Saturday, August 23, 2008
Biden's opening shot
Even I think Biden got off a good one today:
When Americans are sitting around trying to pay their bills, [McCain] won't know which of his seven kitchen tables to sit at.
24 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat Aug 23, 05:09:00 PM:
Yeah, well ... a guy who has spent his life in Washington doesn't know jack squat about the lives of 'ordinary' Americans either.
Somehow it's not all that "presidential" to me to engage in a snipe fest. Unless he's got a sterling voting record, he's in for his share of feedback.
By 
Andrew Hofer, at
Sat Aug 23, 05:29:00 PM:
*Ten* kitchen tables.
Since when does being poor make you a better candidate to serve the poor in office? Or should we disbelieve all the wealthy advocates of the welfare state?
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 05:30:00 PM:
Please God don't let McCain pick another senator. This is shaping up to be a nightmare no matter who wins.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Sat Aug 23, 05:51:00 PM:
Re: Biden
The new Tailgunner Joe.
But what goes up must come down.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 05:53:00 PM:
from the announcement ... "An internationalist and strong supporter of the United Nations, he is a leading critic of what he sees as the vague, unilateralist approach of President Bush.
[tells me about all I need to know]
Biden voted in 2002 to authorize the Iraq invasion, which Obama opposed from the start. Since then, he’s become a firm critic of the conflict and pushed through a resolution last year declaring that Bush’s troop increase—now considered a military success—was “not in the national interest.”
[e.g., winning a conflict rather than twisting hankies in the Dag H building]
One of the youngest politicians ever elected to the Senate—he was 29—Biden entered the 1988 Democratic presidential primary promising to “rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.”
[29, so his connection to regular people isn't there]
He reluctantly quit the race three months later after he was caught lifting lines from a speech by a British Labour Party leader."
[bwah ha ha]
His wife is decent looking though, I'll give him that much.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 06:13:00 PM:
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 08:01:00 PM:
Yeah, well ... a guy who has spent his life in Washington doesn't know jack squat about the lives of 'ordinary' Americans either.
Biden has a net worth of $150K, and had to take out a second mortgage to send his son to college. BTW, that son is deploying to Iraq in October. I dare say that's a helluva a lot closer to the lives of "ordinary" Americans than the majority of TH readers.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 08:11:00 PM:
Sorry. I forgot to add the link to the article on candidates' net income.
Biden's only reported income in 2006, in addition to his $165,000 Senate salary, interests and dividends, was $28,700 for teaching at Widener University in Pennsylvania.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 08:22:00 PM:
Tress, if he's 65 and only is worth 150K, I think he's even more pathetic. How could one NOT accumulate more? What's his federal pension worth? What's hidden in family trusts and other vehicles that don't fall under his "net worth", etc.?
And if he can't manage his money, that puts him in line with the ordinary guy, but his life has certainly not been ordinary as a career politician. That was my point.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 08:34:00 PM:
Biden has been a Senator nearly as long as Obama has been a resident of the U.S.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sat Aug 23, 08:39:00 PM:
"I dare say that's a helluva a lot closer to the lives of "ordinary" Americans than the majority of TH readers."
I never realized I was such an elitist. Who knew that one old Dodge truck, one new Suzuki, and 5 digits of college loans put me in an upper strata?
Not that there's any possible way for you to determine what the majority of any website's viewers own. Don't you know how the Internet works? Or is that below your economic class?
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Sat Aug 23, 08:55:00 PM:
If playing to the "common man" was an effective strategy these days, John Edwards would be the Democratic nominee.
Plus, the nation would have gotten something extra with Edwards -- two first ladies.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 09:07:00 PM:
That reply seems over the top, Dawnfire. You might want to check your nerves. Sounds like one of them took a hit.
Anon at 8:22
Biden has been working for the Federal government since he's 30 years of age when his salary was less $25K He received a 2.5% raise last year which brought his salary to $169,000. Perhaps if he had "managed" his money the way, say Senator Ted Stevens had prior to his indictment he would have had a fatter bank account.
Seriously, how does one who holds public office his entire career accumulate a net worth on a government salary?
More importantly, how do we get folks to stop calling those who devote their lives to public service "pathetic?"
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 09:17:00 PM:
"devoted their life to public service"
I'm choking with laughter. He's a Senator for God's sake. Everything's on the public dime. He's NOT a regular guy. And he's not a 'devotee' to anything except his ego and hairdo. Please spare me.
Now, if you were to take the argument to the American people. You know, the kind that Obama says he stands for. 40K a year, and all that. So he's pulling down a 169K plus book fees, probably speaking fees at some point in his life, etc. and he hasn't been able to scrape together more. You know, pay off the house, etc.
And, being an accountant, I'd put the present value of his federal pension in the asset section of his balance sheet when computing his net worth.
So either he's been pissing away his dough, is hiding his worth, or the Post story where they evaluated his worth is just wrong.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Sat Aug 23, 09:28:00 PM:
"Perhaps if he had 'managed' his money the way, say Senator Ted Stevens had prior to his indictment he would have had a fatter bank account."
Perhaps if he had kept money in a freezer like Democratic Congressman William J. Jefferson allegedly did, he would have a lot of cold cash.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sat Aug 23, 10:26:00 PM:
Tress: I must admit that simply inventing facts and asserting that they are true to score quick little 'Internet debate points' does get under my skin and strike nerves, yes. One of your obvious intellect and wisdom ought to be able to do better.
But since you imply that you've somehow struck the mark with me, perhaps you could explain to me just how different from an "ordinary American" I really am. I'd be interested to know, and sure that the majority of other TH readers would as well.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 11:44:00 PM:
Dawn,
If Biden truly a common man only making 170K while having the expenses of a US senator, what is his second job, for the months when the senate isn't in session? Of course, if he can have this type of lifestyle on 170K (does he just have one home in delaware, and commute?) then why is he and the other senators such idiots when comes to spending the taxpayers money?
By Dawnfire82, at
Sun Aug 24, 12:51:00 AM:
I suspect that you don't really intend that comment towards me; I've not commented on Biden's income. I know full well that "only" 165k a year is still vastly more than most people make.
By , at
Sun Aug 24, 01:40:00 AM:
i'll trade places with the over-fukk colostomy bag with legs. only a loon thinks a senator's lifestyle is anything like a regular american's. unless of course the poster defending joe is also a senator. guffaw. leftists really are idiots.
By , at
Sun Aug 24, 01:41:00 AM:
that was supposed to be "fukk" not "fu**". sorry
By Charles Edward Frith, at
Sun Aug 24, 04:48:00 AM:
The United States was never built on the principal that it and it's people's raison d'etre were all about wealth creation.
Yet the deconstruction of any argument is now reducted to this and so by this metric the U.S. will succeed or fail.
What a shame that a great country is reduced to such a crude metric.
By JPMcT, at
Sun Aug 24, 01:16:00 PM:
Fascinating! Biden graduates near the bottom of his class (and lied about it). He gets caught plagerizing on more than one occasion. He spends 30 years in the Senate and doesn't seem clever enough to make business contacts or investments that earn him any income (if you actually BELIEVE his net worth staement). He has not other visible means of support. He publicly states that Obama is not experienced enough to be President. He insults blacks and Indians. He states that he'd be honored to work with McCain.
So, in summary, he's a man of poor academic performance, a bad businessman, a plagerizer, a loudmouth who shoots from the hip and he admires his opponent more than his party's front runner.
I think it's an insult to the "common man" to say the Joe Biden resembles him.
Give me the guy who married the hot rich chick and has seven houses and flys a military jet...anyday!
The Presidency of the United States of America is not a position for the "Common Man"...it is a job that should be for an Extraordinary Man...so lets PLEASE cut the crap about whether the nominee knows what a gallon of milk costs or has a bunch of condos, etc. etc. Give me a guy who knows more about Leadership, Management, Wealth Accumulation, Defense and yes, Patriotism.
How can you dispute that???
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Sun Aug 24, 02:10:00 PM:
You summed it up rather well, JPMcT.
By JPMcT, at
Sun Aug 24, 06:08:00 PM:
Thanks, dec. Let me round out the commemts by going off-topic with Dennis Miller's recent comment: Calling Barck Obama an "empty suit" is an insult to wire coat hangers.
There, I'm done.
