A GOP Bidenpalooza

On Thursday of this week I was participating in chat during the taping of Ed Morrissey’s show when the discussion turned to speculation regarding Obama’s upcoming VP selection. He was talking to Duane Patterson, the producer of Hugh Hewitt’s radio program, and Joe Biden’s name popped up. (Keep in mind that both of these gentlemen are staunch conservatives and supporters of John McCain.) Duane commented, “We couldn’t really get that lucky, could we?” They both had a good laugh, and I cheerfully commented, asking Ed how the weather was in “wishfulthinkingland.” (I was immediately informed by another viewer that I had earlier made a reference to “President Barr” so I could probably have Duane arrested, since I was obviously the president of that hopeful but imaginary nation.)

Clearly, at least in American politics, truth is stranger than fiction, since you are doubtless already aware that Obama has actually gone ahead and selected Biden for the number two slot. While our good friend Shaun Mullen has already pointed out some very flattering things about Joe Biden, astute political observers must be scratching their heads this morning and wondering if Caroline Kennedy didn’t spike Barack’s punch during their last meeting. How on Earth did the Democrats wind up with Biden as the running mate?

Clearly the Republicans were not only salivating over the prospect, but they had a series of advertisements ready to roll out moments after the long awaited text message arrived. The number of problems with this pick is rather daunting, but let’s take a look at a few of them. First of all, Biden is only six years the junior of John McCain. While many of us have had a grand old time making fun of McCain’s age, clearly Obama feels that Biden is ready to step into the top job on Day One, should it be required, so age must no longer be an issue. Say goodbye to all of those “Things John McCain is Older Than” web sites in terms of election leverage.

Far from being a political outsider and agent of change, Biden has been in the Senate since the Nixon administration. One of the problems with running Senators for the Oval Office is that they have long records of voting on every issue under the sun – records which their opponents pick through and scrutinize, finding every one which can be used to their political advantage. Biden’s voting record is longer than your average gang-banger’s rap sheet. (This may be why it’s not a good idea to put two senators on the same ticket… not that I want to remind anyone of the 2004 elections, of course.)

Biden also has a bit of a reputation for losing his temper. (Check out this story where he told one potential voter he had a “much higher IQ than you” when he didn’t like a question that was asked of him.) Remember all of the delicious stories about John McCain’s legendary hot-headed temper-tantrums and poking a finger in the chest of a colleague during a Senate committee meeting, and how we thought that would be fertile ground against the Arizonan this fall? Kiss that goodbye as well.

Biden apparently is also prone to bad gaffes on the campaign trail and tends toward “exaggeration” to put it kindly. He once told the press that “I exaggerate when I’m angry.” Oy vey. The previous link will take you to a string of whoppers he told during one single exchange. In terms of gaffes, you don’t do much better than telling an Indian-American supporter, “You can’t go into a Dunkin Donuts or a 7-11 without a slight Indian accent these days.” That’s hardly the only example the GOP has to draw on.

I really thought all of the previous chatter about Biden was a head-fake, designed to throw the press off the scent of the real pick. At this point, Obama is fast-becoming the only convincing argument I’ve seen in favor of gun control. He shoots himself in the foot so often that I’m shocked the man has any toes left. Now all McCain has to do is somehow avoid picking Mitt Romney as his running mate and I think we’ll have to award the point to Big Mac on the Veep Pick segment of the competition.

UPDATE: As the angry e-mails already begin to arrive, let me add two more points on Biden. First of all, he’s a man who only this year went on camera saying that Obama wasn’t ready to be president and that the Oval Office was not a good place for “on the job training.” If you don’t think that’s going to be the centerpiece in every McCain advertisement this fall, you may be taking a shot at my seat in the president’s office for Wishfulthinkingland.

Second, the selection of Biden fails the tried-and-true tests of a good VP pick. Does the nominee bring you better geography or demographics? Biden is from Delaware, the east coast version of a flyover state. It reliably votes Democratic for president. If Obama thought he was in any danger of losing Delaware, he shouldn’t have been running in the first place. And what does Biden bring to the table in terms of the legions of angry women and Hillary supporters? Yet another “old white guy” on the ticket does nothing but caulk up those “18 million cracks in the ultimate glass ceiling.” Sorry, folks. Joe Biden certainly does seem like a wonderful man with a compelling life story, but how this translates into a strong VP pick for Obama is a total mystery to me.

AND MORE… As was helpfully pointed out in the comments section (hat tip to Neocon) let’s not forget the previously-dominant issue of the Iraq war. Obama made his bones during this election cycle talking first about how Hillary Clinton lacked the judgment to get the Iraq war right. (She voted in favor of the authorization to use military force in Iraq.) Barack later criticized John McCain for his support of the war (”getting it wrong”) and voiced his opposition to the surge. (Another place he had better “judgment” than McCain.) He has now selected a running mate who not only voted in favor of the war, but came out on McCain’s side in saying what a great idea the surge was. (The GOP is already running video clips and articles on that one.) What does that say about Obama’s judgment? He picked somebody who demonstrated the exact same lack of judgment for which he excoriated Clinton and McCain?

I understand the passionate approval many have for Biden as a good senator and a good man, but I’m just asking you to consider how Obama is pretty much writing all of McCain’s fall campaign advertisements for him at this point. Oh,and just to toss some more fat onto the fire, Obama has also been yelling about the “evil lobbyists” who are ruining our political system for some time now. Did he bother to look into all of Biden’s lobbyist connections? Talk about lobbing softballs for Team McCain to knock out of the park.