McCaskill’s Biden Moment (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill is a strong supporter of Barack Obama and has been described as his campaign’s “most effective attack dog.” In an odd twist, McCaskill’s latest target was … Joe Biden:
“Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., today told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the American people don’t know much about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin “and she is now being thrust on a stage without a script and everyone is curious about how much she knows.”
More pointedly, McCaskill said of Palin’s opponent, Sen. Joe Biden, Del., that he “has a tendency to talk forever and sometimes say things that are kind of stupid.”
“He a regular guy and … he doesn’t parse his words and he’s not hyper-careful,” she said. “He’s very authentic.”
She then seemed to regret what she’d said.
“I was probably having a Joe Biden moment myself,” McCaskill said of her candid moment minutes before.”
Joe Biden is the loose cannon in this race and even Claire McCaskill knows it.
Update: For example, last week’s Joe Biden helicopter tale.
— DRJ
Pre-debate expectation spin, which is always fun to watch the campaigns twist themselves into self deprecation and opponent praise for once. Right now the Dems are pushing how masterful Palin has been in her Alaska Gov. debates and reminding all how Joe sometimes puts his foot in his mouth. The GOP is pushing the opposite line, how Biden has had decades of experience doing debates while this is her first one on the national stage.
I’m sure she didn’t mean to say “stupid” but I bet she went out there meaning to say “wacky” or “off the cuff” or something more harmless. She was kind of right that it was a Biden moment.
Aplomb (b6fba6) — 10/1/2008 @ 7:20 pmShe probably hopes she has grown-ups on the Missouri campaign staff to take care of details.
Michael Ejercito (a757fd) — 10/1/2008 @ 7:32 pmHow adorable. Is Claire resigning from the campaign, and politics in general? It’s not only an error, it’s an unforced error – much worse.
There was no gotcha question, and Claire knew the subject pretty well – after all, she’s the go-to person. Not having a verbal formulation for describing Biden without resorting to ‘stupid’ should be punished by elimination.
That is, if Claire McCaskill were Sarah Palin.
It’s funny. I’ve heard nothing about Joe Biden’s family. Especially the ones with ties to the same credit card companies that are bleeding Americans dry.
What a poor comparison. Palin gets concessions for the taxpayers from Big Oil, and Joe Biden gets. . .
a job for his kids.
I’m sure this contrast is available from one of the questions of the Couric interview.
Apogee (366e8b) — 10/1/2008 @ 7:34 pmPlease notify that Missouri town that their missing village idiot has been found.
Perfect Sense (9d1b08) — 10/1/2008 @ 8:00 pmSee, this, as I’ve said elsewhere, is precisely why I’m very optimistic for tomorrow night. Even the blue side of the aisle knows that Biden has chronic foot-in-mouth disease. Palin has a history of being an excellent debater. I have this strong feeling that she will be everything we’ve hoped for.
Chris (95a123) — 10/1/2008 @ 8:59 pmCorrect me if I’m wrong, but we haven’t been hearing the same amount of guff from Rosary Joe Biden about his faith this campaign. Sure he had the gaffe a couple of weeks ago about Catholic doctrine on abortion, but on the campaign trail he usually is all about faith. His tax returns certainly show he is not a particularly generous cash contributor to his faith.
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 10/1/2008 @ 10:04 pmOr anything else, for the matter.
Michael Ejercito (a757fd) — 10/1/2008 @ 10:15 pmOh, probably shouldn’t mention tax returns, as of course Palin refuses to release hers, and Cindy McCain refuses to release hers as well, even though the Biden and Obama families (candidates and spouses) have released theirs.
Much safer to pick apart and criticize the released returns than think of what the unreleased returns might hold.
Aplomb (b6fba6) — 10/1/2008 @ 10:46 pmAplomb – Always got to pick on something, right. How about Biden’s list of earmark’s going back more than one year. Obama was demanding Clinton release hers, why not his running mate. Where is Obama’s medical information, college and law school transcipts, Annenberg Challenge records, Illinois legislature records. Transparency is not an issue you really want to open up when it comes to Obama Aplomb.
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 10/1/2008 @ 11:42 pmObama’s Illinois legislature records are online.
And they tell quite a bit.
Michael Ejercito (a757fd) — 10/1/2008 @ 11:48 pmI think Obama/Biden would be fully willing to release everything if McCain/Palin would only follow suit. Why should it be unilateral when the other side has no intention of opening the books at all?
O/B released the tax info, if Mc/P does the same maybe all of it will come out.
Obama’s medical information? Oh my gosh do you really think he would refuse to if McCain actually released his own information? The reason he isn’t is because McCain isn’t. Why should he when the other guy won’t? Do you really believe there is something troublesome in Obama’s medical records, that he is willing to hide in a sort of mutual detente with McCain where McCain doesn’t have to release his own records? McCain will never release his records, so Obama’s position is, fine, me neither. I kind of think Obama is being decent and reasonable here because his own medical records would probably be a lot more reassuring than McCain’s (and if you are being honest with yourself, don’t you agree that’s likely to be true)?
As far as I know Obama’s college and law school transcripts have been released. I think I remember seeing them over a year ago. Is this a real controversy or something you are making up?
The Annenberg Challenge records . . . probably not his to release. By the way, did you ever ask yourself who this Annenberg character was and what his political history was, who his friends were when he was acquiring enough money to fund a harmless educational charity, and the political affiliation of the other board members beside Obama who served with that horrible terrorist at the same time? It’s a lot more Chicago School than Chicago streets than you probably think. If you are going to condemn Obama for serving on that board with Ayres you might look into the other people who served on the board and what the common goal was. (If you are having trouble getting a handle with the googling, Annenberg and Nixon is a good place to start. Commie and terrorist will take a lot longer to figure out what the Annenberg Challenge was about.)
And, his Illinois records have to be obtainable, if not that’s Illinois’ fault for not having decent open records legislation. Unless you are claiming Illinois has laws about keeping records that Obama breached by destroying records, you are making up crap once again.
Aplomb (b6fba6) — 10/2/2008 @ 1:56 amAplombs perfidy is stuck in overdrive …
JD (f7900a) — 10/2/2008 @ 5:38 amHate to tell Aplomb, but Annenberg was an Ambassador to Great Britain appointed by Richard Nixon; and made his money publishing TVGuide.
AOracle (0e000d) — 10/2/2008 @ 7:50 amI doubt if he ever knew who was getting his money to do these Ed projects, as it seems that matter was handled by the “professional” managers hired to run the Foundation (just as many conservative businessmen, or their heirs, who funded charitable foundations have seen their money going to projects and causes that they would never have approved of) . Certainly, he would never have approved of Ayers IMO.
Oh my gosh do you really think he would refuse to if McCain actually released his own information? The reason he isn’t is because McCain isn’t.
This is demonstrably false – McCain has released volumes of medical records, dating all the way back to when he was released from captivity by the VietCong. The Messiah, meanwhile, has released the grand total of…wait for it…ONE PAGE. This, coming from a guy who’s currently chewing Nicorette in order to break himself from a heavy cigarrette smoking habit.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/06/obama-admits-sm.html
I would advise you not to bring up this subject again, lest you seriously beclown yourself further.
Dmac (e639cc) — 10/2/2008 @ 8:07 amDmac – I think they enjoy beclowning themselves. Beshitting themselves even …
JD (f7900a) — 10/2/2008 @ 8:09 amAplomb – Very nice spin and very wrong. Obama’s transparency – none. Transcripts – not available. State legislature records – he doesn’t have any. I didn’t mention tax returns, that’s your gig. What’s the problem with Biden’s earmark requests again cupcake? What aren’t you satisfied with about McCain’s medical records releases, didn’t he dump 1,000 pages? Obama hardly even acknowledges the Annenberg Challenge by name, so don’t switch the subject to the other player involved.
There’s been no vetting or transparency to Obama.
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 10/2/2008 @ 8:14 amWhat do the following Senators have in common: Cantwell, Dorgan, Feingold, Johnson, Landrieu, Nelson-FL, Stabenow, Tester, Wyden?
They are all Dems and voted NO on the bailout. So did Bernie Sanders, the Indy-Socialist.
BTW, the more aggressive the Troll, the more disingenuous the Troll, or so the evidence shows.
Ropelight (1be620) — 10/2/2008 @ 9:46 amNone. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
JD (f7900a) — 10/2/2008 @ 9:53 am