of the man. When I see and listen to Joe Biden I see a man I would be proud to call my President. While others may disagree, I see a father figure or amusing uncle that always seems to have a bit of advice (probably good) to impart to you. I see a man of strength that Republicans would have a hard time portraying as a weak liberal as they are prone to do. This strength is evident in his passion, his eloquence, and yes, even in his loquaciousness!

Third, and very much related to the second, is his solution for the debacle that it is this Administrations handling of the war in Iraq. He cannot be pinned with the label of offering no plan for success because his plan is apparent and has even been parroted by at least one of the Republican hopefuls. The creation of a Federal System in Iraq may be the only way to quell sectarian violence at the same time keeping the country from breaking apart or falling into utter anarchy. As of right now it is the main thrust of my support for Joe Biden as I have yet to hear anything more than "stay the course" from this Administration (which, by the way, is not a solution!) and what appears to many as a pullout without a contingency for cleaning up the mess we created from the Democrats.