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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Goodbye and All That

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 18th, 2009 at 09:57 AM  | 

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“I know as much or more than Cheney,” Mr. Biden said. “I’m the most experienced vice president since anybody.” Source.

Image descriptionAs Vice President Cheney told it two weeks ago, Lyndon B. Johnson was one of the, if not *the*, most powerful legislators in American history. Johnson was master of the game, leader of the Senate, and played hardball. Once elected to the Vice Presidency, he became “Lyndon Who?” Mike Mansfield and the other leaders of the Senate would have nothing to do with Johnson once out of the Senate.

About the only notable attention Lyndon Johnson received as Vice President was … well … there really was not any. Appointed to nominal jobs on nominal ad hoc committees, Johnson faded to nothing until tragedy in 1963 elevated him to Leader of the Free World.

On Tuesday, Joe Biden disappears. We already know it is going to happen. Perhaps Joe Biden is the last man in America who believes he’ll be significant. A powerful Senator from Delaware known for ill founded pretenses of foreign policy genius, Biden is more significantly known as a nice man, but a blowhard, who does not know when to shut up. He never met a shoe he did not like to taste.

Joe Biden is one of my very favorite Democrats. He’s full of himself and lacks real self assurance. But he’s fun.

He will be missed.

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COMMENTS

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  • icbm

    but I fear he won’t.

    I think he will try to set foreign policy in certain ways, partly by doing what he did on the campaign trail: trying to set policy without approval from obama, making embarrassing predictions involving obama’s political innocence, creating small crises (or perhaps defusing them) by issuing confusing and lengthy statements when sent on a diplomatic mission, etc.

    Should be entertaining, when it’s not scary.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    …for the way his campaign mocked McCain’s war injuries.

    Joe Biden can slowly rot in Blair House.

  • icbm

    Here’s good old Joe as the junior (I mean junior in all senses) senator from Delaware in 1975:

    “I will vote for any amount for getting Americans out. I don’t want it mixed with getting the Vietnamese out.”

    http://books.google.com/books?id=HoFF7Y5Z3jkC&pg=PA721&dq=joe+biden+1975+vietnam

    And that’s just part of the shameful part he played in helping to abandon our allies and disgrace America in the world’s eyes.

  • izoneguy

    I think the arm wrestling matches with Billary would be good pay per view. 99 cents to watch two washed up politicians wrestle over the ones scraps.

  • icbm

    that biden publicly criticizes hillary.

  • Lamplighter331

    I thought we were in a bad episode of Dallas, where I’ll wake up and find that Joe “Shoe Leather” Biden is back to being that odd Senator we used hear from every so often. He’s actually going to be Vice President?

    Really?

    I’m wondering what the thought processes behind the selection were? I mean, was Mary Landreau too busy with MENSA meetings to be considered? Was Charlie Rangel handing out in the DR taking lunches with his tax attorney?

    Please, please, whatever happens, please God in heaven, DO NOT take away the microphone from VPEJB’s (Vice President Elect Joe Biden, since we love our cool titles) mouth. Please let Joe Biden give weekly press conferences and if we’re feeling charitable, can Joe Biden give the State of the Union from time to time?

    I think I need to catch up on my Netflix list.

  • tankertodd

    Let’s face it: President-Elect Obama has nothing to fear from the possibly of (God forbid) someone trying to assassinate him. Why? Because any feelings of hatred toward Obama are more than negated by the fear and anxiety of a dingbat like Biden ascending to the Presidency.

    I don’t even think the terrorists would want to risk that out of fear that Biden would do something stupid and erratic. Could you imagine HIS finger on the nuclear button? I have no worries about Obama – he’s smart and as his move to the center illustrates, he’s calculating, wise and deliberate. Biden is just an idiot. He’s the Sarah Palin and G.W. Bush in Washington. Anyone without the self-control to regulate his mouth shouldn’t be allowed to regulate the flow of gasoline into a car engine, let alone the Presidency.

  • bobojake

    On the farm we called it 2 pigs in a poke.

  • jonreagan

    I’ve always been alarmed at Biden’s weird outbursts and sudden fits of rage. But his prediction to a group of Democratic fundraisers last October— that BO’s election would lead to a terrorist attack within 6 months— was downright chilling, and all the proof I needed that the man is mentally unbalanced.

    Beyond that, I am sickened by politicians who try to capitalize on personal tragedy to build their political personna. While Joe Biden’s loss of a child and his first wife years ago was horrible and heartbreaking, he and his surrogates repeated the story ad nauseam at the Democratic Convention in August, to the point where it was just crass. People of breeding and character don’t behave in such a fashion.

    To paraphrase Bill Buckley, history will be kind to Joe Biden; it will just forget him.

  • icbm

    forgotten most of biden’s record (vietnam, nuclear freeze, clarence thomas “lynching”, etc.), so it should be easy to forget the few months he spent on the campaign trail before becoming vp.

    if he manages to stay quiet (good luck with that, joe), he might find himself a respectable footnote in american political history.

  • phred

    nt

  • George Claghorn
  • davo119

    Or anything else for that matter.

  • George Claghorn
  • http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/ Brian Simpson

    and at the same time plans on shrinking the role of the VP.

  • http://www.RedState.com/ETCartman Kenny Solomon

    Let’s see if the snark attempt is received positively in DC…………

    —————————-

    VP-Elect Biden:

    It would be an honor, Sir, to invite you and your security detail to the shooting range here one day in the near future. The day at the range would be “on me”, as a thankful citizen living in the greatest country on God’s Earth.

    Markham Park is a full outdoor facility that allows shotguns, of which I know you have several. Skeet and Trap are the order of the day normally and also there are spread boards that can be setup for testing to accommodate any shell or choke setting you desire.

    There is a separate ‘law enforcement only’ section at the range, where a percentage of your detail at a time could make use of the facility, along with meeting many of their counterparts in our State, County and Local police departments. Indeed, many military personnel also take advantage of the facility when off-duty.

    Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to cover the cost of lodging and logistics for you and your detail…. my money can only go so far these days. However, there are several top-end suite hotels fairly near the facility, or you could set up camp at one of the major hotels on Ft. Lauderdale Beach, about a 20 minute drive – 5 minutes by helicopter.

    If you do decide to take me up on the offer, all you need to do regarding your boss is leave him a note on the desk in The Oval Office saying, “Mr. President, I’m heading down to Broward County Florida along with my detail to do some shooting with my legally owned shotguns. Call me if you need anything.”

    Hope to hear from you soon.

    Cheers !

  • Vladimir

    Where would we be now if his side had prevailed?

    (BTW – the Senate tied — VP Agnew decided the vote.)

  • izoneguy

    Pelosi is really pushing it. Let’s see how the ONE handles her. Reid has already said Obama won’t be his boss. This should get real interesting.

  • Jaded

    I see alot of people saying such a thing BUT I have not seen anything to substantiate such a claim! So if you please enlighten me with examples of the “move” to the center I would greatly appreciate it!

  • janis

    Wisdom is something you get from experience, and O doesn’t have the kind of experience that grows wisdom. He’s cunning and clever and calculating, but wise? Don’t think so.

  • Jaded

    George Bush had his finger on the nukes and was fine and while you are explaining your audulation of Obama (get off your knees its embarrasing) perhaps you can explain why it is that Sarah Palin is incapable of handling that job any less than the idiot savant known as The One!

    Please I am sure you have reasoning behind your inexplicable garbage BUT it would be nice to hear it from your chapped lips!!

  • NedReck

    A legend… in his own mind.

    ts

  • leppard

    Chuck is in a wheel chair!!

  • tankertodd

    Obama’s appointees in these realms are centrist (which by my definition at this point is not socialist or communist). Obviously there is more to come. But the Gates appointment is huge. We haven’t to my knowledge seen any ACLU lawyers appointed yet either.

  • tankertodd

    Put that troll sign away chief. My comment about Palin and Bush reflects that the “conventional” wisdom cites that they by definition are idiots. We know otherwise.
    Palin is more qualified than Obama for that job. No brainer.
    Bush will go down as a great president and will be a Profile in Courage, no question.