Ezra Klein has a fascinating post up; he makes a strong case for Joe Biden for Vice-President. Klein points to his experience in foreign policy, and, more importantly, the way he not only rejects conservative and neo-conservative world-views but holds them in contempt. Klein writes:
When Rudy Giuliani said, simply, "America will be safer with a Republican president," Obama responded with a traditional, more-in-sadness-than-in-anger statement. "Rudy Giuliani today has taken the politics of fear to a new low and I believe Americans are ready to reject those kind of politics. America’s mayor should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united." The release goes on in this way for eight more lines.
Biden, by contrast, laughed at Giuliani. He mocked him. "The irony is, Rudy Giuliani, probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency, is here talking about any of the people here," said Biden at one of the debates. "Rudy Giuliani... I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani. There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There's nothing else!" Giuliani, of course, took umbrage, and said Biden lacked foreign policy experience. This led to my favorite YouTube of the campaign, in which Biden dismantles Giuliani, live on television, while walking to his car.
Here's the video. It's pretty brutal.
I agree with Klein. We need an attack dog. We need an unmitegated jackass like Biden on forign policy. When dealing with the ill-conceived and dangerous warmongering from Bush and McCain (Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran...), we need someone--with the ear of the president--who will be able to provide a complete alternative. There is a time for bipartisinship and cooperation (something that, as Klein points out, Biden can do), but there is also a time for complete repudiation. Biden for Veep signals that kind of a break with the policy of stupidity that has marked our international dealings for the last eight years.
I know that posts have been coming slowly. Here's what is on deck: (1) Obama backlash and the Garden State effect, or, in which I try to make a case for Obama. (2) Doktor Sleepless and Warren Ellis. (3) The Month in Review, and what I'm reading now. (4) Scientific Realism and the pro-science lobby.
Stay tuned.
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