No, that’s what he said to a room full of potential campaign contributors. Ones from outside Steve Israel’s district.
I just want you to know that supporting him is a smart investment.
Do tell, Mr. Vice President. Do tell.
Moe Lane
PS: NY-02 is a D+4 district. Getting to the edge, but still gettable. Needs a challenger, though.
Crossposted to RedState.
Via @baseballcrank, promises, promises:
Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.
Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.
“If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do,” the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) today in Greenville, Delaware.
Giffords, Giffords, Giffords: where have we heard that name before? Right: she was one of the Democrats who ran and hid from her constituents during the August town halls. As I recall, she was so scared of them that she only felt safe on a military base – which was an impressive display of cowardice, even for a Blue-in-Red Democratic Member of Congress.
Yes, definitely, she needs to be one of the Thirty-Five. I’m thinking that it’s going to be Jesse Kelly for this one: his website is here and you can contribute here.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
This is a pretty critical point for the health care rationing bill, and VP Biden’s supposed to be this hyper-useful kind of guy when it comes to Congressional issues. Goodness knows, we got told often enough that he was smarter than his opposite number in the campaign – you know, the one who is currently helping to drive the debate, to the administration’s detriment – so it seems odd that he’s not more involved in helping his boss chivvy scared Democratic legislators back into line.
Very odd…
SAY IT AIN’T SO, JOE: Half down, half to go. Veep Biden, touting health care reform at a Chicago fundraiser declared, “We provide about 50 percent of the health care already.” Great. And untrue. A fourth of Americans are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Two-thirds are covered by private insurers. That’s according to the federal census.
Ah. Yes. Of course.
Silly me.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
It was apparently their turn.
The annoying bit is that we can’t even put the Vice President in an undisclosed location, given that he’s already gone out and disclosed it. I would write that it’s days like this that make me miss Dick Cheney, except that doing so would imply that I’ve ever stopped doing so since 01/20/2009.
Biden comments drive metal manufacturers lower
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of major metal manufacturers traded sharply lower Monday, a day after Vice President Joe Biden said the White House “misread” the economy, prompting concerns that an economic recovery could be slower than expected.
[snip]
During the second quarter, commodity prices “went through the roof,” and investors snapped up metal makers stocks on word that the economy was “less bad” than before, he said.
But, now, the market has switched its thinking amid broader concerns about the economy, he said.
See here for a link to the interview (Hot Air for the H/T). About the only thing that you can say about it is that at least the White House hasn’t sent out people to retract the economic portions yet – unlike, for example, the VP’s recent comments that could be read as the USA giving permission to Israel to bomb Iran (via Sense of Events). But the ‘pace of the ball is now going to increase,’ at least – and if you know what that actually means, I’m not sure whether to be envious of, or worried about you.
Just another Monday in this, the best of all possible worlds…
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
To steal from Glenn Reynolds: You know, they told me that if I voted for John McCain we’d end up with an embarrassingly unpopular Vice President who’d stumble over the simplest of tasks… and they were right!
Biden fails to draw crowd in Erie
Wattsburg, Pa. — Vice President Joe Biden visited a small town on the outskirts of Erie today to talk to rural folks about federal stimulus money that can be used to expand broadband access to the Internet for rural areas that typically have poor connections.
Apparently stimulus money and broadband are not all that interesting to the local folk here: Only around 100 or so people have showed up so far to hear Biden talk at noon at Seneca High School off Route 8 in Wattsburg.
The room looked so sparse that about 30 or so chairs were removed by volunteers to give the illusion of a full house.
See also Texans for Sarah Palin, which has a suggestion that’s as predictable as it is apropos. I’m told that the report is that Biden wasn’t really impressive to the people who bothered to show up, but… really, by what standard?
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
*Never fails, does it? Well, if even Jove nods…
So… the guy who’s against gay marriage (unlike his predecessor) went to a LGBT fundraiser and told them that his boss (who is also against gay marriage) intends to get DoMA repealed (while at the same he’s still defending it, in terms that started a backlash) and wants to end DADT (while doing nothing to actually end it*); and in the process somehow manages to confuse the governor of Virginia (and DNC chair) with the governor of New Jersey.
In other words, it’s Thursday for Joe Biden.
(H/T: Andrew Malcolm & JammieWearingFool)
Moe Lane
*Dammit.
Crossposted to RedState.
Vice President Joe Biden is the sort of person who must be taken everywhere twice: the second time, to apologize*.
Gaffe-prone Vice President Joe Biden backtracked yesterday from comments he made at a Democratic fund-raiser in Manhattan that were widely viewed as an endorsement of Gov. Paterson’s re-election.
[snip]
Speaking of Paterson Monday night, the loose-lipped Biden said, “Your once and future governor of the state of New York has been extremely generous to Barack and me and has been a major part of us trying to put this economy back together.
The New York Post goes into more, possibly even loving, detail (including a greatest hits recap of his gaffes as VP: which is impressive, considering that it’s only June) – and why would they not be loving? Biden gives them copy every time he opens his mouth. Good copy, for them: for the rest of us, well, not so much. I’ve been spoiled by eight years of having a functional sort of person being placed in that spot: the new arrangement isn’t nearly as satisfactory. In fact, the idea of ever having to write “Joe Biden, President of the United States! Dear God!” fills me with existential dread. Which may have been a calculation.
Or, as Don Surber (H/T) put it: “Well, they said if I voted for Sarah Palin we would put an imbecile one heartbeat from the presidency. I did… and they were right!”
Moe Lane Continue reading Whom the Gods would destroy, they first send Joe Biden: David Paterson edition.
[UPDATE x2] And welcome, AoSHQ readers.
[UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers. Oh, why not? – vampirism post here, for no particular reason except that it beat watching the press conference.
Brother Pejman expands on this report that Vice President Biden is telling people to avoid public transportation and yank their kids out of schools.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
If President Obama wishes to handle this crisis by sending Vice President Biden to an undisclosed location until it’s over, well, sacrifices must be made.
Moe Lane
PS: Watch the video that Pej found above: it’s not every day where you see what is effectively a pet media organ of the Democratic party call for closing the border. And watch for the gaffe at about 5:15. Freudian slip there, Joe?
Crossposted to RedState.
Well, at least it isn’t foreign policy.
(Via Hot Air Headlines) Why, what could possibly go wrong?
Obama Taps Biden to Oversee Stimulus Package Implementation
President Obama has turned to his own vice president to oversee implementation of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, part of which will be available this week for state Medicaid programs.
Obama announced his decision before the National Governors Association in Washington on Monday, saying Vice President Joe Biden will help ensure the distribution of the money is not just swift, “but also efficient and effective.”
“The fact that I’m asking my vice president to personally lead this effort shows how important it is for our country and future to get this right,” he said.
Well, that, or it shows how important it is for your administration and your future to make sure that what is not going to be a universally beloved program six months from now – to put it mildly – is publicly linked with chains of unbreakable steel to, well, Joe Biden. However, I don’t think that you’ve made it clear enough that you don’t want to be tied to this sucker. May I suggest a moat filled with burning gasoline and maybe some apotropaic symbols burned into the walls?
Moe Lane
Crossposted at RedState.
