Liberal in the Land of Conservative

The White House formally announced Friday that Biden and members of a White House task force on the middle class will visit the New Flyer Bus Co. and hold a town-hall meeting there. The meeting will be the second official meeting of the task force, which Biden chairs.

Biden and task force members will be taking questions submitted through a White House Web site, www.astrongmiddleclass.gov, and from members of the audience, according to a news release.

So no, Obama's tax increase on those making more than $250,000 would not represent a transformation of the U.S. system of government. His desire to "spread the wealth" through progressive taxation makes him no less a capitalist than McCain, or Lincoln. Palin's allegation that Obama wants to "experiment with socialism" seems designed less to inform than to inflame. That's Pants on Fire wrong.

Whatever Biden meant or didn’t mean to say on the rope line, he has supported clean coal in the past. When the McCain camp used this one remark from Biden as the basis for a TV ad saying that Obama-Biden oppose clean coal, we said the claim was false. Obama’s position in favor of clean coal has been clear, and pushing for the technology has been part of his energy policy.

Biden said four times that McCain had voted 20 times against funding alternative energy. However, in analyzing the Obama campaign's list of votes after the first presidential debate, we found the number was actually 11. In the other instances the Obama-Biden campaign cites, McCain voted not against alternative energy but against mandatory use of alternative energy, or he voted in favor of allowing exemptions from these mandates.

BIDEN: Warned that Republican presidential candidate John McCain's $5,000 tax credit to help families buy health coverage "will go straight to the insurance company."

THE FACTS: That's not surprising - the money is meant to pay for health insurance. The Obama campaign tried to capitalize on the candidates' health care exchange by issuing an ad Friday contending that the Republicans can't explain "the McCain health tax."

The McCain campaign hasn't released an estimate of how much the plan would cost, but independent experts contradict Palin's claim of a cost-free program.

The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that McCain's plan, which at its peak would cover 5 million of the uninsured, would increase the deficit by $1.3 trillion over 10 years. Obama's plan, which would cover 34 million of the uninsured, would cost $1.6 trillion over that time period.

Palin was sworn in as governor on Dec. 4, 2006. Over the course of 2007, she fought to raise taxes on oil companies. Alaska gets about 85 percent of its state revenue from oil taxes, and as fuel prices skyrocketed, Palin complained the state wasn't getting its share of the windfall. She successfully pushed for a law that raised taxes on oil profits to 25 percent from 22.5, winning passage in the State Legislature in November 2007. The increase amounted to an estimated $1.6-billion annually more for the state.

"Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.' "

But it's hard to see Biden's runaway mouth doing much damage. Just look at the history. Biden drew glares when he suggested that in Delaware, "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." Later, he called Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Careers have ended over less. But Obama bailed him out, saying he knew Biden meant well. Those two gaffes could easily have created the narrative that Joe Biden is a racist. But that didn't happen.

Why? It's possible people don't care because he would only be vice president. But that hasn't stopped the gaffe police from monitoring everything Sarah Palin says. Another explanation is that the media give Biden a free pass. But this ignores both history—the media were almost singlehandedly responsible for ending his presidential run in 1988, when they exposed his plagiarized speeches—and current events: The media regularly report Biden's gaffes (as well as McCain's), but they are mostly forgotten.

The better explanation is more theoretical. There are basically three kinds of gaffes, and Joe Biden appears to be immune to all of them. Informational gaffes are when you get your facts wrong (John McCain mixing up Sunni and Shiite); message gaffes are when you get your policy wrong (Biden saying he opposed clean coal plants in the United States); and political gaffes are when you offend some interest group perceived to be important to your success (Hillary Clinton referring to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in discussing Obama's candidacy). Each can be damaging, depending on the candidate and his weaknesses.

Informational gaffes don't hurt Biden because, whatever his imperfections, he's generally seen as worldly and knowledgeable. Message gaffes don't matter because, even if it's a headache for the campaign, they make him sound authentic. (If he thinks the ad is "terrible," that's just his honest opinion!) And political gaffes don't damage Biden because, well, he's so darned congenial. Even John McCain likes him. He'll attack, but he's rarely nasty. The only real insult he's hurled this campaign was criticism of Rudy Giuliani's campaign as nothing more than "a noun, a verb, and 9/11."

Adapting Biden to the general election hasn't just been about avoiding gaffes. It's also about infusing him with Obama's message—and style. Biden's stump speech now climaxes with the repetition of "Imagine a world …" followed by various Democratic fantasies. Some of his poetry about "angels' wings" and "shining lights" sounds downright Barackian. He maintains his unmatched ability to work a room—at the NJDC event, he told a joke about a Jewish crew team. But it's clear at these events that he's addressing the cameras in the back as much as the local crowd. His remarks about McCain and Bermuda immediately became national news.

These two adjustments—the attempts to eliminate gaffes and the adoption of Obama's smooth style—will be tested at the vice presidential debate Oct. 2. There, Biden's gaffe immunity will not protect him. The McCain campaign takes umbrage almost instantaneously, and dissing Sarah Palin could be construed as sexist. And the vast TV audience, much of it seeing him for the first time, may be less familiar with his gaffe history—and less forgiving of his gaffes.

Until then, Senator, gaffe away. When Obama picked Biden, some Democrats suggested that Biden's unpredictable tongue would become a distraction. Others criticized him as being too "safe." They're both right. He is a gaffe machine—but he's harmless.

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."

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.