Combs Spouts Off

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Posts Tagged ‘biden’

I missed the debate — thank goodness

Posted by Richard on October 11, 2012

After four years of mostly trouble-free performance, my Dish VIP722 DVR receiver chose tonight to flake out. So instead of watching the vice presidential debate, I spent much of the evening exhausting my diagnostic and troubleshooting skills (which, IMHO, are pretty darn good) and eventually throwing myself on the mercy of Dish technical support. Which is really very good, once you get past the Tier 1 people who initially take your call. Long story short, they restored the receiver to service just in time for me to see the post-debate analysis.

Based on the clips I saw and commentary I heard (CBS and Fox News), it’s a good thing I missed it. I couldn’t take 90 whole minutes of Biden’s laughing, sneering, eye-rolling, and belittling of Ryan.

And it seems that Biden was abetted throughout by moderator Martha Raddatz. Big surprise. ABC’s “objective, impartial journalist” is a leftist hack and a shill for the Obama administration, and not just because Barack Obama was a guest at her wedding 20 years ago. Why the GOP continues to allow debates (both in the primaries and now in the general election) to be moderated by their ideological enemies without so much as a peep of protest is beyond me.

UPDATE: Ryan won according to “snap” polls by CNN and CNBC. A CBS poll of “undecided” voters gave the win to Biden.

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Biden: Romney = return of slavery

Posted by Richard on August 14, 2012

After claims that “Romney took death squad money” and “Romney killed my wife,” I wondered what the Socialist Democrats would come up with next. Maybe they’d claim that “Romney is a space alien who wants to eat your babies”? No, not quite. I guess they’re saving that one for October. The latest over-the-top accusation came from Vice President Joe Biden. Bobby Eberle:

Is there anything shocking or surprising anymore from the Obama campaign? As I wrote yesterday, their campaign is to scare seniors, women, and minorities. That’s it… that’s the plan. And they will say or do anything to accomplish it. Just look at the outrageous comment made by Vice President Joe Biden…

Speaking at a campaign event hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Joe Biden told that audience that Mitt Romney and the Republicans will “put y’all back in chains.”

Check out the video at that link. You can’t tell the racial makeup of the audience, but for some reason Biden adopted a southern black accent reminiscent of (but less exaggerated than) the one Hillary Clinton adopted when she was quoting the spiritual “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” in a black church back in 2007.

Obama does the same thing. When he’s being interviewed by one of his media sycophants or holding a press conference, he speaks in the clipped manner of the typical Eastern liberal Ivy Leaguer. But when he’s addressing a blue-collar, no-collar, or predominately black crowd, he’s all drawl and “y’all.” Why don’t people find this condescending and insulting?

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Not your father’s Republican Party

Posted by Richard on October 29, 2010

A month ago, Vice President Joe Biden, who always seems to know the wrong thing to say and then says it, uttered my favorite quote from this election season:

This is not your father’s Republican Party. This is the Republican Tea Party, no this is a different deal, guys. This is not Bob Dole. This is not Howard Baker.

No doubt the silver-tongued Biden intended that as a dire warning, a wake-up call to his troops. But I’ll bet that millions of Americans reacted with a grin and thought, “I sure hope he’s right!” I know I did.

Recently, Dick Morris affirmed Biden’s point and expanded on it (emphasis added):

A fundamental change is gripping the Republican grass roots as they animate the GOP surge to a major victory in the 2010 elections. No longer do evangelical or social issues dominate the Republican ground troops. Now economic and fiscal issues prevail. The Tea Party has made the Republican Party safe for libertarians.

There is still a litmus test for admission to the Republican Party. But no longer is it dominated by abortion, guns and gays. Now, keeping the economy free of government regulation, reducing taxation and curbing spending are the chemicals that turn the paper pink.

It is one of the fundamental planks in the Tea Party platform that the movement does not concern itself with social issues. At the Tea Parties, evangelical pro-lifers rub shoulders happily with gay libertarians. They are united by their anger at Obama’s economic policies, fear of his deficits and horror at his looming tax increases. Obama’s agenda has effectively removed the blocks that stopped tens of millions of social moderates from joining the GOP.

Read the whole thing. I sure hope he’s right!

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Contempt for the people

Posted by Richard on September 29, 2010

Item: Senator Kerry blamed the waning fortunes of Socialist Democrats on clueless, ignorant voters who don't know what's best for them.

Item: Vice President Biden told his supporters to quit whining, suck it up, and work harder. 

Item: President Obama accused Socialist Democrat voters of being lethargic, irresponsible, and not serious. 

And that's just in the last few days.

I'll give the Socialist Democrat leadership this: Their arrogance and disdain for the common people is even-handed, showing no favoritism. They're just as contemptuous of the rabble who support them as they are of the rabble who oppose them.

The Wall Street Journal said these outbursts were from "the Chris Farley school of political motivation."

As their support ebbs and the adulation fades into history, our Socialist Democrat overlords seem less and less capable of hiding their contempt for the citizens subjects they consider themselves ordained to govern rule. Unfortunately for them, they need the support of these ingrates who don't sufficiently appreciate venerate them.

Fortunately for us lovers of liberty and for the country, their increasing arrogance, peevishness, and condescension seem more and more likely to translate into a great big electoral comeuppance. While calling your opponents names can sometimes pay off if it fires up your base, calling your base names seems to me to have no upside.

The Enthusiasm Gap by William Warren, GetLiberty.org

"The Enthusiasm Gap" by William Warren, GetLiberty.org

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Outrageous revisionism

Posted by Richard on February 12, 2010

In an exercise of historical revisionism that takes my breath away, on the Larry King show Wednesday night, Vice President Joe Biden took credit for the victory in Iraq (emphasis by The Weekly Standard):

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer.

You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government. I spent — I’ve been there 17 times now. I go about every two months — three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society.

It’s impressed me. I’ve been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.

Unbe-frickin-lievable. This is the administration whose mantra is "we inherited that."

Upon returning from Iraq in 2007, Biden told Tim Russert

There was a big disconnect between the truth of the matter and the reality. I mean, the truth of the matter is that, that the-America's-this administration's policy and the surge are a failure, and that the surge, which was supposed to stop sectarian violence and-long enough to give political reconciliation, there's been no political reconciliation. …

… 

The fact of the matter is that there is—that this idea of these security gains we’ve made have had no impact on the underlying sectarian dynamic.  None.  None whatsoever…  And can anybody envision a central government made up of Sunni, Shia and Kurds that’s going to gain the trust and respect of 27 million Iraqis?  It’s not going to happen. 

There’ve been some tactical gains, but they have no ultimate bearing, at this point, on the prospect of there being a political settlement in Iraq that would allow American troops to come home without leaving chaos behind…  The central problem is a sectarian war.  If every jihadist in Iraq was killed tomorrow, we’d still have a major civil war killing thousands—wounding thousands of Americans and killing hundreds of Americans just since the surge began.  

It took less than a minute to find the above and scores of others about Obama, Biden, and associates insisting in 2007 that "Iraq is lost" and opposing the surge that ultimately won the war. Here are some examples from this post

“I opposed this war from the beginning. I opposed the war in 2002. I opposed the war in 2003. I opposed it in 2004, and 2005 and 2006. I introduced the plan in January to remove all of our combat brigades out of Iraq by next March. And I am here to say that we have to begin to end this war now – not tomorrow, not the next day, not six months from now, but now.”
–Barack Obama, September 12 2007

“It’s time to turn the corner in my view, gentlemen. We should stop the surge and start bringing our troops home. We should end a political strategy in Iraq that cannot succeed and begin one that can.”
–Joe Biden, September 11 2007


Petraeus’ report, and the notion that the surge was working, was attacked throughout the day by a Murderer’s Row of Democrats: Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel and the Democrat presidential ticket of 2008, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Harry Reid also led the charge to the rear for the Democrats, beginning in April.

“Now, I believe myself that the secretary of State, the secretary of Defense – and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows – that this war is lost and that the surge is not accomplishing anything, as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday.”
–Harry Reid, April 19, 2007 press conference.

Despite the Democrats' denials, declarations of defeat, and determination to derail the Petraeus plan, the surge worked and we won the war in Iraq. 

And now this poltroon and his pals are prepared to pat themselves on the back for their "great achievements" in Iraq? Mr. Vice President, have you no shame, sir?

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How I know Palin delivered

Posted by Richard on October 2, 2008

In my not-so-humble opinion, Palin won big. As Vodkapundit noted several times during his drunkblogging, Palin was especially good when she was "off-script." On energy in particular, she articulated McCain's position far better than McCain has. And she challenged Obama's and Biden's records much more effectively than McCain has.

But I realize it's hard for me to be objective about this, especially when I disliked almost everything Biden had to say. And I heard him say numerous things that were flat-out false.

So I'm looking for some objective standard by which to gauge the outcome, and I think I've got one. I watched on NBC. Before the debate, Brian Williams and his talking heads all agreed that this debate was an historic and highly important event.

After the debate, they all agreed that Palin did quite well, that neither candidate made any big mistakes — and that it really doesn't matter because no one cares about vice presidential debates, and it will be completely forgotten in a few days.

If that's the consensus spin of the mainstream media, then I'm pretty certain that Palin did really, really well. Because if she hadn't done well, you can be sure they'd still be talking about how important that debate was.

UPDATE: Was Ifill fair? Well, she wasn't as unfair as she might have been, and I suspect that's because of all the criticism that followed revelations about her upcoming pro-Obama book. But a lot of the questions she asked and the way she asked them made it easier for Biden to answer than for Palin. And she sure gave Biden the last word a lot.

UPDATE 2: According to Ace of Spades, I was right about Biden saying "numerous things that were flat-out false." He enumerated 14 specific instances. And he didn't even mention Biden's huge flubs regarding Article 1 of the Constitution (it's about the legislative branch, not the executive branch) and the role of the Vice President (the veep doesn't just preside over the Senate when there is a tie vote; that's just the only time the veep votes with the Senate).

UPDATE 3: There was one moment when Biden connected with me: near the end, when he recalled losing his wife and daughter (in an automobile accident) and worrying about whether one of his sons would survive. He became genuinely choked up, and my heart went out to him.

But that was the only moment during the debate that Biden seemed like a genuine human being instead of a Washington politico-bot.

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Ifill in the tank for Obama

Posted by Richard on October 1, 2008

PBS anchor Gwen Ifill will be the moderator for the one and only vice presidential debate. With the assent of both campaigns, she's been given free rein by the debate commission to run the debate as she pleases. But would the McCain-Palin campaign have agreed if they'd been better informed about Ifill? From today's Michelle Malkin column (emphasis added):

In an imaginary world where liberal journalists are held to the same standards as everyone else, Ifill would be required to make a full disclosure at the start of the debate. She would be required to turn to the cameras and tell the national audience that she has a book coming out on Jan. 20, 2009 — a date that just happens to coincide with the inauguration of the next president of the United States.

The title of Ifill's book? "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama." Nonpartisan my foot.

Random House, her publisher, is already busy hyping the book with YouTube clips of Ifill heaping praise on her subjects, including Obama and Obama-endorsing Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick. …

Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama/Biden win to buoy her book sales. The moderator expected to treat both sides fairly has grandiosely declared this the "Age of Obama." Can you imagine a right-leaning journalist writing a book about the "stunning" McCain campaign and its "bold" path to reform timed for release on Inauguration Day — and then expecting a slot as a moderator for the nation's sole vice presidential debate?

Yeah, I just registered 6.4 on the Snicker Richter Scale, too.

Read the whole thing. Sadly, there is nothing at all remarkable or noteworthy about Ifill's obvious bias, partiality, lack of objectivity, and slanted reporting. Most of the MSM don't even make an effort to conceal it anymore, they're so contemptuous of their political "enemies" and the "bitter clingers" in flyover country. 

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Generous with other people’s money

Posted by Richard on September 16, 2008

Q: Why are wealthy liberal Democrats so eager to spend more of your money on the needy?

A: So they can remain in denial about how stingy they are with their own money.

Mark J. Perry's Carpe Diem — a site you should be reading regularly — has the most recent case in point:

The WSJ, Greg Mankiw and Tax Prof all reported on Joe Biden's tax returns (available here and summarized on Tax Prof). As Tax Prof (Paul Caron) points out: "Despite income ranging from $210,432 – $321,379 over the ten-year period from 1998 to 2007, the Bidens have given only $120 – $995 per year to charity, which amounts to 0.06% – 0.31% of their income (see chart below)."

Maybe Biden donates his used underwear to charity, like Bill Clinton.

Perry, the master of the graph that's worth a thousand words, offered this comparison of Sen. Joe Biden's ten-year average charitable contribution with that of others with six-figure adjusted gross incomes:

Joe Biden vs. Other Taxpayer Groups

I don't quite match the $100k-$200k group — of course, I only have a five-figure income. But Biden donates just a little more than a tenth of what I do. And less than 2% of what others with $200k+ incomes give.

I don't begrudge him his stinginess — it's his money, and he has every right to do with it as he pleases. But he has a lot of nerve calling people like me greedy for opposing higher taxes.

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