I wonder if real reporters prefer to follow VP Joe Biden. With barry all you get are pre-sanitized versions of barryblather and teleprompter POTUS and whatever he might have done that wasn’t kosher or made for TV gets embargoed. With Biden – any moment might be a hit column so at least they have something to watch for…like on his recent trip to the Ukraine. Mr Biden, while having a Coke with Ukranian President Victor Yushchenko, remarked on the beautiful scenery:
I cannot believe that a Frenchman visiting Kiev went back home and told his colleagues he discovered something and didn’t say he discovered the most beautiful women in the world; that’s my observation. It’s certain you have so many beautiful women.
Perhaps that’s why Dr Biden preferred he be VP instead of chief head of foreign relations.
Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and that there crack cocaine thing….
Sessions was referring to the disparate penalties for crack vs powder cocaine when he made his initial comments to WADE HENDERSON, President/CEO Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
TPM
SESSIONS: Mr Henderson, it’s good to work with you. Senator Leahy and I are talking, during these hearings, we’re going to do that crack cocaine thing you and I have talked about before.
HENDERSON (laughing): Thank you, Senator. I appreciate that.
barry exiles VP Joe Biden and he comes back with a zinger that has ring of truth. Wind knocks down VP Biden’s teleprompter yesterday during his commencement address at the USAF in Colorado Springs. He makes a joke of it. barry panics. Watch the man right off Biden’s elbow. He can’t control himself.
BIDENhas excellent comedic timing.
What am I gonna tell the president I’m gonna tell him his teleprompter is broken.[affected tone] What will he do then?
CNN: “the quip immediately drew laughter and some the loudest cheers of day from the graduates.”.
CNN reports that the WH apologized for VP Biden's comments. I watched Gibbs live and there was no authentic apology - first because he said if and second Jake Tapper had to pull it out of him. Here's the exchange - you decide. barry's entire crew has an aversion to the truth and an absolute fear of saying they were wrong.
JAKE TAPPER: And my other question has to do with remarks that Vice President Biden made this morning on television. Representatives of the travel industry have accused the Vice President of coming close to fear-mongering because of his comments, and I’m wondering if you wanted to clarify or correct or apologize for the remarks that he made.
MR. GIBBS: Well, I think the — what the Vice President meant to say was the same thing that, again, many members have said in the last few days, and that is, if you feel sick, if you are exhibiting symptoms, flu-like symptoms — coughing, sneezing, runny nose — that you should take precautions, that you should limit your travel. And I think he just — what he said and what he meant to say.
JAKE TAPPER: With all due respect, and I sympathize with you trying to explain the Vice President’s comments, but that’s not even remotely close to what he said. He was asked about –
MR. GIBBS: I understand –
Q — if a member of his family were going to –
MR. GIBBS: Jake, I understand what he said and I’m telling you what he meant to say — (laughter) — which was that if somebody is experiencing symptoms — and you heard the President say this last night — if somebody is feeling sick, if somebody is exhibiting symptoms of being sick, then they should take all necessary precaution.
Obviously if anybody was unduly alarmed for whatever reason, we would apologize for that and I hope that my remarks and remarks of the people of the CDC and Secretary Napolitano have appropriately cleared up what he meant to say.
---------------------------
Where's the apology?
First he disses folks for being upset by Biden's comments for whatever reason and then he says we WOULD apologize - not we do - or I am apologizing. I am sorry. It was wrong. None of it.
I just started listening and watching some of these briefings and it's unbelievable what Gibbs never says - what he says he'll get back to folks on WHICH IS THEN NOT A MATTER OF RECORD - and how the press goes along with it.
Dyspeptic Jake Tapper I'm aware of - he asked for questions to ask barry - as long as they were not related to the birth certificate. April something and Major somebody are on to Gibbs - how long before they've had enough of the non and misleading answers?
What's it going to take?
Aren't any of them embarrassed that their questioned are never answered?
VP Joe Biden is back and it’s for the same thing as always: his mouth. On the Today Show, Matt Lauer asked whether he would advise his own family against flying to Mexico and Biden answered as expected:
matrixxx123456789
BIDEN: I would tell members of my family — and I have —I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not just going into Mexico. If you’re any place in a confined aircraft, and one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me. I would not be at this point - if they had another way of transportation - suggesting they ride the subway.
109 cases 11 states. More states reported. Patient Zero found in Mexico - 5 y/o boy alive and well.
Here are the responses to Biden’s statements.
Within 2 hours they had a statement out from the VP’s office about Biden’s comment. Compare that to the 6 hours for Gibbs to say he knew nothing about the dive bombing of NYC by Air Force One. 7 hours for Louis Caldera to release an apology and over 24 hours for barry to say 24 words with not a word addressed to the traumatized New Yorkers/Jerseyans.
This is conclusive proof they knew exactly what was going on with the “mission” and stalled for as long as they could to gauge the fallout. They were saved by Arlen Specter and the H1N1 flu.
BIDEN SPOKESWOMAN:
On the Today Show this morning, the Vice President was asked what he would tell a family member. That advice he’s giving family members is the same advice the administration is giving to all Americans.
They should avoid all unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico. If they are sick they should avoid airplanes and other confined spaces.
Acting head of the CDC, DR RICHARD BESSER:
There’s no one action that’s going to stop this, there’s no silver bullet.
CDC’s DR ANNE SHUCHAT:
This is a time when we don’t want the worried well flooding the emergency rooms. At no time in our nation’s history have we been more prepared to face this kind of challenge.
If you’re ill, you shouldn’t get on an airplane or any public transport to travel. If you’re sick, stay home. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said that this week.
Homeland Security Director: JANET NAPOLITANO:
If they’re feeling sick they should stay off public transit or confined spaces because that indeed is the advice we have been given.
JAMES MAY, president of the Air Transport Association, which represents airlines, sent Biden a letter expressing “extreme disappointment at your suggestion that people should avoid air travel.”
American Airlines spokesman TIM SMITH:
To suggest that people not fly at this stage of things is a broad brush stroke bordering on fearmongering.
November 10, 2008 Morning Joe Video courtesy of DavidShahin Scarborough is talking about the foul-mouthed pitbull, Rahm Emanuel, contrasting it with the steady nature of barry's campaign with Axelrod and Gibbs.
JOE: These are good, decent, steady men that don't go around flipping people off or screaming 'Fuck you!'"
They are not good or decent - they are lying frauds. Barnicle's face is priceless. Like he just saw his mother naked. Joe's face gets red so he knows what he said and tries to blame it on Jay Carney.
MIKA: Uhm...uhm....uhm. Honey? She then whispers to Joe what he said while Barnicle rambles on.
Joe says he needs a time out and Mika says: "Come to Mommie!"
Joe then blames it on Ambien and Mika tries to cover. And Joe says his wife is going to kill him and that he needs soap.
November 2, 2008 Jacksonville, Florida stump. Biden has a little teleprompter problem. Why hasn't he been blaming it on that all along?
“I believe the possibilities for this country are absolutely amazing — and stop moving the prompter. There’s a prompter that I hardly ever read here. They don’t want you to know that. They put it up to make me sound disciplined, you know."
October 31, 2008 Tubbs Radio Show barry 250K, barry 200K, Biden 150K, Richardson 120K all in a week. Good thing there's only three days left. It's dawning on them that every single one of their promises are memorialized on video. I can't blame them because who really knows what barry's gonna do? He's never DONE anything and what he says he will do has an expiration date. Video courtesy of OTR8002
Responding to this ad by McCain and Biden's "he's gonna need help". Like it's a sudden enlightenment. AXELROD doesn't respond - he spews the same template:
The American People are responding. People are have taken a measure of Barack Obama and I think they are comfortable with who he is, with the command he brings, the the sense of calm and reason and purpose that he's brought to this campaign. That's what campaigns do - they test you. Financial crisis...steady, strong, laid out clear consistent principles from start to finish. McCain was lurching from pillar to post.
Command he brings...sense of calm = he does not definitely have them. Where are the action verbs? The declarative statements of what he has done objectively and in reality? A campaign is a test? He has Sen Clinton to thank for that but it doesn't cover Biden's whatever. I can't shake the feeling that he knows EXACTLY what is going to happen and what their decisions will be. Where has Biden been all week? And McCain's "lurching". Nothing unusual.
Even though he went after Joe calling him a "political animal" - I've lost respect for Mr Holbrooke. He doesn't lie very well. His explanation for Biden's comments was almost as fantastical as Joe's himself. As Shakespeare said...the louder and more vehement you protest, the more guilty you are, e.g Lipstick on a Pig. And a former Ambassador to the UN should know better than to trash a host. These bots lose their mind (and their reputations) defending their chosen one, while he does nothing himself but proclaim from his stage overlooking the huddled obamerized masses that he is going to CHANGE THE WORLD!
October 23, 2008 Interview of Joe Biden via satellite by Barbara West of WFTV. She has a strange interviewing techniques where she sounds like she's reading not talking to someone live. I can see why he was a little weirded out to begin with and then the questions were right from Limbaugh. Video courtesy of techvids 052oo6 via AmericasNewsToday.Org [....] BIDEN: We haven't paid ACORN a single penny to register a single voter. [in the general election - primaries absolutely.]
WEST: But in the past--
BIDEN: They're the facts!
WEST: But in the past Senator Obama was a Community organizer for ACORN, he was a lawyer for ACORN--
[Obama served ACORN and it's associates as an attorney on voter registration and on cases involving subprime mortgages that lead to this current financial crisis.]
BIDEN laughs.
WEST: ...and certainly in the senate he was a benefactor for ACORN.
BIDEN: (Indignant) How's he been a benefactor of ACORN? (Like he truly doesn't know.) He was organizer. John McCain stood before ACORN not long ago complimenting them on the great work they do. Does that make John McCain complicitous in any mistake ACORN has made? Are you kidding me?? C'mon, let's get real here!
West smiles like she's got him now. They discuss Joe the Plumber and spreading the wealthy around and whether Obama made a "crushing political blunder". Biden says, "Absolutely not!" And then goes on about middle class and taxes.
WEST: You may recognize this famous quote (I wasn't sure if she meant it was one he plagiarized. Joe Biden is in the Plagiarism Hall of Fame.) "From each according to his abilities - to each according to their needs." That's from Karl Marx. How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?
BIDEN: Are you joking? (He blinks and gives his classic I'm going to eat you little girl grin.) Is this a joke?
WEST: No.
BIDEN: Is that a real question?
WEST: Yes.
BIDEN: He looks down and does that grin like listen here girlie. He's entertaining even when he's patronizing.) He's not talking about spreading the wealth around. He's talking about giving the middle class an opportunity to get the tax breaks they used to have......that's what we think. It's a ridiculous comparison, with all due respect. (Too late, Joe.)
WEST: You recently said: 'Mark my words...
BIDEN nods his head, clenches his mouth and licks his lips...too late...they've already flapped.
WEST: ...it will not be six months till the world tests Barack Obama.' But what worries many people is your caveat asking them to stand with him because it's not going to be apparent initially that he is right. Are you forewarning Americans that nothing will be done and..
BIDEN puffs up his chest and leans forward in his seat.
WEST:...that America's days as the world's leading power are over?
BIDEN: (Barely able to contain himself. The question was designed to provoke him. Is this a FOX affiliate? He closes his eyes and shakes his head. The Obama camp must have been ready to shock his dog collar) No. I am not at all. I don't know who is writing your questions (like even you a dumb blond couldn't come up with these.) - but let me make it clear. The fact of the matter is that everyone has acknowledge from Colin Powell down that the next president of the United States will be tested." He goes on comparing BO & JM and the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea. "Barack Obama's been right. John McCain has been wrong. That was my point. Barack Obama is more ready than John McCain."
[Even for Biden that is a stretch - though he tried to sound convincing.]
WEST: Getting back to the spreading the wealth question...
BIDEN has that incredulous look like how dumb is this broad?
WEST: What do you say to the people who are concerned that Barack Obama is going to turn America into a socialist country much like Sweden?
BIDEN: (He doesn't even other to dignify it.) I don't know anyone who believes that except the far right wing of the Republican Party. (Get me to the hell out of here.)
October 22, 2008 Goffstown, NH (Gaffestown?) McCain makes a simple mistake - just happened to be the wrong word similar to Kyra Phillips. This is too short to see Mrs McCain's reaction. "Rates were cunt-cut in the Bush years."
October 19, 2008 Seattle, Washington Joe Biden goes bidengaffer in his two weekend fundraisers. He warns that barry will be challenged within 6 months (I think he'll be challenged January 21st - if not before.) by an international crisis. And then goes into his usual verbal perambulations and 15 minutes in it dawns on him that the press is there. Where else would they be? They probably have daily bets - like Cubfans did predicting Piniella's first blowup. Somebody's making a lot of money. Partial audio courtesy of DhimmiTube666 (10-20) ABC News' MATTHEW JAFFE: (Emphasis added.)
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions.
"Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."
"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."
Not apparent initially? This makes me think he already knows what is going to happen. And what isn't he going to be right about? Iran? Palestine? Korea? Or is he directly referring to Cuba again?
"Gird your loins.We're gonna win with your help, God willing, we're gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It's like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy."
"I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know, so I'm not being falsely humble with you. I think I can be value added, but this guy has. This guy has it. But he's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us."
This sounds like a stump speech. Who was in the crowd? He's talking about buyer's remorse. Must have had a lot of Hillraisers in the group. Certainly couldn't have been a lot of ignorant bots with the reference to girding your loins and the Augean stables. (Cleaning out the Augean Stables was the fifth labor of Hercules.)
"There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'. Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."
He's talking like he knows what's going to happen and that he knows what the decisions will be and that they might not be popular. Makes you wonder if that's why Colin Powell has jumped ship. That's another post.
Biden emphasized that the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border is of particular concern, with Osama bin Laden "alive and well" and Pakistan "bristling with nuclear weapons."
"You literally can see what these kids are up against, our kids in that region," Biden said in recalling when his helicopter was forced down due to a snowstorm there. "The place is crawling with al Qaeda. And it's real."
"We do not have the military capacity, nor have we ever, quite frankly, in the last 20 years, to dictate outcomes," he cautioned. "It's so much more important than that. It's so much more complicated than that. And Barack gets it."
"I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here."
"All kidding aside, these guys have left us in a God-awful place," he then said of the Bush regime, promptly wrapping up his remarks. "We have the ability to straighten it out. It's gonna take a little bit of time, so I ask you to stay with us. Stay with us."
He's well-educated but lacks a filter. I think he's right but it will come sooner than six months. It may come in the intervening months between the election and the inauguration.
It seems Mika isn't trying to hide her obama support like she tried when McCain questioned her. Mika: This is supposed to be a Biden attack-free zone.
MIKA: Well you know it's interesting, because I'm going through the papers. I figure there's got to be, just as you analyzed, Joe, political ramifications to that comment, gaffe, however you want to make it—two in a row, though—but I'm seeing spotty media coverage. I feel like half the media covered this. I'm just going through the papers and seeing if it plays highly, and I'm not finding it in the [Washington] Post so far. SCARBOROUGH: Would that be above the fold on the front page of the New York Times, the Washington Post? Would that be a lead story? We've got somebody who's an expert in the media who I think, Mika, knows a lot better than we do, Dan Rather. Dan, talk about the double standard. Are there times that you would cover this story differently if Sarah Palin said it rather than Joe Biden? Not you, but the media. RATHER: Well I think the point is well taken, Joe, that certainly if Sarah Palin had said this it would be above the fold in most newspapers today....But let me point out that what happens on the internet may be as important or more important than what's happening in the newspapers. And I'll be surprised, and you know, Joe, I'm frequently surprised, but I'll be surprised if this doesn't have a run on the internet, with among the points two that you raised. Number one, if Sarah Palin had said this, the newspapers would have jumped all over it and so would have the major television outlets. And number two, they can't be happy inside the Obama campaign about this, and let me emphasize I've not spoken with them this morning.
SCARBOROUGH: They are not.
And then later Andrea MITCHELL says: "I did hear Mika say this morning that this is a Biden free fire zone (and Dan Rather) so we don't criticize Joe Biden, so how do we get around it?"
MIKA: We're gonna have to break the ban. He said it - we question it.
They sit there and laugh but had Palin said it? Senator Clinton? McCain? Double standard is beyond belief. How is the I see Russia on a different plane then the world is waiting to test this young president
HARDWOOD: His youth is a magnet for international crisis. (later repeated)
MITCHELL: I'm just wondering if Biden's been woodshedded. He disappeared from the campaign. They said he was taking the day off, was because of all this?
GIBBS: No he didn't have any scheduled events yesterday.
MITCHELL: Are they keeping him under wraps?
GIBBS: He didn't have any scheduled events. He was on the West coast and he was flying home.
Nicole Wallace (GOP): He's being debriefed.
BUCHANAN:...in an undisclosed location.
SCARBOROUGH: Have no scheduled events till after the inauguration.
They all laugh. And if it were Palin or McCain or Clinton?
MADELINE ALBRIGHT: Nobody's better qualified than Joe Biden. I've worked with him over the years and he really is a very, very smart person on issues of foreign policy, and has the experience and has been to many countries - doesn't just look at them.
Great zinger...doesn't just look at them. And she said it with a complete straight face. Why doesn't she come out of hiding?
Later Scarborough said he was emailing the other networks to see if they were going to run with the story. He said they were waiting to see what McCain was going to do with it. The MSM is impartial? An impartial media doesn't exchange emails with each other to see if they're going to run with a story.
Another irrefutable example of pro-Obama media bias right from the Republican horse's mouth. They don't even try to hide it anymore.
Source CNN Poll Obama 49-43 October 16, 2008 Greensboro, North Carolina Gov Palin on the stump:
"We believe that the best of America is in the small towns that we get to visit, and in the wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans."
October 17th Palin clarifies:
"It's all pro-America. I was just reinforcing the fact that there, where I was, there's good patriotic people there in these rallies, so excited about positive change and reform of government that's coming that they are so appreciative of hearing our message, hearing our plan. Not any one area of America is more pro-America patriotically than others."
I know Obama loves America. I'm sure that is why he's running for president. It's because he wants to do what he believes is in the best interest of this great nation....But I don't question at all Barack Obama's love for this great country."
October 17th Mesilla, New Mexico Joe Biden on the stump:
"I hope it was just a slip on her part and she doesn't really mean it. But she said, it was reported she said, that she likes to visit, 'pro-American' parts of the country. It doesn't matter where you live, we all love this country, and I hope it gets through. We all love this country. We are one nation, under God, indivisible. We are all patriotic. We all love our country in every part of this nation! And I'm tired. I am tired, tired, tired, tired of the implications about patriotism."
"...this election is very, very, very, very, far from over."
(There's still one internal and one external surprise left.)
October 17th Miami, Florida McCain on the stump:
"...the next president won't have time to get used to the office. He won't have the luxury of studying up on the issues before he acts. He will have to act immediately. And to do that, he will need experience, courage, judgment and a bold plan of action to take this country in a new direction."
Why are Biden/Obama bothering with Palin/McCain? Leaders don't look back at the competition - they look forward to crossing the finish line. Looking back gives those behind the idea that they can catch up. Marathoners once in the lead usually win. Update.
October 15, 2008 Palin stumping in New Hampshire. I like being here, because it seems like and in our last rally, too, and other parts in this great northwest, here in New Hampshire - ya just get it."
October 15, 2008 Kyra Phillips of CNN introduces Roland Martin and Leslie Sanchez and has an unfortunate stutter. Remember Phillips open mic in the bathroom during Bush's speech? See below. Courtesy of HeartofDraknis
Remember this? 8-29-06 Kyra Phillips gets caught with her pants down with an open mic during Bush's speech. Anyone know if she still has a sister-in-law? Transcript and video courtesy of Snosons. "The audio of Phillips' conversation could be heard overriding President Bush's remarks approximately ten minutes into the President's speech. While the President could be heard during the exchange, Phillips' gaffe was very distracting:
Kyra Phillips: "--assholes--Yeah, I'm very lucky in that regard with my husband. My husband is handsome and he is genuinely a loving, you know, no ego--[unintelligible] you know what I'm saying. Just a really passionate, compassionate great, great human being. And they exist. They do exist. They're hard to find. Yup. But they are out there."
[unidentified woman]: 'We'll see. He's going to come, you know, he's set for an extended visit--[unintelligible]"
Phillips: "I mean, that's, that's how you figure it all out, those extended visits. [laughter]"
[unidentified woman]: "Yeah, but my mom, I think she really likes him."
Phillips: "Mom's got a good vibe? Good."
[unidentified woman]: "Yeah, my brother's the one that--[unintelligible]"
Phillips: "Brother--of course, brothers have to be, you know, protective. Except for mine. I've got to be protective of him."
[unidentified woman--unintelligible]
Phillips: "Yeah. He's married, three kids, but his wife is just a control freak."
[unidentified woman #2]: "Kyra."
Phillips: "Yeah, baby?"
[unidentified woman #2]: "Your mic is on. Turn it off. It's been on the air."
---her face would have been wonderful to see and what did she say once the mic was finally off?---
Seconds later, Daryn Kagan stumbled through this awkward transition:
Daryn Kagan: "Alright, we've been listening in to President Bush as he speaks in, uh, New Orleans today. This is the one year anniversary of Katrina making land shore there. President Bush saying if another natural disaster hits, our country--we must, uh, react better than that. Let's listen in once again to President Bush."
