Biden chides Democrats for losing approach

By JOHN DISTASO
Senior Political Reporter
16 hours, 58 minutes ago

MANCHESTER – Sen. Joe Biden says the three front-runners in the Democratic presidential race are using "Bill Clinton triangulation" and "Karl Rove anger" to deliver a divisive message as they fight for approval of the party's liberal base.

snip

Biden also said the Democratic Party "has lost faith in the American people in terms of leveling with them." And he gave a frank assessment of his own longshot chance of becoming the Democratic nominee.

Biden acknowledged his words sometimes get him into trouble. It happened in New Hampshire 20 years ago, when he challenged a local man to compare IQs. "I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do," Biden said at the time.

Now, Biden shakes his head and laughs. "Right on the ball," he said with self-deprecating sarcasm. "I was ready to be President, huh? That's why I had two craniotomies. I had them go in and take out the temper cord." Biden was hospitalized twice in 1988 for cerebral aneurysms.

snip

Biden said his primary rivals and the Democratic Party in general have learned nothing from "the whipping we took the last two times" in presidential elections.

"I am, quote, liberal as it relates to social issues," he said. "But you've never heard me make a populist argument about the rich and the poor," a key aspect of the Edwards-Clinton-Obama approach. "I don't believe it, number one, and I don't think it's how you win.

"Rich folks are as patriotic as poor folks, but we (Democrats) don't talk that way," he said.

Biden said "all of the candidates" of his party "have cast their lot in a way that has increased the degree of difficulty of winning a general election in toss-up states."

I talk about the fact that we've got to trust the American people more," he said. "I'm not acting like the honest guy in the corner. I'm a politician. But I really think my party kind of learned the wrong lessons. I think they really lost faith in the American people in terms of leveling with them.

More,,, much more (it's Biden, after all) at:

http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Biden+chides+Democrats+for+losing+approach&articleId=4a66eb35-c51f-418a-a239-35bfe94c1b78

very intereseting though....

If you click on the link in the OP, have also a look at the poll results linked on the right side of the page. The latest numbers are from october, but that's not the point. I found the percentages of dems vs. independents that favor Obama quite stunning.

or not. I love this from the article:

..."My problem with that is -- and you're going to think this is pure political crap -- I don't want to be President if that's the way I have to win. Because if I win, I can't govern that way. How the hell do you establish a consensus?"

Also, here's something I didn't know:

"I haven't met with a lobbyist in 35 years as a senator. I won't do it," he said, acknowledging, however, that the ban does not apply to his staff.

I didn't notice the poll results - thanks for pointing it out.

like he has nothing to lose and I think that is why he is so candid. This may not appeal to some people, but it does to me.

Is getting more votes, as Al Gore did, a whipping?

Is getting about half the votes, as John Kerry did, a whipping?

Also, Gore and Kerry didn't put too much populism into their speeches, as Biden suggests they did.

Gore caved early, in 2000
as did Kerry in 2004
They BOTH should have fought harder. We democrats tend to fail to realize exactly what cronyism actually does. aside from weakening our government with incompetence. (granted) but it enables republicans to disenfranchise masses of potential voters. as well as systematically destabilize the voting systems. We Dems need to wake up to that stuff and combat it, ferociously.
all to keep and maintain power. Remember, the repubes think of the presidency as a throne.

as I remember they both were populist, learning from Bill Clinton. Alls biggest mistake (at the time) was talking to the American public as we were all in kindergarten. that got under my skin.

NT

"to run on their own terms" and not let advisers have the last word.
Kerry, in particular was not tough enough,especially when the swift boating started. And Gore reinvented himself too many times for one campaign. I need to tell you that I was a die hard supporter of both Gore and Kerry; irregardless of how we lost, we did end up with 2 long,disastrous terms of GW and his loony tunes VP. Let me tell ya, the thought of Gulliani(however the hell he spells his name)being our next President along with the the administration he would assemble,causes me to have suicidel thoughts. rrrrrrrrr It could happen!!

neck now with the leading Dems.

We MUST be sure that people know the real deal about that slimeball. All they know now is his pre-fab press release story. Hero of 9-11 and all that bunk. And I'm in CT -- we should know better. But apparently, too many do not. That scares me.

If you liked Bush, you're gonna love Giuliani. More extreme SC appts, foreign policy by insane men, totalitarianism raised to an art form and a sacrament? That's what we'll get with Rudy.

I'd call that a whipping, even if one of them was stolen.

But the fact is also that each time we should have won by much more, much more decisively.

Bush??? Seriously??? That that no-count loser should ever have been taken seriuosly by anyone is a fault of our tactics, I think.

Both times, we played nice. We need to stop that, and answer smear with a strong fight back. No more Liebermans toadying up to Cheney at a debate. No more Kerry campaign not stooping to respond to Swift Boating...

More people in the country agree with the Democrats on most issues. We have to learn to talk to all of them.

In the quote above, he said ""But you've never heard me make a populist argument about the rich and the poor," a key aspect of the Edwards-Clinton-Obama approach. "I don't believe it, number one, and I don't think it's how you win."

A populist argument about how the rich have ALWAYS loathed having to share with the poor and have always sought to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor and middle classes ... is exactly what SHOULD be said by ALL of the Democrats running for President.

This country needs a William Randolph Hearst - a very progressive man who used his media empire as a "government by newspaper"...daily editorializing against privatization, and in favor of MUNICIPAL-owned utilities and affordable mass transportation.

part of Biden's quote - the reporter inserted that comment.

There's plenty of other stuff in this article that people may find fault with - didn't want to add another! :7

plus Biden offers frank and honest views that this country is starving for.

Do you think Democrats are all poor?

Do you think all wealthy people are selfish jerks?

Do you equate wealth with evil?

Those stereotypes, besides being hurtful, come back to hit us all the time.

The idea isn't to separate us into "us" and "them". The idea is to communicate our ideas about what's best for ALL of us in a compelling way.

Do you really think anyone with money is therefore opposed to government involvement in things like healthcare or school lunch programs or you name it government program to help those with less? You'd be wrong.

There are ethical reasons, and there are also plain old economic reasons to support many of these ideas.

The problem is that the GOP has since the Reagan years successfully sold their bill of goods (which really isn't about rich vs. poor, but about MEGA rich and the rest of us) in cute and easily swallowed sound bites. And people, not wanting to think of themselves as "poor" (still fraught with overtones of "unworthy" in our culture) have jumped on the bandwagon.

If we're right -- pick your topic -- then we have to learn to make our case. And make it well, regardless of who we're talking to. That means not excluding anyone and not setting this election up as a fight between portions of the electorate. This is a fight of ideas and ideals -- between some pretty selfish, evil ideas, and between those that will move this country forward and back on track.

Excellent post!!

If anyone can lecture about them, he's well qualified.

:rofl:

After 35 years of being re-elected to the Senate he has a lot of experience in "losing approaches":sarcasm:

Like Ted Kennedy, Diane Feinstein, Charles Schumer to name three other senior Democratic US Senators who don't stand a snowball's chance in Hell of ever being elected President of the United States.

BTW - Biden has been running for President almost as long as he's been in the Senate. I attended a stump speech by him at UCSD in 1976, which was the first year I voted.

'Biden also said the Democratic Party "has lost faith in the American people in terms of leveling with them."'

It's become clear to me, despite my resistance to the idea, that the Democratic Party has lost faith in the American people, period. (You could probably say the same thing about the Republicans) Despite Congressional approval ratings in the 20s, the Democrats soldier on with their agenda, whatever the hell it is, and all but completely ignore our wishes.

Bidens alleged plagiarism is in fact a single over site. ONE time in a stump speech he failed to acknowledge, the origin of a quote. three hundred speeches and one emittance. then Biden has been apologized too from the persons who used it as a political noose. the fact you are still using it as a negative shows how much you listen to the grapevine. the story of his plagiarism has been blown far out of proportion.

nor are they original enough to even present that tired old "gotcha" in a new, refreshing way. Kind of makes you pity them a little, don't you agree?

same old tired "zingers". Sigh. Carry on.

yesterday was full of meetings the morning was Denver dems then the afternoon was Hillary "leadership conference."

More and more people think the system is stacked against them so rich vs. poor politics are probably more effective today than any time I've seen.

In these troubled and dire time we live in, Joe Biden, to me, encompasses all that we desperately need for our nation:

1) Intelligence
2) Experience in ALL phases of government
3) Strength
4) Respect from world leaders
5) Diplomacy
6) Command of issues
7) Solutions to problems that face our nation
8) Honesty
9) Integrity
10) Respect and trust from his peers
11) Respect and trust from the people who follow him
12) an EXPERT in foreign policy

Joe Biden certainly meets ALL of the criteria above.

I pray and hope every day that Mr. & Mrs. America, the people of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina know in their hearts, that if we lose Joe Biden, we'll have lost one of the best Presidents our nation will ever have.

Please watch a video I produced to show my support for Senator Biden. If you support him, please send the link below to family and friends, and ask them to do the same.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OtGCaqOdIJ4

Among the very good:


and



Among the very stupid


The argument is NOT that the rich are bad and the poor are good. The argument is that the system is more and more rigged toward the rich. Where does Biden disagree with that?


And, BTW, Joe, Kerry certainly did not run as a populist. He ran exactly on the same agenda that you do, competency and national security. As for Gore, he was running in a different era, but only in the DC world would his campaign have been called populist. Read his latest book and you will see he repeats every other page he is a capitalist and that capitalism and freedom go together.

It's a losing proposition for our country. He points to where that approach has landed the Republicans. This shouldn't be confused with his fight to restore the supremacy of the middle class, which he has a long history of doing. He's a pragmatist and he knows his history, and historically our country does best when the middle class thrives. That's why on average the economy does better under Democratic presidents.

At best, they are running on the notion that the poor gets poorer and the rich richer, because the system is rigged, not attacking people because they are rich or poor. So, his point befuddles me. Where has he seen this approach? The right is the party pitting people against people, not the Democrats. This is why I pointed this as very silly, even though I like Biden more and more.

If you look at the article you'll see that the quotation marks are dropped where it mentions Clinton-Obama-Edwards. The article is misleading if you don't read it carefully. That's our news media for you. Biden is careful not to attack the other candidates.

He simply doesn't need to.

he simply doesn't need to, which is one of the reasons he appeals to me. He's running on his own abilities and that's more than enough.