August 15, 2012
Not The Most Qualified Pick for Vice-President
she’s (Hillary Clinton) easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America, and quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me.Then-Vice-Presidential Candidate Joe Biden
September 10, 2008
Ok, the quote is four years old. I'm rehashing old stuff. I get that. But before we go into total crazy Paul Ryan hysteria because of a budget bill he submitted, let's keep things in perspective here. On one hand, we have Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee Chairman who put forward a proposal to cut federal spending and rein in the deficit. On the other hand, we have a sitting Vice-President who continually puts his foot in his mouth.
Now VP Biden is telling us about a President Romney, "They are going to put y’all back in chains."
Sure, Ryan needs to be publicly vetted, I get that. That's why people are going over his budget bill with a fine-toothed comb and quite possibly some other spin from time to time. But is it too late to also take a look at what the other VP candidate in the race brings to the table?
Maybe we can get an idea on how these guys think simply by what they say.
Paul Ryan: "If we don't make tough decisions today our children are going to have to make much, much tougher decisions tomorrow."
Joe Biden: "When the stock market crashed (in 1929), Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened."
...
Paul Ryan: "Look, I am not worried about Washington cutting too much spending too fast. I mean, the kinds of spending cuts we're talking about just right now are $100 billion out of a $3.7 trillion budget."
Joe Biden: "Look, John's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs."
...
Paul Ryan: "The debt and the deficit is just getting out of control, and the administration is still pumping through billions upon trillions of new spending. That does not grow the economy."
Joe Biden: "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.... I'm not joking."
...
Paul Ryan: "To my great disappointment, it appears that the politics of division are making a big comeback. Many Americans share my disappointment - especially those who were filled with great hope a few years ago, when then-Senator Obama announced his candidacy in Springfield, Illinois."
Joe Biden: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
And that's just a few of the many. Like I said, it makes perfect sense to try to get an idea of who Paul Ryan is and what he stands for and what kind of Vice-President he'd make. But at the same time, take a look at the body of work of our current Vice-President. If the decisions of the #2 guy on the ticket are enough to sway your vote, make sure you get an updated view on the current guy.
Patrick is worried about what may surface as the scrutiny increases on the new vice Presidential candidate. You get that. So what does a partisan do.. attack the opposition. In this case with ridicule. You get that. The Vice President is said to be prone to making gaffes while speaking. That may well be, but possibly it is because he speaks from his heart and off the top of his head. That to me is refreshing given all the scripted lies we hear all the time from our political leaders.
Posted by: Phil at August 15, 2012 7:00 AMOne assumes Phil felt the same way about Dan Quayle (back in the day) and, more recently, President Bush.
Posted by: Marc at August 15, 2012 8:04 AMI'd say lining up someone's worst quotes with some innocuous ones about different subjects from another person is completely misleading.
Also intellectually misleading; Paul Ryan as a deficit hawk.
Posted by: SGH at August 15, 2012 9:20 AM"So what does a partisan do.. attack the opposition."
Right Phil....telling the truth to libs like you is an attack. It is not Ryan's (or Patricks) fault that clueless Biden suffers from foot in mouth disease. Maybe we could get some govt. funding to remedy it. That's right it's the taxpayers fault that we don't have a "program for that".
Biden is walking disaster and his own quotes undo him.
Posted by: ANTHONY at August 15, 2012 9:26 AMI agree with SGH. Cherry-picking your quotes is misleading.
Posted by: Bill at August 15, 2012 9:59 AM"I agree with SGH. Cherry-picking your quotes is misleading."
Cherry picking? I guess if your talking about the top blunders of all Vice Presidents combined then OK, I guess that's considered 'cherry picking.' Tell us all how picking Joe Biden didn't make millions of left wing heads spin. There was such a liberal sigh across this great nation, it advanced global warming by centuries. It melted Hilary's makeup even.
Posted by: Max D at August 15, 2012 1:12 PMMax D: I'm not sure if you really wanted a response or not.
There's no denying that Biden said those things and often puts his foot in his mouth. But, my issue was with Patrick using Ryan's "best quotes" and putting them alongside Biden's worst. That's not a good comparison of anything.
Posted by: Bill at August 15, 2012 2:43 PMBill,
I'm not sure I understand your complaint. Biden is a notorious old school shoot from the hip foot in the mouth politician. Ryan is measured and articulate. It is what it is. Don't hate the messenger just because he put it in print.
Posted by: Max D at August 15, 2012 3:20 PMPS Bill,
Fear not, if Ryan has one tenth of Bidens blustery blunders, they'll show up soon enough.
Posted by: Max D at August 15, 2012 3:23 PMFor the AR libs: Here's Biden today: The best VP in the 19th century.
www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/biden-folks-wheres-it-written-we-cant-lead-world-20th-century_650017.html
Joe Biden (aka the plagiariser )...the gift that keeps on giving.
Oh yeah Cherry picking...it's more like a truck load.
Posted by: ANTHONY at August 15, 2012 5:57 PMMarc
There's one thing I cannot complain about former President Bush and that is his mangling of the word "nuclear". I mispronounce it exactly the same way.
Posted by: Phil at August 15, 2012 6:16 PMPhil-how did you like that "clean and articulate"racist crap from Biden 4 years ago?I cannot imagine what possessed Obama to pick him.Well-maybe he thought no one would try to knock him off with that idiot in the wings.
Posted by: joe bernstein at August 15, 2012 6:43 PMLets not forget the famous 'I wasn't for same sex marriage but now I'm for it because my bumbling idiot VP jumped the gun and said he was for it before he talked to me.'
Posted by: Max D at August 15, 2012 7:54 PM