Apropos of nothing – the amazing venue –

http://www.justabovesunset.com/Ohio/html/once_elegant_travel.html

When will Biden state that the latest anti-McCain add he's seen is so very terrible?

When will he again defend Palin from attacks on her readiness and experience (or TOTAL lack thereof)?

Biden is haphazard in his value at best.

"Ladies and gentleman, John McCain has gotten it wrong on so many fundamental issues"

[pause a beat]

"And why not? He's a Republican."

Yes, but let's continue to expand the useless and outdated NATO! It isn't provocative in the slightest to drive NATO right up to the walls of Russia and stick our missiles and bases RIGHT THERE. Not provocative at all...and we ALL want to go to war for Georgia and the Ukraine!

I disagree with Praedor Atrebates, I think Biden has been a huge asset to Obama. The man goes out there and punches away. The occassional gaffe probably helps rather than hurts, CNN even ran his speech live. I can't imagine who would of been a better choice in this race. I don't buy this Clinton would have neutralized Palin argument anymore. Palin is a sorry joke now.

g. powell, I am simply saying that for every two steps forward that Biden may make, he invariably takes a step back by kissing McInsane's "honorable" ass (there isn't an honorable bone in McInsane) or trying to build up Palin because to mention her total unsuitability to be more than a beauty queen is sexist. We MUST respect her foreign policy bona fides based on "seeing Russia from her back porch".

He could totally eliminate the step backwards screwups by NEVER defending either McInsane or Palin and NEVER attacking their own freakin' adds!

The twighlite zonish Spain fiasco, choosing Sarah Palin as his runningmate, the economic crisis surely entering the mix...McCain may not have an easy time of it Friday in a debate that we're told should play to his strengths. Great speech by Biden, and I'm glad to see them attacking on two fronts. Foreign policy won't be a safe haven for him from the economy. I hope in the debate Obama ties foreign policy in with economic concerns. He needs to completely hog-tie McCain and keep him on the defensive about everything.

Remember a while back when McCain was heckeled by anti-war protesters? He grinned his creepy smile and said, "My friends, I will never surrender in Iraq. I will never surrender in Iraq." He looked like he was ready blow his top. I'm not expecting a melt down, but Obama can goad im into a nasty moment. I won't take much.

Is "ladies and gentlemen" Biden's version of "my friends"?

I see your point PA, but actually having the Dems build up Palin is kind of clever. It will make her inevitable crash and burn that much more dramatic. It also reverses the whole sexism issue. "Why don't they let this intelligent woman speak?"

And that 1980 ad was so bad, there's no point in defending it. It sucked, move on.

Gentle truth when the opposition is screaming out degrading lies.

There is so much to work with on McCain...he's so wrong...so many mistakes of judgment, so many lies, and he's basically shallow...staff must tell him what to say. (Look how he described "fundamentals"...he didn't think that one up himself). Now reading his speeches and his age is showing his weariness. The man is a mockery of himself and Palin is cramming for the VP position trying desperately to prove it's not over her head.

Biden's main problem is ...where to begin shoveling through this avalanche of McCain bullshit. He should always tell Obama's plan and show his vision and stop showing "respect" toward this pathetic McCain ticket. This is not the McCain Biden once knew and it IS McCain's character that is offensive, dishonest and deceitful. It's not that McCain just doesn't get it or that he is wrong on the issues, he IS dishonorable, he IS a liar, he lacks integrity, he IS every lobbyist's "pet senator on a leash", he is exposed and detrimental to our country. He doesn't deserve respect and will destroy our democracy. This McCain is lame.

he IS dishonorable, he IS a liar, he lacks integrity

We knew that from his collaboration with the N. Vietnamese when he was a POW (you DID know he was a POW don't you...he NEVER mentions this). We also knew it shortly after his return from collaborating with the NVC when he dumped his broken wife for a younger, richer model.

The rest follows from these two items.

My wife who is very liberal and not particularly interested in the day to day of the campaigns, observed last night that at some level it must be hard for Biden to realize that he is not the one running the show. I think Barack might have sensed this as well, and put his running mate on notice this week (re AIG and bailout). Made me respect Barack all that much more.

Frankly, I am relieved that Obama is much tougher than I initially gave him credit for. The Chicagomachine meme is a tacit admission by the McCain campaign that they've underestimated this guy. I don't think it will hurt Obama nearly as much as the vacuous celebrity meme.

I like Biden, always have, you take the good with the bad.

As for that 1980s ad, I agree it sucked, but maybe this 40 something was not the intended target audience.

What is the difference between Joe Biden and a pit bull?

Literally.

Sorry to nitpick, but it's not quite fair to say that McCain "said he would not meet with the leader of Spain." He just refused to commit to doing so, responding again and again with boilerplate about how he'd meet with leaders who shared our goals and not with those who didn't. And it was painfully clear that he was doing that because he didn't know who Zapatero was, even after repeated prompting by the interpreter. Afterwards, instead of admitting that he made a mistake he insisted that he knew what the interviewer meant, which would have meant that he dissed an ally.

T-Rex...and that "defense" means it is OK or not as bad as the alternative?

No matter how you slice it, it is a horrible mistake and a sign of incompetence, dementia, melanoma in the brain, petite strokes, or whatever else you wish to list.

On the whole McCain on Spain thing:

Has anyone pointed out that McCain's answer is even more pathetic -- no matter the reasons for it -- due to the Madrid bombings?

I know those didn't get as much play as those in London, but they were real, killed lots of people, and showed that many nations face lots of terrorist-like threats, both from inside and out.

Given McCain's bellicosity when it comes to things like this, one would think he'd saddle right up to Spain to fight the common fight. Yet he didn't.

Does anyone else think this an important point? If so, why hasn't it been mentioned.

And if not, just ignore all this and move along. :-)

Mark D, McInsane's instinctual response to the Madrid Bombings is to start aerial bombardment of Spain. Why? Because those people, instead of getting mad and attacking...Brazil...they instead opted go the other way and NOT attack anybody! Can you imagine? They didn't even respond by starting a draft and sending ALL their young to Iraq to waterboard and shoot up Iraqis. That pisses him off no end.

If they wont bomb someone, then by golly, HE will bomb THEM.

jibeaux asks, Is "ladies and gentlemen" Biden's version of "my friends"?

Yes, it is. Literally.

What I like about Biden is that I think he has the knowledge and intelligence to really help with government. As for building up Palin or McCain, well, it's called managing expectations. No one expects Palin to do better than Biden in a debate. No one expected Bush to be better than Gore in a debate. But by setting the bar so low, Bush effectively won the debates by not sitting there drooling the whole time.