Is it supposed to be meaningful that Joe Biden spoke to Maureen Dowd back in August about his dying son’s wish that he run for the presidency? Is this really a genuine knock on Biden?
Why?
Because it was Dowd he chose to talk to?
The president sits down with Tom Friedman in the West Wing despite every stupid thing that man has written. And Dowd has a record of Anti-Clinton Derangement that is just as severe as her Anti-Obama Derangement. She even dogged Biden during his 1988 plagiarism scandal. People in the administration talk to columnists at the New York Times even when they think they won’t get a fair shake and even when they think those columnists are morons.
Is is a knock because it was politically motivated, a way of exploiting his son’s death?
Isn’t the story that his son, his face half-paralyzed and his speech badly impaired, sat his father down to implore him to run for the presidency?
Assuming this really happened, and I have no reason to believe that it didn’t, that places Joe in a bit of quandary. What father wouldn’t want to honor his son’s dying wish?
What was he supposed to do with that request?
And if he is taking the request seriously, is it strict opportunism to be honest about why he’s taking a long look at whether a run for the presidency is feasible?
I’ll admit that Biden created an invitation for people to invade his zone of privacy here, where ordinarily simple respect for the grieving would preclude us from even discussing these things, let alone passing judgment on them.
But I don’t see how it’s a knock on Biden that he wants it to be known that Beau asked him to run. Unless you don’t believe the story, this is so central to his thought process that we ought to know about it.
It doesn’t really change things much but I have less respect for him because the way it was done (leak as opposed to in a speech announcing his candidacy) is simply too venal a political exploitation for me.
So, it’s more that it’s a trial balloon approach that offends you and that it wasn’t disclosed that he was the source?
It really has nothing to do with talking to MoDo. Announce it with his official candidacy and as voters we can evaluate it along with the rest of him. Even if the younger Biden himself would have approved, I find his use of it to prepare the ground in case of a run to be off putting.
Off putting, yes, tacky even more to the point. MoDo is slimy.
vox has a great take on this, about his carefully crafted reputation for authenticity.
http://www.vox.com/2015/10/6/9464357/joe-biden-authentic
This: Importantly, once a candidate gets the “authentic” label, his (it’s usually “his”) flip-flops, calculations and strategic acts are excused, or at least viewed as unrelated to his true character. … is the media failure. It’s totally appropriate for the media to cover all the “flip-flops” etc. of candidates such as Romney, Clinton, etc., that’s fair coverage. What’s egregious is the media whitewashing the Bushes, McCain, and now Biden. Although in Biden’s case, he probably grateful for all the media attention which he didn’t get in 2008 when he ran for POTUS except for the ever present reminder that he’d… Read more »
I think the Vox piece nails an important truth: What would the press do if Hillary pulled something similar? Can you imagine the shrieking?
The president sits down with Tom Friedman in the West Wing despite every stupid thing that man has written.
And he talks to David Brooks, George Will …
It’s because there’s no journalist President Obama hates more – was pretty disloyal thing to do, and Biden’s main claim is loyalty to the President.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/10/axelrod-patronizing-and-disrespectful-obama-chewed-
out-maureen-dowd.html
Dude, you’re going to pull a muscle stretching that far.
Yeah sure, of all the gin joints in the world, he had to walk into that one? Yah.
The one thing we know for sure about the MoDo leak/placement whatever – Obama didn’t know, and thus this ain’t got his imprimatur.
even if true, why does that matter?
Maybe because Veeps and loser ticket Veeps aren’t coy about their intentions to run for POTUS. Well, except for the Dumbass of the Northwoods who just couldn’t decide for four years. 1956 Kefauver DEM Veep nominee. 1952 and 1956 POTUS candidate. In 1959 took himself out the running for the 1960 nomination. 1960 Nixon – 1952-1960 GOP Veep 1964 Lodge – 1960 GOP Veep nominee (draft died after NH) 1968 HHH – 1965-69 DEM Veep. Ran for POTUS 1952 and 1960. Nixon – fmr Veep 1972 HHH – fmr Veep Muskie – 1969 DEM Veep nominee 1980 – Dole –… Read more »
NYMag: Hillary Clinton Readies Oppo-Research to Go to War Against Joe Biden If Joe Biden jumps into the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton will be ready to go on the offensive. According to a source close to the Clinton campaign, a team of opposition researchers working on behalf of Clinton is currently digging through Biden’s long record in office to develop attack lines in case the vice-president runs. The research effort started about a month ago and is being conducted by operatives at Correct the Record, the pro-Hillary superpac founded by David Brock, which is coordinating with the Clinton campaign. …… Read more »
back to my Clarence Thomas analogy I guess
The VP’s team is pushing back tonight saying there was no leak or trial balloon and they find the assertion offensive.