Joe Biden’s Agenda (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
With the Petraeus-Crocker reports on the status of Iraq scheduled for next week, Senator Joe Biden has announced the surge in Iraq is a failure:
“A leading Democrat on Saturday declared last year’s troop buildup in Iraq a failure.
Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the military push didn’t succeed because U.S. troops remain committed there in large numbers and political reconciliation has not been achieved.
“The purpose of the surge was to bring violence in Iraq down so that its leaders could come together politically,” said Biden, D-Del., in this week’s Democratic radio address. “Violence has come down, but the Iraqis have not come together.”
He later added, “There is little evidence the Iraqis will settle their differences peacefully any time soon.”
I think Biden has heard the suggestions that Obama should pick a Vice President with age and gravitas to balance out his ticket, and this is Biden’s effort to put his name in contention for the VP slot. He has the age.
UPDATE: The Politico reports that Biden and Congress have already seen the classified version of Petraeus’ report:
“The stuff that was positive, they emphasized. The negative, they stated, but deemphasized,” says Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe BIDEN.”
It’s good to consider all sides of an issue but, by emphasizing the negative immediately prior to the Petraeus report, I don’t think that was part of Biden’s agenda I think Biden is more concerned with his personal agenda than with fixing Iraq.
[* Edited for the reason noted in the comments — DRJ]
— DRJ
When bidden says:”the surge is a falure…ad nauseum…:,I know it is a success. This is the man who knows everything but knows nothing who wanted to tripartite Iraq along “tribal and Ethnic lines instead of one nation.He should look at the Democratic Party PRIMARY FOR ETHNIC AND TRIBAL LINES, that is working real well.
mike191 (c2b063) — 4/5/2008 @ 9:58 amI’m sure Joe copied his announcement from someone else.
Steverino (6772c8) — 4/5/2008 @ 10:00 amJoe Biden….the first sit-com star of C-SPAN.
driver (faae10) — 4/5/2008 @ 10:23 amDRJ – Are you sure you got your last sentence the way you wanted it?
“It’s good to consider all sides of an issue but, by emphasizing the negative immediately prior to the Petraeus report, I don’t think that was part of Biden’s agenda.”
I tend to think emphasizing the negative prior to Petraeus’s report was definitely part of Biden’s agenda. Why would you doubt that?
daleyrocks (906622) — 4/5/2008 @ 10:29 amYou’re right, Daleyrocks, and thanks. I agree Biden intended to emphasize the negative so I need to fix my last sentence. What I meant is that I don’t think Biden made his point out of a concern for Iraq.
DRJ (a431ca) — 4/5/2008 @ 10:39 amSaw a pic of Biden for the first time since he got them years ago, and his hairplugs are not distracting.
Timesdisliker (d08c9c) — 4/5/2008 @ 1:58 pmWhen Senator Biden says he’s made up his mind, its because he’s learned enough to enable that. He wants to keep his current job.
Listen to the hearing last week:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×3095142
elleng (d671ab) — 4/5/2008 @ 5:18 pmJoe Biden should be the poster-boy for how a life-time in the Senate corrupts the soul.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 4/5/2008 @ 6:08 pmOne of the youngest men to be elected to the Senate, and, after a life-time there, he’s gone from someone of promise, to someone who promises.
Joe still has recovered from his brain surgery.
Neo (cba5df) — 4/6/2008 @ 10:18 am