Obama said: “The kind of leadership that’s guided by knowledge and experience; honesty and humility; empathy and grace – that kind of leadership doesn’t just belong in our state capitols and mayors offices. It belongs in the White House.
DETROIT, March 10 (Reuters) – U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden on Tuesday angrily turned on an auto worker at a campaign stop when questioned whether he was going to take away people’s guns.
“You’re full of shit,” Biden told the man who accused him of “actively trying to end the Second Amendment.”
The former vice president, vying to be the Democrat who will take on President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election, later called the unidentified worker a “horse’s ass.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Democratic voters in Super Tuesday’s presidential primaries made up their minds just before casting a ballot — and Joe Biden appears to be benefiting from their indecision.
Late deciders in Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia broke for Biden, helping the former vice president win those states and capitalize on new momentum in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sen. Bernie Sanders secured his home state of Vermont and Colorado, where voters were more likely to be liberal.
The share of late deciders ranged from about a quarter of voters in Texas to roughly half in Minnesota, according to AP VoteCast surveys of voters in several Super Tuesday contests. Moderate and conservative voters in each state were slightly more likely than their liberal counterparts to delay a decision to the last minute.
The indecision shows voters grappling with their choices and reluctant to throw away their votes in a race that is changing quickly. Biden’s big win in South Carolina on Saturday revived his struggling campaign and helped push three of his rivals toward the exit.
In video clips of the encounter at the campaign event in Hampton, New Hampshire, a woman identified by multiple news organizations as Madison Moore, 21, an economics student at Mercer University in Georgia, warned Biden her question was “going to be a little bit mean.”
“You’re arguably the candidate with the greatest advantage in this race. You’ve been the vice president; you weren’t burdened down by the impeachment trials. So, how do you explain the performance in Iowa, and why should voters believe that you can win the national election?” asked Moore.
“It’s a good question,” Biden said. “Have you ever been to a caucus?”
Moore indicated that she had.
“No, you haven’t. You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier,” Biden said…
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has appeared to contradict his own story regarding his role in overseeing the U.S. mission to kill Osama bin Laden.
Biden was on the campaign trail in Iowa when he changed his story about the 2011 Navy SEAL mission that resulted in bin Laden’s death in a conversation with a Fox News reporter.
‘As commander in chief, if you were ever handed a piece of intelligence that said you could stop an imminent attack on Americans — but you have to use an airstrike to take out a terrorist leader — would you pull the trigger?’ the reporter asked Biden.
‘Well we did – the guy’s name was Osama bin Laden,’ replied Biden, who was vice president when bin Laden was killed.
Didn’t you tell President Obama not to go after bin Laden that day?’ the reporter asked.
‘No, I didn’t,’ Biden said.
That is in an apparent contradiction to a story Biden told almost eight years ago during a retreat in Maryland for congressional Democrats, where he described a tense 2011 strategy session ahead of the raid.
‘Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go – we have to do two more things to see if he’s there,’ Biden of the strategy session at the 2012 retreat.
Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com when asked about the apparent contradiction.
by Owen | 2136, 8 Dec 1919 | Politics | 15 Comments
Biden’s outbursts are becoming stranger. These are not the calculated outbursts of a politician. They are the unpredictable outbursts of an old man in decline.
Gorman, who previously served in the United States Marine Corp and is also a retired farmer, accused Biden of selling access to the Presidency by sending son Hunter to Ukraine to work for a gas company Burisma Holdings.
The comment caused Biden to blow up in rage, labeling the elderly Gorman as ‘a damn liar’.
Biden told NPR he had been ‘joking’ with Gorman about doing push-ups and taking an IQ test. He said: ‘I was joking with him because he…came along. What was he saying? He said he’s entitled to do this.
‘He said, “You’re too old.” He said, “You’re too old. I can’t vote for somebody as old as you.” I said OK. And he was challenging me what kind of shape, and so I kidded. I said, “Want to do a push-up contest?” I was joking. Look, I’m in pretty good shape.’
[…]
Biden said he does not ‘belittle’ or ‘make fun of people’ like Trump, adding: ‘The fact of the matter is this guy stood up, and he was in fact lying. And I just pointed out, “You’re a liar.” It’s a fact: He lied. Period.
‘Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Even his supporters know who he is. We gotta let them know who we are. We choose unity over division. We choose science over fiction. We choose truth over facts,’ he said.
He referred to himself as ‘President of the United States’ later while responding to a question from DailyMail.com about gun control.
[…]
The question was on gun violence prevention, and what makes him the right person to enact new reforms.
‘Because I’ve done it before. As President of the United States, I’ve done it. I met with every one of those Sandy Hook family members. Every one of them. I met, the same, with every one of the Pulse, the people who got killed in the Pulse nightclub,’ he said of an Orlando shooting that took place several months before he and Obama left office.
Biden was Vice President of the United States at the time of the massacre.
He’s not wrong, but this won’t win him the primary in a party that has gone hard left.
WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden sounded a note of caution Friday about progressive Democrats and their policies, saying that Democratic voters are more “center-left” and not “way left.”
During an interview with CNN broadcast Friday, Biden pointed to a number of moderate Democrats who won swing districts during the 2018 midterms.
“That’s what this election is about. I’m happy to debate that issue and all those issues with my friends because guess what, look who won the races. Look who won last time out,” Biden said.
Throughout the Democratic presidential primary race, Biden has continued to tout his more moderate proposals as some other 2020 Democrats have announced their support for more left-leaning ideas, such as Medicare for all. Biden does not support Medicare for all. He said his plan includes keeping private insurance while allowing people to opt in to Medicare if they would like.
Vice President Joe Biden said at a California campaign event that the nation has an obligation to provide health care for people, including those who came into the country illegally.
Biden made the statement on a West Coast swing Wednesday.
‘I think that anyone who is in a situation where they’re in need of healthcare, regardless of whether they are documented or undocumented, we have an obligation to see that they are cared for,” Biden said in Los Angeles, where he held a major fundraiser.
“Even the love of my life, Joe Biden, is an awful offender of this,” the staffer told me, reminding me to never meet my idols. “He loves kissing and hugging women.”
by Owen | 0652, 27 Oct 1515 | Politics | 3 Comments
My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. Here it is:
Fatherhood got a boost last week from the realm of politics as two powerful politicians decided to lead by example by being strong fathers. In an age when fathers are often absent and frequently dismissed by our culture, it was a positive development.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, will almost certainly be elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives this week, but it was not without conditions. Ryan did not want to be the speaker. He was quite happy, as he frequently reminded everyone who would listen, as the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the House. And why wouldn’t he be happy? Being the chairman of arguably the most powerful committee in the House and having his hands directly on the levers of government policies was the dream job for a congressman who has spent his career making his name as a policy nerd.
But the Republicans in the House were having difficulty deciding on a leader. The conservative advocates, who are on a mission to accomplish things and are frustrated with what they believe to have been weak and uninspired leadership from Speaker John Boehner, are pushing for a conservative crusader as the new speaker. But they represent a hardened minority of the caucus who can scuttle any candidate for speaker, but do not have the votes to win the day. The moderate and liberal Republicans want a more moderate Speaker who will compromise for the small victories instead of dying on the hills of greatness.
Into this chasm steps Ryan. He is a fiscal and social conservative with a reputation for pragmatism. He is also young and articulates the Republican message well in both friendly and hostile environments. He quickly became the one hope for both conservatives and moderates to bridge the factions and represent the party and lead the House.
But Ryan has some conditions. As is becoming more common with men who are in high demand in their professions, Ryan said he would only take the job if the responsibilities would be adapted to accommodate his responsibilities as a father. Perhaps because Ryan lost his own father at a young age, he is making his priorities clear: family first, job second.
On the other side of the political spectrum and at the end of a lengthy career, another politician is sending the same message — as he has throughout his career. Vice President Joe Biden has always been a good father and family man. As a senator, “Amtrak Joe” was known for regularly taking the train to and from home from Washington to be a father to his kids. While too many other politicians all but abandon their families as they spend all of their time in Washington furthering their careers, Biden spent hour after hour, year after year, decade after decade riding the train home to be with his family.
Up until last week, Biden was considering another run for president. His son, Beau, died last year of brain cancer and his Biden said that Beau wanted him to run. In a weak Democratic field and as the sitting vice president, Biden stood perhaps his best chance of winning the nomination of his lifetime. But in the end, Biden decided not to run. Among the reasons Biden gave for his decision was that he wanted to be home with his family — especially his grandkids, who will now grow up without their father.
Our culture too often disdains the importance of fathers. In our movies and television shows, fathers are far more often portrayed as stupid, abusive or lazy instead of loving, hardworking and clever. Fatherhood is dismissed as irrelevant or even harmful. But any kid who has grown up without their father never loses the longing for the cornerstone of their foundation that was never set.
Two men from different political persuasions in different phases of their careers reminded Americans that being a father is more important than any job — even jobs such as president or speaker. The Biden and Ryan kids are lucky to have the dads they have.
Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday for the first time that he had privately urged President Obama to order the raid that killed Osama bin Laden — a new account contradicting his prior public claim to have opposed the audacious May 2011 operation.
Biden, speaking at a George Washington University forum on the vice presidency, also seemed to undercut Hillary Clinton’s contention in her memoirs that she had unequivocally backed the raid.
Donors who have publicly expressed support for a Biden run have been contacted by the Clinton team, according to donors and Democratic strategists who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private conversations. Even Clinton herself has made a few calls, they said, to express her disappointment.
While Clinton and her team speak warmly of Biden in public, they have taken steps to show their dominance over the party’s establishment and President Barack Obama’s political infrastructure in hopes of quietly discouraging the vice president from entering the race.
The effort comes as Clinton and the Democratic field of candidates prepare to address members of the Democratic National Committee on Friday during their summer meeting in Minneapolis. The night before her formal address, Clinton made her case in private briefings to attendees. Meanwhile, representatives from a super PAC backing Biden plan to woo delegates in his absence.
“I have great deal of admiration and affection for him,” Clinton said of Biden during a stop in Iowa on Wednesday. “I think he has to make what is a very difficult decision for himself and his family. He should have the space and the opportunity to decide what he wants to do.”
What is interesting is that Hillary appears to be going so soft behind the scenes. The usual Clinton MO is to cut opponents off at the knees. She must be quite fearful about angering Biden and his supporters.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden, inspired in part by his late son, has been holding meetings at his Washington home to discuss challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Biden has said publicly he would make a decision at the end of the summer but the Times said the vice president and his associates were actively exploring getting in the race.
The timing couldn’t be better. The Dems are souring on Hillary and remembering why they jumped to Obama last time. Biden could enter at the end of the summer and be an immediate front-runner. He has as strong a case for the office as Hillary does – if not stronger.
His disadvantages are that he’s a generational creature of Washington and he is, of course, Biden. He’s a gaffe machine and isn’t generally taken very seriously.
It would be a far more entertaining race if Biden gets in. Plus, it will be fun to see who, if anyone, Obama supports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden, the youngest son of Vice President Joe Biden, has been kicked out of the military after testing positive for cocaine, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The Navy said that Biden, a former lobbyist who works at a private equity firm, was discharged in February — barely a year after he was selected for the part-time position as a public affairs officer in the Navy Reserve. Citing privacy laws, the Navy did not give a reason for the discharge, which was not disclosed until it emerged in the media on Thursday.
Good ol’ Uncle Joe. In his effort to deflect blame from the Obama Administration, he manages to offend our allies. If he keeps this up, he’ll outpace John Kerry for foreign policy gaffes.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates said Sunday it wants “a formal clarification” of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s recent comments that America’s allies in the Middle East sent weapons and cash to extremists fighting in Syria.
Biden already apologized to Turkey over his comments, made Thursday during a question-and-answer session at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Biden said that “our biggest problem is our allies” who are engaged in a proxy Sunni-Shiite war against Syrian President Bashar Assad. He specifically named Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
