Must Love Dogs

Biden attended a meeting with Obama and Al Gore in Chicago on Tuesday. They discussed climate change and came to the conclusion that "The time for denial is over." The timing of this meeting was interesting because Obama is currently figuring out who his cabinet's top environmental officials will be.

In most recent news, Biden got a puppy today. He bought a 3-month-old German Shepherd from Linda Brown in Chester County, PA. Biden is letting his grandchildren decide on the name of the pup. The puppy will be trained by New Castle, Delaware's K-9 division coordinator, Mark Tobin. Biden's puppy will be delivered shortly after the inauguration when he is completely trained.

Biden made sure that he was purchasing the best bred puppy possible. He had Tobin scout out the best place in Pennsylvania to purchase a pup. Tobin found Linda Brown and concluded that her puppies were the best bred and best suited for the White House.

Biden's puppy will be the second dog running around the White House. Obama will also be purchasing a puppy once he moves to Washington. He promised his daughters that he would buy them a puppy if he won the election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/09/AR2008120902872.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28221617/

Redefining the role of the Vice President

Joe Biden is now facing the challenge of redefining the role of the vice-president, which current VP Dick Cheney has significantly altered. Earlier during the debate season Biden described Cheney as the most dangerous VP america has ever had in the entire American history. In a recent interview Biden described what role he believes he should have: "The primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote..." It seems as though everyone agrees with him, considering U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just announced that he will bar Biden from the weekly internal Party Senate lunches, an event that Cheney regularly attended. The Biden camp responded by saying that Biden was never planning to attend the meetings and sees eye to eye with Senator Reid on this issue. Biden seems content with the traditional advising role of the vice president and a source close to the transition team says that "Biden has been a key part of every key meeting since the election and has had weekly lunches with Obama," suggesting that Biden is far from being pushed to the background, as the media has been claiming in recent weeks. There even are recent indications that Biden will take on the role of Labor advocate. In other Biden news, Joe recently added Jared Bernstein to his staff as chief Economist.

Sources:

1. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com.........

2. http://www.upi.com.......

3. http://www.newkerala.com.......

4. http://edition.cnn.com.......

5. http://www.bloomberg.com.......

What Should Obama Do With Biden?

     We saw Joe Biden's name everywhere for a good year or so during the campaigning for the presidential election right under Barack Obama on signs, television ads, magazines, and newspapers around the country.  Now however, his name is starting to become overshadowed by the other appointees in Obama's new administration such as Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, and Robert Gates and people are wondering what he will do during Obama's first term as President.  One major area that Biden should and could have a lot of influence in is with the Senate.  Since he has so many friends there and has been around long enough to create strong bonds with varying groups of people, Biden will be able to help Rahm Emanuel unify the Senate and the Democratic legislators when it comes around to policy-making time.  Biden will be able to assert himself in a comfortable enough position within the Obama administration to have the power to give his opinion and use his resources, but he will also most likely not get out of control and try to exaggerate his position's importance like Dick Cheney.  

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/10/zelizer.biden/

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/02/biden.index.html#cnnSTCText

Happy Birthday Joe!!

Joe Biden celebrated his 66th Birthday on this past Thursday the 20th. President Elect Obama threw him a small little celebration at the Office with cupcakes! Although Biden has been out of the public eye recently, he has reportedly been making several phone calls to various world leaders in preparation for his term in office. Last week Vice President Cheney welcomed VP-elect Biden to the official VP mansion. Biden also named Ronald A. Klain his Chief of Staff last wednesday. In other news, Biden's son Beau departed for Iraq on Wednesday after declining to fill his father's Senate seat. 

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2008/11/21/captian-beau-biden-declined-an-offer-to-replace-joe-biden-as-senator.html

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/11/20/a-low-profile-birthday-for-joe-biden/

http://www.mlive.com/elections/national/indez.ssf?/base/politics-0/122695885261710.xml&storylist=electionmi

http://media.www.hlrecord.org/media/storage/paper609/news/2008/11/20/PresidentialTransition/Klain.87.Tapped.As.Bidens.Chief.Of.Staff-33554364.shtml

Joe Biden... The Good Cop?

In the beginning of this election, Joe Biden was seen as someone who, with enough free rain, could become too bored and start interfering with the jobs of other important Cabinet members in the White House. However, when the tough and ragged edge Rahm Emanuel was appointed chief of staff, Joe Biden suddenly found himself with a new title - the good cop.

Biden has a lot of talents that can be utilized by Barack Obama and one of them will be his good relations with the Republican party. Since Emanuel's language and persona is seen as brash and aggressive and not favored by the Republicans, Biden will look like the go-to guy during the mixture of parties that Barack Obama has promised. In many interviews and speeches, Joe Biden has explained that he is not the kind of guy that will attack another Senator and only wants to keep beneficial and healthy relationships between himself and the other members of the Senate. However, no matter how nice Joe Biden comes off as, the super conservative wing of the Republican party will most likely not be very friendly and inviting after Senator John McCain's defeat on election day. Also, even though Obama has many friends and close relationships with people in the Senate himself, it is never a bad situation to have both the president elect and the future vice president to be looked highly upon by both parties.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/10/Bidens_role_Obamas_good_cop/UPI-45481226326488/

http://www.mlive.com/us-politics/index.ssf/2008/11/bidens_new_role_good_cop.html

Florida Campaign Frenzy

This week started off with Biden in North Carolina and now he is racing through Florida. Florida is extremely important because it has early voting which is something that most Floridians take advantage of. While in Sunrise, FL, Biden joked about McCain dressing as an "agent of change" for Halloween was not a believable costume. He again noted how McCain has agreed with Bush 90% of the time and how he is exactly the same as Bush. Biden asserted that after voting Republican in the last election, Floridians and America want a change and McCain will not give it to them.

Biden has been encouraging all Floridians to vote early because the early vote helps the Democrats. The early vote counteracts the Republican advantage with the absentee vote and people have been voting early in record numbers this year. Biden is visiting as many possible counties in Florida as he can because every vote counts. The Republicans need to win Florida and the Democratic visits force the Republicans to keep up.

Also in Florida today are Bill Clinton and Obama. It is the first time they have ever appeared together. They campaigned in South Florida today aiming at the Latino voters. The Democratic Latinos outweigh the Republican Latinos in Florida so the Democrats feel confident that they will win the strong Cuban vote in South Florida.

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/10/29/biden-pokes-halloween-fun-at-mccain/
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/29/1606606.aspx

Biden Campaigning in North Carolina and Florida

     Joe Biden has returned to North Carolina and Florida this week to continue his campaigning for Senator Barack Obama and is starting off in the cities of Greenville and Greensboro, North Carolina.  These two states are still seen as battleground states so they are seen as the priority for the Democratic party and in particular, Barack Obama currently holds slight leads in both states according to poll averages.  During his rallies in Florida, Joe Biden will most likely bring up the idea of him supporting the country of Israel during their ever constant plights and also denounce the Holocaust in order to reel in the last of the Jewish voters.  This tactic has worked on past campaign trips to Florida so it is very likely to be successful once again.  

     Also, Joe Biden will speak about high foreclosure and unemployment rates as always in order to get the people hyped up about the failing economy and will especially use this when he makes his way towards New Port Richey and his three day bus tour of Florida. 

     Finally as a little fun fact, Joe Biden tried his hand at a little humor when he was campaigning in North Carolina last week by bringing up an always favored subject, NASCAR.  In order to connect with voters he said, "I know NASCAR is big in North Carolina.  And to use the parlance, to use NASCAR parlance for those of you who are NASCAR fans, we've been trading a little paint with the McCain, with the McCain-Palin ticket lately.  And, uh, and quite frankly, uh, John's been a driving a little loose lately."  

 http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/27/politics/fromtheroad/entry4547045.shtml#ccmm

Campaigning in Colorado

After a week of more gaffes, like Biden's spelling mishap of the three-letter word J-O-B-S, and his comments about an imminent global "test" on a President Obama (click here for more info), Senator Biden has moved on to campaign in Colorado. Colorado, a swing state whose early voting is now open. Over the past two days, Biden has been on a bus tour through Colorado speaking in cities such as Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Ft. Collins, Commerce City, and Pueblo. On top of speaking at rallies where he stressed the listeners to go out and vote early, Senator Biden also took time to go speak to campaign volunteers to thank them for their time. Once he leaves Colorado Senator Biden has plans to go to Florida this coming Friday with stops in Danville and Martinsville. 

Earlier on Monday Senator Biden was in California and appeared on the "Ellen" show, where he announced that if he lived in California he would appose proposition 8, an important measure on our upcoming ballot.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20081022/cm_uc_crmmax/op_197828

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/obamaroadblog?page=1

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/20/entertainment/e174934D50.DTL&type=politics

http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/politics/article/joe_biden_to_campaign_in_southside_friday/19850

Biden Hits the West Coast

After visiting New Mexico earlier this week, Biden spent Saturday in the San Francisco Bay area and Sunday in Washington. While in California, Biden attended three fundraisers where he raised a total of $2 million. At his fundraisers in Atherton and Piedmont Biden criticized McCain's use of the same campaign staff that Bush used in 2000 in his race against McCain. Biden also warned his supporters not too get too excited because in the last two elections the Democrats had the lead in October but lost the election to Bush. He does, however, feel optimistic because he believes that the Obama campaign is the most organized staff in election history. Because of this, he is not too worried about the Bradley effect. Biden blamed the Republicans for making the citizens distrust the government and said that even if Obama wins the election, the public will still not be able to fully trust the government.

While Biden was in Tacoma, Washington, he focused on McCain's economic plan and how it is basically the same as what America has had for the past 8 years. He asserted that McCain will give tax cuts to the wealthy and that Obama's plan is pointed to help the middle class. Biden also mentioned Colin Powell's recent endorsement of Obama. Finally, Biden remarked on Palin's recent comment at one of her fundraisers in North Carolina about how she loved being in "pro-American" regions of the country. Biden emphasized that all regions of the country are pro-American and especially focused on how there are soldiers fighting for America that are from every state of the country.

Biden will make his first visit since the Democratic convention to Colorado next Tuesday and Wednesday and only one day after Palin is scheduled to visit.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008286224_apwabidenwashington4thldwritethru.html
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10757391?nclick_check%253D1.26E4614FF05F7DA661F4B8AE791D3D02.html
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/politics/17749761/detail.html?rss=den&psp=news

Biden Uses Ayers Cartoon Against McCain

     When Senator Joe Biden recently visited Ohio during his campaign, he mentioned a cartoon drawn about presidential candidate, John McCain, that directly categorizes McCain with 60s anti-war activist, William Ayers.  William Ayers is most commonly recognized as part of the Weather Underground Organization, a radical left organization that split from the Students for a Democratic Society.  The cartoon that Biden mentioned deals mainly with the ideas that McCain is refusing to look and deal with the failing economy and only focuses on dishing out "malarky" as Biden continues to reinforce.  Also, that McCain is trying to win supporters from his own party by constantly attacking Obama's past and his character instead of his policies.  

     John McCain tries to dodge the issue of the Ayers connection because he himself has accused Barack Obama of having a relationship with now Proffesor Ayers because they worked on some of the same philanthropic committees.  However, Biden stood up for Obama and said that Obama was only eight years old when all the commotion and riots were happening with the Weathermen and the rest of the SDS and finished by saying that he and his party would be extremely disappointed with McCain and his campaign if they brought up the Ayers issue anymore in the future.

Here is the link to the cartoon:

http://www.cagle.com/working/081010/cagle00.gif

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/biden-uses-cart.html

Teaming up with the Clintons

Senator Joe Biden campaigned today in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania with both former President Bill Clinton, and former first lady/ presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. Biden really managed to excite the crowd with his remarks about how the american public should "get up" from these severe economic blows and deliver his ticket the presidency. Bill and Hillary Clinton joined him at this rally pointing out the similarities of Bush and McCain, and stressing the value of Joe Biden on the ticket. Bill Clinton stated that Joe Biden "is one of those members who knows the most about the economic, political and security challenges of America." 

Over the last few days Senator Joe Biden traveled through Missouri in a four stop tour of the state, consisting of rallies in St. Joseph, Liberty, and Jefferson City, and Springfield. Earlier in the week Biden returned to the campaign trail in Southern Florida, holding rallies in Tampa and Ft. Meyers. 

On a slightly more playful note, cnet.com technology news has been polling their readers asking what "technology product" each candidate is most comparable to. The majority of the pollers agree that Joe Biden is most similar to Wikipedia! (Lots of info, but not always right)

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/12/campaign.wrap/index.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10063395-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/obamaroadblog?page=1

Biden Back on the Campaign Trail

After being out of the news since the VP debate due to the death of his mother, Biden spoke at the University of South Florida and at Ft. Myers' Florida Gulf Coast University. In both speeches he attacked McCain and Palin's performances in their debates and attacked McCain's health care plan. Biden also consistently compared McCain to Bush calling McCain "Bush 44." Biden demonized McCain and Palin's personal and irrelevant attacks on Obama as taking "the low road to the highest office in the land." Biden asserted that McCain and Palin have chosen to use "fear" tactics instead of intellectualism as their campaign the past couple of weeks. Biden believes that Americans can see through this and that Americans will not be distracted by McCain's attempts to take the focus off of the real issues and place them on Obama as a person.

Biden focused on McCain's health care plan and how it could threaten the benefits of 175 million Americans who receive their health care insurance through their companies. Biden acknowledged that McCain's plan isn't even popular with much of his own party.

Biden also pointed out that in last night's debate Obama proved that he understands that the debates and the election aren't about McCain, Palin, Obama, or Biden, rather they are about the American people. Biden asserted that the American people want "An optimist. Not an angry man lurching from one position to another." Biden described the economy as an "economic hell" that Americans have been living in for the past eight years. Biden argued that Obama will not just rescue the American economy but he will change the whole economic philosophy of America.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/back-on-the-tra.html
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/biden-continues.html
http://www.reason.com/UserFiles/Image/ngillespie/biden.jpg

Biden Loses Mother-in-Law to Illness

Bonny Jean Jacobs, Senator Joe Biden's mother-in-law, passed away this Sunday after a long, persisting illness.  She died at the age of 78 and she will be buried Tuesday in Abington, PA near her home in Willow Grove, PA.  The Obama-Biden campaign has decided to cancel their activities for Monday and Tuesday of this week and even cancelled Saturday's activities when he learned of Mrs. Jacob's sudden downward progression.  The Biden family has asked the press and media to stay clear from him and his family until they have been able to fully recover and grieve sufficiently for their beloved family member and so far the media has cooperated fully.  Also, Senator Barack Obama has expressed his condolences to Senator Biden and his family from North Carolina.  

Biden had been scheduled to take a tour of Florida this week which was supposed to last a couple of days but has now been put off until further notice.  His tour that begins on Wednesday however, will include being in Tampa at the Sun Dome at the University of Florida on Wednesday and a private fundraiser in Naples.  In the recent polls, Senator Barack Obama has seen to be becoming more popular in the state of Florida so this visit by Senator Biden will be crucial in hopefully asserting a stronghold in the nation's Sunshine State.  His discussions will mainly include explaining his and Obama's positions on the economy because most people do link the economy's downfall to directly to Republican party's administration.   

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/campaign-2008/story/714302.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/05/biden_steps_off_trail_for_moth.html

Awaiting the big debate!

Tomorrow night the long awaited Vice Presidential debates will take place St. Louis, Missouri. This event is what people are hailing to be the most anticipated vice presidential debate in history. Joe Biden has huge tasks ahead of him in the upcoming debate: not only does he need to win, but he is also under pressure to win by a huge margin because of the low expectations placed on Sarah Palin. Biden is also expected to focus more on attacking McCain and the Bush administration, as opposed to directly "bullying" Sarah Palin, which could be seen in a negative light. He needs to carefully avoid any further "gaffes" tomorrow in order to control the damage of his "FDR" statements earlier in the week. 

During an interview with Katie Couric, Senator Biden stated: "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed." The problem with Biden's remark is that FDR wasn't the president in 1929 during the stock market crash, and the television wasn't the main method of communication due to the fact that it wasn't widely available at the time. Luckily for the Obama campaign, the media was more focused on Sarah Palin's interviews and didn't make a huge deal out of the remark. 

Over the past couple of days Joe Biden has been on the campaign trail along with Barack Obama, speaking at large rallies in both Detroit, Michigan, and Fredricksburg, Virginia. This is a change from the previous week, when Senator Biden had been addressing crowds on his own around the country in Ohio, Milwaukee, and Pennsylvania. 

Taking a break from speeches and the campaign trail, Joe Biden recently convened near his home with campaign advisers in preparation for the upcoming debate. Yesterday he was 

seen having lunch in a local diner with his son Beau Biden, who is being deployed to Iraq on Friday. Family matters aside, today Joe Biden traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the Senate vote on the $700 million dollar bailout plan. Along with Senator Obama and Senator McCain, Senator Joe Biden voted yes on the plan which was approved by the Senate this evening with 74-25 role call. This bailout plan is most likely going to be highly discussed in tomorrow nights debate, along with foreign and domestic policy. Tension runs high as both parties await tomorrow nights debate.

Biden Hits the Mines

Biden visited Castlewood, VA this week and spoke with members of the United Mining Workers of America. Biden, who was born in Scranton, PA, focused on the similarities between the laborers from Scranton and those from southern Virginia. Biden told members that McCain supported Bush's appointed anti-labor leaders in the U.S. Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board.

Biden cited an article written by McCain that said that McCain would do away with state regulation of U.S. health care insurance in order to propose more choices. Biden responded to this quote by saying that the regulations are what keeps everything together and that, without them, the economy will only suffer because things, like health care, will not be protected. Biden also associated Bush and McCain with rising costs at the pump and the regressing health care for workers and veterans. Biden also mentioned Bush is not only fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also is fighting a war against the laborers.

Biden's visit to southwestern Virginia was particularly important because Virginia is a swing state and it has voted Republican for the past 44 years. Southwestern Virginia is a blue-collar region and Biden used this to his advantage because Scranton is a blue-collar working town. By identifying with the union members, Biden was able to show them that he understands their needs and will do his best to protect their rights. Although Obama easily won the Virginia primary, Clinton dominated the southwestern tip of the state. By obtaining the vote of the southwestern tip of Virginia, Obama and Biden may be able to win Virginia.


http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09/20/politics/fromtheroad/entry4462837.shtml
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i7K20RiBJeMQhhTZUST64ABObHjAD93AO7UO0
http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Statistics_Polling_Places/Index.html

Biden biden

This past week, the Senate passed a new bill called GINA which stands for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007. Senator Biden co-sponsored this bill which was supported by every single senator. The purpose of this bill is to prevent the use of the information obtained through genetic testing for any reason. The bill is designed to prevent the discriminate against Americans in their employment or for their health insurance. It did not mention it but I assume this also applies to all other types of insurance. Senator Biden wants to stimulate the development of genetic testing and research so that science can discover cures of diseases and the prevention of diseases.

I would think that the House will also pass the bill and it will be signed into law by the Presidents signature. Americans need to have the opportunity to obtain genetic testing that may give information that will prolong their lives. This new bill, if it becomes law, will reduce and possibly eliminate the fear that the results of the testing may be used against them if the results are unfavorable. Senator Biden said that “Patients must be able to participate in genetic research or undergo genetic tests without fear that the information revealed will ultimately raise their health premiums or put their job at risk”. I agree with him. And, the most important part is that the insurance companies and employers will not have the ability to require the person to take a genetic test in order to obtain health insurance or get a job.

The other item this week that Senator Biden did was he issued a statement saying he has confirmed that North Korea gave Syria their technology for a nuclear power plant which may allow for the development of nuclear weapons. Senator Biden is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has taken the position that the United Stated must maintain existing sanctions against North Korea until they are open to full inspections, they agree to stop selling their nuclear technology, and they close their nuclear plants.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007410&docId=l:781775166&start=4

Biden Update

Senator Biden has recently spoken to Congress, calling on the need to continue exploration into child exploitation cases. Almost all instances of child exploitation are done through the internet. However, a recent figure suggests that the FBI has the resources to investigate only 2% of the cases it encounters. In addition, he attempted to garner support for the Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2007, which would improve enforcement of child exploitation violations.

As well, Biden released a statement in response to a report presented by the GAO which concerns the "regeneration of al Qaeda forces" and the lack of a "comprehensive plan" which was required by the 9/11 Commission. Biden requests that President Bush work with Congress in order to comply with provisions from the Commission which requests for a comprenensive plan which covers how America plans to over see the repression of terrorism in the middle east.

Biden

Senator Biden recently was on CNN’s Late Edition where he stated that the Iraqi government would change, not because of the next president, but the “reality on the ground will change the politics in Iraq.
Earlier this year, Biden made a promise to Obama and Clinton saying that he will remain neutral between the two candidates. He told them he will not side with either one and has kept that promise true throughout the year and will for the time to come. I was reading another article which stated that Biden talks to the two candidates on a weekly basis. I thought that was very interesting. It is easy to think that the candidates are so competitive; they either would not have time to talk to each other, or would not want to talk to another. Biden seems like a very good Senator by getting a sense of what is going on in both Obama’s and Clinton’s life, the presidency, and the election. Biden has also repeated that he believes the primaries will be the ultimate decider on who is elected president, not the super delegates (Biden being one of them).
Biden has claimed that he believes the “troop buildup” in Iraq is a failure. Biden commented on the current situation in Iraq: "The purpose of the surge was to bring violence in Iraq down so that its leaders could come together politically…Violence has come down, but the Iraqis have not come together."
Biden is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and said last week that the President finally admitted that he will continue the Iraq War right up to the day he leaves office to let the next President decide when to end the war. Senator Biden is an outspoken critic of the war and is doing his best to try to force President Bush to end it before he leaves office. He believes that President Bush is advancing new initiatives in Iraq that have the sole purpose of forcing the next President to continue what Senator believes “is a failed policy”.
Senator Biden is concerned that President Bush will create some sort of binding agreement that the US will protect Iraq if it is attacked by any country or group. Senator is particularly concerned what the definition of a group is.
The most interesting thing I learned last week was Senator Biden bill he calls the “Second Chance Act”. This new law was signed by President Bush on April 9, 2008 which gives Felons opportunities to obtain work back in society. The new bill will provide “job training, literacy training, substance-abuse treatment, counseling, education, housing and mentoring services upon release.” Biden feels most felons go back to prison simply because they have not been trained to earn a living in our society.
I believe we have the highest percentage of our citizens in prison and on parole than any country in the world. One out of every 29 adult citizens in our country is a convicted felon. This statistic alone should prove something is wrong about the US sending so many of our citizens to prison. Biden is at least doing something to help which is more than most of the Congress is doing in this area.

http://biden.senate.gov/press/press_releases/
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/13/sunday-roundup-the-next-steps-in-iraq/
http://cbs3.com/delawarewire/22.0.html?type=nplocal&state=DE&category=News&filename=DE--Campaign-Biden.xml
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/04/kerry_hammers_mccain_on_100yea.html

Confrontation

Candidate Barack Obama gave a speech recently which directly addressed the racial divide which our country lives in. His speech was so influential and inspiring, Joe Biden commented saying it was truthful, powerful, and he said it was one of the most significant speeches he has heard in a while. Biden stated, "He told the story of America _ both the good and the bad _ and I believe his speech will come to represent an important step forward in race relations in our country.”
Barack Obama gave a speech on February 16th 2008which seemed very similar to Deval Patrick’s speech on October 15th 2006. In fact, when comparing the video and reading both speeches, they were alike in many ways. This copying of speeches shocked me when I saw this. I wonder how it will be, if Obama wins, to have a president who has lifted words – sentences from someone else’s speech just to get appointed into office. This shows Obama’s disparity in competing against Hillary Clinton. He obviously is worried about this presidential election or else he would not have risked copying someone else’s speech.


http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Mar19/0,4670,ObamaRace,00.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/i-have-a-dream-becomes-_b_87199.html

Joe, Joe, Joe Biden

Joe Biden was dubbed one of the 20 most powerful senators recently. This was due to his ability to influence governmental related issues such as congressional agenda and the shaping of legislation. Biden is also the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Judiciary on Crime and Drugs committee which all allowed him to gain such a big reputation.
Recently, congress demanded a testimony from the Nato commander in Afghanistan. Biden, along with other Democratic senators, believe that the conflict in Afghanistan must be a big priority. Biden asked for Nato’s chief commander, General Dan McNeill, to come to Washington by April 18th. Biden simply wants to know the plan of what they need to do to succeed.

Trip to Pakistan

After completing his trip back east, that is to the Middle East and specifically Pakistan, Joe Biden had a number of recommendations for future involvement in Pakistan. He witnessed the results of Pakistan's deomcratically held elections, and believes that Pakistan is moving in the right direction. His suggestions are: triple non-military monetary donations for a decade, help the country's democracy by increasing its annual assistance by a billion dollars, maintain the legitimacy of the military aid we currently send over, and finally take into account Pakistan's concerns, not only ours. As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden's ideas will carry significant political weight and it will be interesting to see how his recommendations pan out.
In addition, Biden has maintained his support for an improved GI bill that, like the one for WWII vets, offers improved educational benefits.

Biden

Biden was recently in Pakistan with John Kerry and Chuck Hagel because he is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden stated to ABC that Musharraf should probably start to prepare for an exit strategy instead of being forced out of power. Biden also acknowledged that because of Musharraf’s defeat, there will be a major setback for America in fighting the al Qaeda and the Taliban. On the issue of Cuba, Biden believes we should not lift the five-decade trade embargo and things we should establish a mail service and create travel restrictions for family visits.

Working for the Weekend

Earlier in the week, Joe Biden called out the current statues for sentencing those found in possession of crack and cocain. For a sentencing of 5 to 10 years, there currently is a 100-1 ratio in weight between the necessary amounts of cocaine and crack, respectively. This disparity has been noted in the past, but Biden also brought up his own legislature, the Drug Sentencing Reform & Cocain Kingpin Trafficking Act, which will eliminate this disparity and put an end to the minimum sentencing that currently exists for simple possesion of crack.

In addition, Biden is traveling to Pakistan with John Kerry and Chuck Hagel for the Feburary 18th primary elections, and generally raising awareness about his belief that the next foreign issue is that of maintaining Pakistan and Afghanistan's stability. Finally, he will visit Turkey and India to discuss peaceful nuclear cooperation and stability in Iraq.

Biden, up to nothing

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton have been getting quite comfortable together as they sat next to each other as they watched as President Bush delivered the final State of the Union address which he gave in Washington. Although Biden has pulled himself out of the race, he is still on the ballot. Biden recently has been encouraging voters to vote for a candidate who is however still in the race and not for himself.

Gettin' back to work

Joe Biden has getting back to work in the Senate, passing a bill through the Senate Committee on International Narcotics Control to establish a "National Drug Prevention and Awareness Week" from Feb 10 to 16. The goal of this newly christened week is to raise awareness about drug prevention, specifically in communities about the threat of drugs to teenagers.
In addition, Biden spoke to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, presenting three critical ideas which will significantly improve the instability in Afghanistan. These goals are to establish consistent security, speed up reconstruction, and get a handle on narcotics trafficking, concerning which Biden states, "Drug-trafficking dominates the national economy, and narco-barons operate with impunity". Biden's message contributed to the hearing about Afghanistan in the Senate, and hopefully his ideas can bear fruit and be observed.
Also, Biden released a statement detracting President Bush's signing to use appropriated funds from Congress for use in the Iraq war to build permanent military bases. The president is overstepping his boundaries for funding, and as biden states, "It is outrageous for the President to suggest that Congress cannot bar the use of funds". Is this another example of a president who has challenged the limits of what a president can and cannot do? That will wait to be seen. At least Biden has called him on it, and we will look for biden to re-establish his reputation in the Senate now that he is back to serving his post.

Biden's silent streak

Biden is such an excitement now-a-days. He has yet to endorse anyone but was recently seen walking into a speech chatting very warmly. At Biden’s first Washington news conference 3 weeks after he removed his bid for president, Biden was not pleased to answer any questions about politics. He has recently been asked questions by reporters such as if he had any thoughts about President Bill Clinton’s role and his tone in the campaign. He then replied that he has no thoughts about that subject. His attitude lately has been far from pleasing due to not being very communicative.

Welcome Back Joe

Joe Biden has resumed his duties on the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate to the relief of many. Following his return, there has been sparked interest in his position as a favorable candidate for Secretary of State, if a democrat were to win the nomination. His experience with foreign relations(they were a major point of emphasis in his campaign), aid significantly towards a presidential office that has serious foreign issues to deal with, such as the current war in Iraq, nukes in Iran, instability in South Korea, Russians, etc...

So will Joe be back next time? Possibly not, depending on the sucess, or failure, of the next president. If the opportunity arose where his message would draw a significant amount of attention and media focus, then he might run. But he is gettin old, and has already run for democratic candidacy twice. Only time will tell...

givin up Joe?

As we all know, Senator Biden, senator of Delaware, has recently dropped out of the race finishing in 5th place. Currently Biden has no plan to endorse Obama or Hillary Clinton but does say he will support the Democratic nominee. Biden recently spoke at the Delaware National Guard’s Leadership Conference making it his first public appearance since January 4th, the day he dropped out of the presidential race.

Thank You- Biden

Senator Joe Biden, a Democratic Senator representing Delaware for over a quarter century, has withdrawn his bid from the race for the Democratice Presidential nomination. He finished a distant fifth place, despite a final surge in donations and support. In addition, competitors admitted that pockets of Biden support did exist and could influence his race. In the end, all this proved trivial, as Biden drew just 1 percent of Iowan votes.

In addition, Biden released a Thank you video on his website thanking his supporters through this process.