Right Minded Online

Senator Joe Biden is a gaffe machine. He’s the gift that keeps on giving. The man who would be vice president has made some whoppers that make Dan Quayle look like Charlton Heston.

For starters, just last week in the aftermath of the mortgage crisis, Senator Biden tried to score political points by reminding the voters “When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, ‘look, here’s what happened.’”

Problem is, FDR didn’t have the benefit of television. He was instead famous for his fireside chats that were delivered over the radio. But more notably, you’d think that since the Democrats trot out the “worst economy since Hoover” line every election they’d actually know that Herbert Hoover was president at the time of stock market crash of 1929 — not FDR.

Speaking of people in wheelchairs, at a campaign rally earlier this month, Senator Biden instructed a man in a wheelchair to “Stand up, Chuck, so people can see you.” Oops.

Just the week before, Senator Biden illustrated the elitism of the Obama/Biden ticket when he proclaimed “All this stuff about how different Barack Obama is, they’re just not used to somebody really smart. They’re just not used to somebody who’s really well educated. They just don’t know quite how to handle it, ’cause if he’s as smart as Barack is, he mustn’t be from my neighborhood.”

Senator Biden isn’t exactly a candidate who exudes confidence, either. Back on September 11, he conceded “Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Let’s get that straight. She’s a truly close personal friend. She is qualified to be president of the United States of America. She’s easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America. And, quite frankly, um, it might have been a better pick than me.”

And this is the man who would be second in command, or, as the cliche goes, one heartbeat away from the presidency, conceding that he isn’t the best man for the job.

Joe Biden also has a strange way of defining patriotism. In Canton, Ohio on September 18, the senator proclaimed “We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people.” Of those who would pay more, he said “It’s time to be patriotic…time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut.”

This comes from a guy whose party has rooted against its own country during a time of war, besmirched the troops, and trashes the U.S. at every opportunity. His idea of patriotism is instead to pay higher taxes.

On a recent episode of NBC’s Meet the Press, Senator Biden appealed to the 13th Century writings of St. Thomas Aquinas to cast doubt on the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church on abortion. In fact, the Catholic Church has consistently taken a pro-life position, and Senator Biden was publicly chastised by the Church for misrepresenting its position.

But the Catholic Church isn’t the only one to publicly chastise Joe Biden. Even Barack Obama, Biden’s own running mate, has dumped on the senator from Delaware. Just last week, Senator Obama criticized John McCain for his opposition to a government bailout of AIG. When it was pointed out that Senator Biden had taken the same position, Obama remarked “I think Joe should have waited, as well.”

What makes this exchange so comical is that Joe Biden has publicly chastized Obama at least twice. The Obama/Biden campaign recently ran a commercial claiming that John McCain is out of touch because he can’t even use e-mail. In fact, as a result of injuries he sustained while a POW in Vietnam, McCain has limited use of his arms and cannot use a keyboard.

Senator Biden went after his own campaign for “making fun of John McCain’s inability to use a computer,” stating “I thought that was terrible by the way,” and that “I didn’t know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we would have never done it.”

And last week while making a campaign appearance, Joe Biden warned “Barack Obama ain’t taking my shotguns, so don’t buy that malarkey. If he tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem.”

And then there’s a little issue with coal. Senator Biden informed an environmentalist at a campaign rally just a few days ago ”No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they’re going to build them, over there [in China]. Make them clean. We’re not supporting clean coal.”

But the Obama/Biden campaign does support clean coal. In fact, Joe Biden is on record himself asserting “Imagine…what Barack and I can do taking that $4 billion…and investing it in coal gasification, finding out what we can do with carbon sequestration, finding out how we can burn the coal that you dig that can free us from being dependent on foreign oil countries and at the same time not ruin the environment. That’s within our capacity to do it, if you give me $4 billion I promise you, I promise you we will find the answer.”

The man who would be next in line to the presidency isn’t the sharpest knife in the box. As a voter, you’d like for your vice presidential candidate to know his history, know what his positions are, be on the same page as his running mate, and sincerely believe he is the best person for the job. Joe Biden is none of these. Senator Biden is simply an empty-suit politician who panders to whatever group he happens to be speaking to, and relies on the ignorance of others in order to score political points. At the moment, however, the candidate Joe Biden seems to be helping the most isn’t Barack Obama, but John McCain.

I’m normally not one to complain about partisanship, as I thrive on it. However, our Congressional leaders seem to be lamenting the lack of bipartisanship in the failure of yesterday’s mortgage bailout legislation. While we, the people, can take credit for putting the brakes on this thing, illustrating that the rank-and-file masses often know better than the people we elect to office, Speaker of State Nancy Pelosi apparently did herself no favors right before the vote was taken, even while Democrats blame the GOP for the bill’s failure.

Republicans blamed Pelosi’s scathing speech near the close of the debate — which assailed Bush’s economic policies and a “right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation” of financial markets — for the defeat. It was not much different from her usual tough words against the president and his party.

“We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the Speaker gave on the floor of the House,” Boehner said.

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the whip, estimated that Pelosi’s speech changed the minds of a dozen Republicans who might otherwise have supported the plan.

Bailout bill slapped aside; record stock plunge – Yahoo News.

Michelle Malkin has more on Pelosi’s speech.

I can’t help but remember John Ford as the smug, arrogant state senator who thought he was above the law. How far the mighty has fallen.

Judge sentences John Ford to another 14 years in prison : Local News : Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Obama friend and fundraiser Tony Rezko appears to be cooperating with prosecutors in order to avoid jail time.

“Jail is horrible and Tony Rezko has just two options,” says Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. “One option is to do nothing and get a full sentence. The other is to cooperate with prosecutors.”

Attorneys with knowledge of the governments investigation of corruption in state government say they are convinced the one-time key fundraiser for Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Sen. Barack Obama is either talking or about to do so.

Two attorneys said Monday they and other lawyers have been contacted by prosecutors seeking to check information that only Rezko could have told them. Both attorneys spoke only on condition of anonymity, saying prosecutors have sought to keep such matters secret as part of the grand jury investigation.

Attorneys believe Rezko is talking to prosecutors – Yahoo News.

The Democrats/media never got the recession they so dearly wanted during the Bush administration, but they still aren’t giving up. The AP is predicting today that the failure of the bailout bill is going to lead to a recession. Don’t believe a word of it. The economy will continue to grow as it always does. There will be no recession. Sorry, Democrats/media.

The fallout from the vote against a bailout package for the U.S. financial system may well be lasting pain for the economy.

The Houses stunning defeat of a $700 billion package urgently championed by President Bush, sent shock waves through Capitol Hill, the trading floors on Wall Street and the Oval Office on Monday.

“An economic 9/11,” warned Terry Connelly, dean of Golden Gate Universitys Ageno School of Business, of the potential fallout. As the package went down, panicked investors caused the Dow Jones industrials to nosedive nearly 780 points in their largest one-day point drop ever. Markets across Asia fell sharply Tuesday in the wake of the Wall Street downdraft.

Bailout bill defeat could cause painful recession – Yahoo News.

Michelle Malkin reports that overseas markets aren’t tanking nearly as bad today as the press is making them out to.

I’m sure it just kills the AP to have to report that “Iraq has bought 12 new U.S.-built reconnaissance planes to monitor militants and the borders, the Defense Ministry said Monday, a small step in the countrys attempt to reassert itself in air space now controlled by U.S.-led forces.”

Progress continues to be made where Democrats have proclaimed only defeat.

Iraq buys 12 US-made reconnaissance planes – Yahoo News.

No sooner did the House of Representatives reject the bailout bill than they are plotting another one. Sheesh. These people just can’t take “no” for an answer.

“What would be wrong, I think, would be to act without some kind of clear indication from the House about how they’re going to proceed,” said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. “We don’t need to start all over.”

The two men campaigning to replace Bush watched the situation closely — from afar — and demanded action.

In Iowa, Republican John McCain said that Obama and congressional Democrats “infused unnecessary partisanship into the process. Now is not the time to fix the blame; its time to fix the problem.”

Obama said, “Democrats, Republicans, step up to the plate, get it done.”

The burden for votes fell more strongly on Republican leaders. About three out of five House Democrats voted for the legislation; only a third of Republicans backed it.

Let’s get one thing straight. The bailout bill failed because the voters didn’t want it. Even some Democrats understood this and voted against it. That the “burden for votes” fell more strongly on Republicans than Democrats makes me proud to be a Republican.

White House, lawmakers plan new bailout deal – Yahoo News.

The AP is out with its typical get-Obama-elected tripe today trying to pass off the absurd notion that the failure of yesterday’s bailout hurts John McCain more than it does Barack Obama, even though it was Obama’s party, the Democrats, who could not get the job done. No amount of GOP bashing is going to take away from the fact that it was the Democrats who failed. Let’s be clear. The failure of the bailout bill is a good thing for the American people. That more Republicans voted against it than Democrats gives the GOP something to brag about because most voters did not want this monolith to pass. At any rate, the Democrats are the majority party in Congress, and therefore don’t need one, single Republican vote in the House of Representatives to pass anything. If this bill was such a good thing, Democrats should have been able to muster enough votes without any help from the GOP, pass it, and go out and take credit for it.

Analysis: With bailout, McCain reaches dead end – Yahoo News.

You’re walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges at you.

You are carrying a 40 caliber Glock, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?

Democrat’s Answer:

Well, that’s not enough information to answer the question! Does the man look poor or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Does the Glock have an appropriate safety built into it? Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children? Is it possible he’d be happy with just killing me? Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me? If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me? Should I call 9-1-1? Why is this street so deserted? We need to raise taxes, have a paint and weed day, and make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior. This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for few days and try to come to a consensus.

Republican’s Answer:

BANG!

Southerner’s Answer:

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Click. (Sounds of reloading)

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Click.

Daughter: “Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips or Hollow Points?”

Son: “Can I shoot the next one!”

Wife: “You’re not takin’ that to the taxidermist!”

I just called Congressman Cooper’s office to voice my displeasure with the bailout bill. I was told by a kind staffer that the vote was underway, and that the Dow was down 500 points in response. Drudge is now reporting that the House vote on the bailout bill has failed 206-227, plunging the stock market as much as 705 points before rebounding slightly. That’s fine. The stock market will be back up, as cheaper stocks create a marvelous buying opportunity. If the bailout bill were to pass, the damage would only be starting.

Stocks tumble as House votes on plan – Yahoo News.

This is something you don’t see every day. The Associated Press, which is a Democrat organ and firmly in the tank for Obama, ran a piece Friday critical of Joe Biden for mischaracterizing John McCain’s health care plan. You normally don’t see articles critial of liberal Democrats, especially during a campaign season, especially when such criticism makes a Republican look good, which makes me wonder if there is an effort afoot among mainstream media journalists to get Biden booted from the ticket.

Biden misleads when describing McCain health plan as huge tax increase on middle class.

Have you ever seen such a blatant example of media bias in your life? Could you imagine the mainstream press writing this glowingly about a conservative? Well, you’ll have to imagine it, because it will never happen.

ABC’s Sunlen Miller, Matt Jaffe, and John Berman Report: The rain pouring down, his jacket off, his white dress-shirt clinging to his body, Barack Obama played to a crowd in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1964.

Political Radar: Raining on Obama and Bidens Parade.

It’s certainly heartwarming to see Christian people stand their ground against the federal government and the anti-evangelical left.

Defying a federal law that prohibits U.S. clergy from endorsing political candidates from the pulpit, an evangelical Christian minister told his congregation Sunday that voting for Sen. Barack Obama would be evidence of “severe moral schizophrenia.”

The Rev. Ron Johnson Jr. told worshipers that the Democratic presidential nominees positions on abortion and gay partnerships exist “in direct opposition to God’s truth as He has revealed it in the Scriptures.” Johnson showed slides contrasting the candidates views but stopped short of endorsing Obamas Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

Johnson and 32 other pastors across the country set out Sunday to break the rules, hoping to generate a legal battle that will prompt federal courts to throw out a 54-year-old ban on political endorsements by tax-exempt houses of worship.

33 Pastors Flout Tax Law With Political Sermons.

The debate in the U.S. House of Representatives over the behemoth known as the $700 billion bailout bill (or whatever the price tag is now) is underway.

Michelle Malkin » Kill the bailout: The House floor debate is on.

Barack Obama was at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia on Saturday, where it was reported that his campaign ordered that no signs be displayed at the event for “safety reasons.” Right. Fortunately, the McCain campaign welcomes signs at its rallies.

Michelle Malkin » More Obama gangland tactics: Signs banned at Virginia rally today.

Despite all their caterwauling about budget deficits, the Democrat-led Congress appears prepared to embark upon a trillion dollar bailout of the financial industry. All we can do now is make telephone calls and hope this legislation can be derailed before it makes the President’s desk.

Michelle Malkin » All aboard the bailout bandwagon? Hell, no Link to bill added.

With the Milwaukee Brewers victory over the Chicago Cubs, the Brewers clinched the National League wild card on the last day of the regular season, owing to the hated New York Mets defeat at the hands of the Florida Marlins. This knocked the Mets completely out of the playoffs, and means my beloved Philadelphia Phillies will play the Brewers in the National League Divisional Series to begin Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies, who clinched the division title yesterday, played the scrubs today against the Washington Nationals, and won 8-3, giving them a sweep over the Nationals. The Phillies, who trailed the Mets by 3½ games just 18 days ago, went 13-3 over their final 16 games, while the Mets lost 10 of their final 17. The Phillies finished the season 92-70, three full games ahead of the Mets. It’s the Phillies best record since 1993, when they went 97-65, and their second-best record since 1978.

If the Phillies weren’t in the playoffs, I’d be pulling for the Milwaukee Brewers, because they are the parent club of the Nashville Sounds. Several of Milwaukee’s players are former Sounds who we’ve seen play right here at Greer Stadium during the past four seasons. My son and I have met and gotten the autographs of many of the current Brewers’ cast, such as Prince Fielder, Cory Hart, Rickie Weeks, Tony Gwynn, Jr., Mitch Stetter, Mark DiFelice, Mike Rivera, Tim Dillard, Vinny Rottino, Russell Branyan, Mat Gamel, and Brad Nelson. But they are playing the Phillies — the team I have followed for 28 years. This is family. Blood is thicker than water. Go Phillies. Smoke the Brewers.

For the first time in franchise history, the Tennessee Titans have started the season 4-0, with a 30-17 win over the Minnesota Vikings at LP Field earlier today. The Titans therefore remain atop the AFC South.

Following a cardiac ninth inning, the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 4-3 this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, giving the Phillies back-to-back National League Eastern Division titles for the first time in 30 years, before I was even a Phillies fan. (That didn’t happen until 1980.)

Last year, Phillies’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins proclaimed that the Phillies were the team to beat in the National League East. Trailing the Mets nearly the entire season, the Phillies captured the division on the last day of the season.

Before the start of the 2008 season, Mets’ centerfielder Carlos Beltran plagarized Rollins:

Carlos Beltran, the Mets’ All-Star center fielder, seeing how well Rollins’ boast lifted his team to the playoffs last season, has broken his notorious ban on public speaking and pulled a page out of Rollins’ book.

“To Jimmy Rollins,” Beltran announced to a group of reporters in Port St. Lucie on Saturday, “we are the team to beat.”

The astounded press corps, who have come to expect very little copy from the reserved Beltran, scrambled to get their pens, notebooks, and recording devices out of their bags.

“Let me tell you this,” Beltran said. “Without Santana, we felt, as a team, that we had a chance to win in our division. With him now, I have no doubt that we’re going to win in our division. I have no doubt in that. We’ve got what it takes.”

But the Mets didn’t win it. The Phillies did, with today’s victory giving them 91 wins on the season, the most since they won 97 in 1993, and it’s only the second time since 1980 they’ve won that many games. Depending on what the Mets and Milwaukee Brewers do tomorrow, the Phillies will play either the Brewers or the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Divisional Series, which will begin Wednesday. With the second-best record in the National League, the Phillies will have home-field advantage in the best-of-five series, regardless of who they play.

Congressional leaders had a meeting with President Bush at the White House Thursday afternoon to hammer out a bailout plan for the financial industry. That meeting more or less blew up, prompting Democrats and the media to blame the Republicans for the failure.

“Now that Sen. McCain is safely in Mississippi we can get back to serious work,” sniped Frank, who had challenged the Republican presidential candidate in a White House meeting on Thursday to describe his own solution to the crisis.

There were fresh signs of urgency at both the White House and the Capitol, one day after the unusually tempestuous White House session and the collapse of Washington Mutual, the largest failure in U.S. banking history. The Seattle-based institution had invested heavily in the now-moribund mortgage market.

An earlier version of the linked AP story declared what a terrible day Thursday was for the GOP in attempting to carry the water for Obama and the Democrats by dumping the financial mess in the laps of Republicans. Rush Limbaugh spent a good part of yesterday’s show on the latest on the possible bailout by Congress, and had inside sources explain what REALLY happened at that White House meeting Thursday afternoon.

It ended up with Obama essentially chairing the meeting, with the meeting falling apart. The president was described as “beleaguered,” trying to regain control of the meeting. McCain didn’t say hardly anything. Everybody was yelling and screaming in there. McCain did not. He said, “We’ve gotta put these differences aside, work together,” you know, typical McCain.” According to an Obama campaign source…” and this is from the American Spectator blog today. ” According to an Obama campaign source, the notes on the Republican position, House Republican position were passed to Obama via senior aides traveling with him who had been e-mailed the document via a current Goldman Sachs employee and Wall Street fundraiser for the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign source said, ‘It was made clear the memo was from friends and it was reliable.’ The memo, which basically briefed Obama on the Republican position…”

You see, Obama did not defend the Democrat position on this. He led off with an attack on the Republican position, as though it was a shock and a surprise, under the auspices that this deal had already been agreed to. When of course there’s no surprise about what House Republicans believe and there’s no surprise what conservatism is. “The memo allowed Obama and his fellow Democrats to box in Republican attendees and essentially took what President Bush had billed as a negotiating meeting off the rails.” Now, “‘Paulson and his team have not acted in good faith for this President or the administration for which they serve,’ says a House Republican leader who was not present at the White House meeting” and told the American Spectator. Paulson — Goldman Sachs — is a Democrat. He’s very close to Chuck Schumer, and obviously close to Obama.

So this whole meeting yesterday essentially was established to show off Obama’s leadership skills and negotiating skills, and he blew it! People who disagree with him, he has no idea how to negotiate with. Even Obama ended up last night on TV. I think the Democrats were so frightened that the truth would come out about what happened in this meeting. Obama started flooding the TV networks about 6:30. He was on Fox News with “Brett” Hume. He called him Brett. He was on World News Today. He was all over the place, doing a bit of a CYA without explaining why he was doing a CYA. But I want you to listen to what he said to “Brett” Hume on the Fox News Channel last night. It was a bit of a press conference. It wasn’t that he called the networks and said, “I want to be on.” But he held the press conference and listen to what he said.

Every day the GOP holds off this behemoth is a good day for Republicans. But don’t let the Democrats try to convince you that any failure is the fault of the GOP. That might have worked in the days of the Republican majority. But Democrats are the majority party now, and don’t need one single Republican vote to pass anything. Obama blew it in this meeting because he has no leadership skills, and is in way over his head. Take away his teleprompter, and he’s completely lost. Of course, the Democrats are whining that John McCain injected presidential politics into the bailout debate, when the whole thing is an exercise in presidential politics as Democrats try to prop up Obama.

Additional reading: Graham: A Bailout for ACORN?, Democrats Focused on Politics; House GOP Fights for Principle