Image by TalkLeft.com
Joe Biden? Well, OK. He’s an utterly conventional choice. His name works better than Tim Kaine’s with Obama’s. (Was anyone else dreading those Obama/Kaine signs and bumper stickers? Say it out loud to yourself, if you don’t get it.) He was born in Pennsylvania and is Catholic, and represents a state adjacent to Pennsylvania now, so that will boost the ticket’s chances.
The AP has an uncharitable review of Obama’s choice of Biden, saying that it “[i]n picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness — inexperience in office and on foreign policy — rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.” (H/t TalkLeft. Has the AP been sleeping all summer long, a la Rip Van Winkle? Are they just waking up now to see Obama’s conventional campaign?) Wev. If he chose one of the “fresh new gubenatorial faces” like Kaine or Kathleen Sebelius, the AP could have run a story claiming that Obama’s choice shows a lack of confidence in not wanting a more experienced and seasoned pol as a running mate. The only way to have made his VP choice more than a before-noon story today is to have announced that Hillary Clinton was the gal, but we all knew that that wasn’t going to happen.
Biden is OK by me, but it seems like a kind of reactive, seat-of-the-pants choice, more about responding to the double-invasion of South Ossetia than about a summer-long, deliberative process. Anyhoo, chat amongst yourselves–Historiann is heading up into the mountains for a long run at 12,600 11,800 feet. What a way to end the summer and embrace the coming autumn–up in the mountains, they’ve already had snow!
Historiann 
Have a good run. I’m thinking a lot of Dems will be heading for the hills before this thing is over.
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Only thing is, I think Kaine is Woody Holton’s brother-in-law (back of the envelope genealogy after reading a biosketch the other week). Although at best, that would be a sort of proverbial “seventeenth tie-breaker,” to have a historian within a few heartbeats of the Oval Office!
Enjoy the run, bring along the puma-repellant, and here’s to a great semester! I wish I was driving that futuramic red car above up Sideling Hill (c. 2400 ft) tomorrow into the used-to-be-mountains!
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For once, being on EST has worked in my favor and I’ve posted on this before you! 😉 I hope you had a good run. It’s still summer here — 80 degrees, humid, typical August weather.
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Biden. I just… Biden. Wasn’t this the guy who shot himself in the foot only two days after declaring his candidacy by referring to Obama as “clean” or something?
Okay. ((deep breath)) . Not exciting. But probably had the best foreign policy knowledge of any of the candidates. I’ve seen him speak, and he’s smart. But I was still hoping for Kathleen Sebelius,
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Yes, he is the one who marveled at how clean and attractive Obama was (man crush?!) He also said something really offensive about East Indians and 7-11s. Oh happy, happy joy-joy — I hope he has a bicycle to help him with all the backpedaling that he’s going to have to do over the next few months.
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P.s. I think the exact words were something like “to walk into a 7-11 you have to have a slight Indian accent.”
Maybe the guy has watched too many episodes of “The Simpsons.”
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I told my household this morning to get ready for the taste of defeat again in November. The road looks very familiar. Frivolous Republican attacks in August and Sept, inability of the blue suit to defend himself or strike back in a convincing way, choice of a vp candidate who is unspiring and can’t deliver any states.
Too bad McCain has sold his soul to Republican evil because clearly Obama has sold his soul to Democrat LOSERS. Biden is a response to the McCain agenda. Mc is back — and he is now setting the terms of the debate.
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Kudos to KC for getting the jump!
Wow–you all are pretty disgusted. Certainly much more than me, but I have no expectations of Obama so I can’t be disappointed. I like this post by Big Tent Democrat called “Given the Obama Rules, Biden was the Best Choice Politically.” Shorter BTD: given that Obama would never choose Clinton or Clark, Biden was the most helpful choice among the others at the back of the pack (Bayh, Kaine, Sebelius). Rad, you are the voice of doom in your household–are they also getting worried, or are they drinking the Kool-Aid? (You’re not the only one–a friend of mine at work confided that he’s worried now too.)
Also, please see my correction above–my run started around 11,800, and while it was up and down, overall it was downhill to 10,800. I’ll post more on this tomorrow–it was nice up there, although overcast and threatening thunderstorms. Even then, you can see forever up there, which is pretty cool.
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And p.s.: Maybe this post by Melissa McEwan at Shakesville sums things up for you all?
Vice Presidents, except for the sitting VP, are historically overlooked and/or actively shunned when it comes to making actual policy. That may console you, or further concern you, but I think it’s worth remembering.
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