Sunday, October 26, 2008

words that need to appear on the stump STAT

If only I could write stuff that McCain would actually use!

"Sen. Obama is the Democrats' nominee for President in large part because he made the primaries a referendum on judgement. And that line may have played well with the leftist voters of the country, who were looking to cast aside Senators Clinton, Edwards--and even Joe Biden--for their initial support for the war in Iraq. But a man whose "judgement" appeals to the far left in this country is a man whose judgement will not appeal to the vast majority of this country , and he knows that, which is probably why he's dropped "judgement" as his chief qualification for the Presidency.

But that doesn't mean that his judgement isn't very important. Every day in the Oval Office will be a day where the President's judgement is tested--numerous times at that. So despite the fact that Obama doesn't want you talking about his judgement anymore, I think it's essential that we do such.

. . .

And I think a lot can be told about Obama's judgement by who he selected as his Vice Presidential running mate. Sen. Biden was thrust upon the Democrats and possibly the country by no one other than Sen. Obama, so I think it is essential that we understand that man in order to get a better summary of Obama's judgement. And please keep in mind: Obama wants the country to put Joe Biden one heartbeat away from being President of the United States.

That one hearbeat separates us from a person who doesn't even know that the Vice President has a day-to-day obligation to fulfill in the United States Senate. If you watched Biden at the VP debate, you would've swore that he'd never seen a Vice President in the Senate's chambers until current Vice President Cheney was inaugurated. Let me assure you--nothing is further from the truth, both Constitutionally and in reality. Of course, when Biden's talking, you have to sometimes suspend your understanding of reality in order to get on the same page from which he's reading.

For example, if you watched that same VP debate, you saw Biden claim without a moment's hesitation that Hezbollah had been kicked out of Lebanon due to a joint U.S.-French effort. Let me tell you that in this reality, unfortunately such an event never took place. The degree to which Biden speaks of events that never occurred is frightening and very dangerous--especially coming from a man who Senator Obama looks to for foreign policy strength and understanding.

More about that foreign policy understanding: Biden is a man who not just opposed the surge, which despite the Democrat's attempts to downplay has led to a major reversal of fortune in Iraq and brought us within sight of victory (pause for applause here)--Biden is a man who had a counter proposal to the surge: split Iraq into three separate countries based along ethnic lines. That initiative would've led to a real civil war in Iraq at a minimum, and would have practically guaranteed a large-scale regional instability for many years to come. Few ideas presented in the early 2007 timeframe were as dangerous and wrong as the tri-state solution in Iraq, yet that was the "judgement" of Joe Biden.

But that bad judgement--or bad memory--of events doesn't just plague Biden on the foreign policy stage. Joe Biden is as personally responsible for the hyper-partisan tone of Washington DC as is anybody. He--to this day--takes great pride in politicizing and thereby ruining the process of confirming judges nominated to the Federal Bench. Senatorial "advice" of a Presidential nominee to the bench should consist of one question and one question only: is this person a qualified jurist? That is the standard by which the Republican party acted with respect to President Clinton's nominees, both of which I voted to confirm despite deep ideological disagreements. Conversely, Sen. Biden has turned the confirmation hearings of conservative judges into a spectacle, where he happily takes center stage to score cheap political points at the expense of highly qualified public servants. If you're looking for more action and less empty rhetoric from your leadership, you would do well to go back and review his "questioning" of Judge Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Bork. You will not see a pretty picture--and again, these performances on the Senate stage are things that Biden takes great pride in, as he himself said at the VP debate.

Obama's and Biden's judgement are now linked together, and I think that any careful analysis of either man's words or deeds will leave you with one conclusion:

What is it that either of these guys have done that qualifies them to be in the White House?"

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