It's Biden ...

[Gato_Solo]

the US has a MASSIVE history of inserting itself into the affairs of other nations. i can't believe you typed that. to arbitrarily cap it at 10 years is to do great disservice to that glorious history, and to practice a puny form of the 'creative statistics' you've made a second career outta lampooning. who are you trying to kid? no dessert for you.

If you said corporations you'd have something. That 10 year mark is not arbitrary, either if you note the war part.

 

[MrBishop]

Yep...and they can be shot on sight. What's your point?

That the FBI and private security contractors in Iraq are Illegal combatants.

 

[2minkey]

If you said corporations you'd have something. That 10 year mark is not arbitrary, either if you note the war part.

WHAT?

how 'bout a glance back at the history of american foreign dealings and various shenanigans over the last 100 years? how about explaining this ten year thing? i really don't understand what you're talking about.

 

[2minkey]

That the FBI and private security contractors in Iraq are Illegal combatants.

um that's kinda pushing it dude. they are not of ambiguous or fluid status. they are always on one side and not blending in as civilian when convenient. i think that might be part of the illegal combatant thing. not that i'm up on the definition. maybe i should scurry off to some kinda internet dictionary and... nah...

 

[MrBishop]

Playing by the same rules by which Iraqis are considered 'illegal combatants'...fast and loose.


FBI agents are effectively spies when they're working outside of the USA.
Private Security Contractors are Mercenaries.

 

[catocom]

damnit, this debat is on 20 channels.
I can't even see the house debate live.

edit: I think the sitting pres man 3 channels, and the radio this morning

 

[catocom]

Palin needs to brush her hair back.
Hard to concentrate on what she's saying, when her hair twitches on every blink.

edit: she looks stronger here in the 2nd half, if she can keep the current pace up.

edit: Somebody needs to tell Joe, you can't be beside the pres. all the time, as vp.

 

[Gonz]

She did very well. Although, the tactic of switching back to energy when she was weak was annoying. Too many "greedy Wall St" remarks & the fact that she's part of a ticket that voted for the Senate version of a $850,000,000,000 pork filled violation of our economic system hurts.

 

[spike]

Well the plan was obvious now. If you don't know anything about a topic or can't answer a question talk about something completely different.

...oh and say "gosh darn it, doggone it, gee willickers, aw shucks *wink* *wink* shout out to my peeps, McMaverick".

 

[jimpeel]

So I have to say that she didn't do as well as I thought she would. Having seen her previous debates against the big guys, and slaughtering them handily, I had envisioned her doing better.

The analysis group at ABC -- Stephanopoulis, The first guy that interviewed her, and another notable lady anchor whose name I also don't recall -- actually scored her high marks and were impressed that she did as well as she did after all the naysaying. They noted that she looked straight into the camera while Biden tended to talk to Ifill. They said that she was talking to America through that lens and Biden was lacking in that.

I have to say that Biden won the debate but not by a far margin. I think he was impressed at how well she held her own against him.

 

[spike]

They noted that she looked straight into the camera while Biden tended to talk to Ifill. They said that she was talking to America through that lens and Biden was lacking in that.

Another petty see-through gimmick that came off weird. Look at the person who just asked you the quetion.

 

[paul_valaru]

actually scored her high marks and were impressed that she did as well as she did after all the naysaying. They noted that she looked straight into the camera while Biden tended to talk to Ifill.

In our PM debate here in Canada, we had one guy talk to the camera, to me it made him look weak.

 

[jimpeel]

In our PM debate here in Canada, we had one guy talk to the camera, to me it made him look weak.

Interesting. Usually you talk to your audience; and the audience last night was behind the camera. Debating relies on skills and one of those skills is to connect with the audience. The lights were blacked out in the auditorium so what was she supposed to do; speak to the audience of one -- Ifill?

I like it when someone looks at me so I can see their eyes. Looking down or away is taken as a sign of insincerity and dishonesty.

 

[spike]

Yeah when you don't look at the person who asks you the question it is insincere but she also did look down a hell of a lot. I was thinking "Is she on her Blackberry or something?".

 

[jimpeel]

Did anyone catch this?

IFILL: Senator Biden, you voted for this bankruptcy bill. Senator Obama voted against it. Some people have said that mortgage- holders really paid the price.

BIDEN: Well, mortgage-holders didn't pay the price. Only 10 percent of the people who are -- have been affected by this whole switch from Chapter 7 to Chapter 13 -- it gets complicated. (Remember THIS thread? - j)

But the point of this -- Barack Obama saw the glass as half- empty. I saw it as half-full. We disagreed on that, and 85 senators voted one way, and 15 voted the other way.

But here's the deal. Barack Obama pointed out two years ago that there was a subprime mortgage crisis and wrote to the secretary of Treasury. And he said, "You'd better get on the stick here. You'd better look at it."

John McCain said as early as last December, quote -- I'm paraphrasing -- "I'm surprised about this subprime mortgage crisis," number one.

Number two, with regard to bankruptcy now, Gwen, what we should be doing now -- and Barack Obama and I support it -- we should be allowing bankruptcy courts to be able to re-adjust not just the interest rate you're paying on your mortgage to be able to stay in your home, but be able to adjust the principal that you owe, the principal that you owe.

That would keep people in their homes, actually help banks by keeping it from going under. But John McCain, as I understand it -- I'm not sure of this, but I believe John McCain and the governor don't support that. There are ways to help people now. And there -- ways that we're offering are not being supported by -- by the Bush administration nor do I believe by John McCain and Governor Palin.

So Joltin' Joe jolts us with still one more way to tell business what to do. This is not just "regulation" it is a taking of the banks and lenders by the government. He not only wants to tell the banks to revalue their holdings DOWN to suit the mortgagee and their ability to pay; he wants to give the bankruptcy courts the authority to do so arbitrarily. Isn't that what got us to this point; telling the banks to make loans to those who can't repay them?

 

[MrBishop]

Watching it now. I think that you're overstating how much time Biden spent looking athte Questioner and looking the 'the people' via the camera.

 

[jimpeel]

Anyone remember this story which was discussed HERE?

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5670703&page=1

Should Biden Share Blame for Foreclosure Crisis?

Experts: Many Americans Lost Homes Due to a Bill Championed by Biden

By JUSTIN ROOD
August 28, 2008

Experts say hundreds of thousands of Americans may have lost their homes due to a bill championed by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., Barack Obama's vice-presidential running mate.

At least two studies have concluded that the United States' foreclosure crisis was exacerbated by a 2005 law that overhauled the nation's bankruptcy law. That conclusion is echoed by other experts, although the banking and credit industry disputes it.

Congressional Republicans drove the effort to pass the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005. But Biden – who has enjoyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from credit industry executives – endorsed the measure early on and worked to gather Democratic support for it.

Biden's early and vocal support was "essential" to the bill's passage, said Travis Plunkett of the Washington D.C.-based advocacy group Consumer Federation, which opposed the measure. Biden "went out of his way to undermine criticism of the legislation," and his efforts helped convince other Democrats to support the bill.

"Biden was a fairly strong proponent of that bankruptcy bill," said Philip Corwin, a consultant for the American Bankers Association, which represents banks and lenders. However, Biden was "not in our pocket in any way," he added.

Biden's Senate office did not provide comment for this story.

Asked if the Obama/Biden campaign was concerned Biden's record was a liability when discussing economic security, David Wade, a spokesman for the Obama/Biden campaign, said, "Barack Obama and Joe Biden have real solutions for struggling families in danger of losing their homes because of the Bush economy and abusive lending practices."

BAPCPA "is directly responsible for the rising foreclosure rate since the end of 2005," concluded a 2007 study by Credit Suisse. The law "increased foreclosures and the number of homes for sale," echoed a July 2008 study by U.S. Treasury researcher David Bernstein. That study estimated the law had pushed foreclosures or forced sales on 200,000 homeowners since it went into effect, but noted that was a rough, "back-of-the-envelope" calculation.

"Trying to tie the forclosure crisis to the [2005 bankruptcy] bill is a stretch," said the ABA's Corwin. Corwin called the Credit Suisse report "junk" and said the Bernstein study wasn't "worth the paper it was written on."

The head author of the 2007 Credit Suisse report clarified his earlier findings in an email Wednesday. "The law likely contributed to increased foreclosures early on," said researcher Don Ravitsky, but combined with other key factors, including subprime lending practices, to create the current crisis. Bernstein did not respond to a request for an interview.

The bill was backed by banks and credit card companies including MBNA, which is headquartered in Delaware, Biden's home state. They wanted the bill because it would make it harder for Americans to use bankruptcy to avoid repaying credit card debt. MBNA executives had been Biden's single largest source of campaign donations, and MBNA has employed Biden's son Hunter as a company executive, lobbyist and consultant. The Obama campaign has said Hunter Biden did no work for MBNA on the bankruptcy bill. MBNA has since been bought by Bank of America.

Over the past two years, sub-prime mortgage borrowing and a weakening economy have pushed increasing numbers of Americans into dire financial straits. Under the old rules, many could have declared bankruptcy, shed much of their debt, restructured their mortgages and held onto their homes, according to experts and the two reports.

But the 2005 law Biden championed made it more expensive and more difficult to declare bankruptcy, experts conclude. That forced hundreds of thousands of distressed homeowners to sell their homes, or default on their mortgages, after which the bank would sell their former home, according to the studies. That flood of homes going up for sale in an already-weakening market further depressed home prices, according to the two reports, snowballing into the current crisis.

BAPCPA "increased home foreclosures, increased the dollar value of financial assets in default, and put additional downward price pressure on real estate markets," concluded the Bernstein report. Bernstein conducted the report as an individual, not as a representative the Treasury Department.

 

[jimpeel]

Watching it now. I think that you're overstating how much time Biden spent looking athte Questioner and looking the 'the people' via the camera.

That was the observation of the analysts at ABC last night.

The analysis group at ABC -- Stephanopoulis, The first guy that interviewed her, and another notable lady anchor whose name I also don't recall -- actually scored her high marks and were impressed that she did as well as she did after all the naysaying. They noted that she looked straight into the camera while Biden tended to talk to Ifill. They said that she was talking to America through that lens and Biden was lacking in that.

What I stated was that I prefer that someone look at me when they speak.

 

[spike]

Well shit that proves it.

Except other analysts say other things:

MATTHEWS: Well apparently according to all the polling, talking to, answering the questions of the moderator, not ignoring those questions, not doing what every, every first year candidate does is go right to the camera. You know what I think of people when they come on "Hardball," and they look at the camera, I think they're dolts. I think that's the one thing people don't like, because when you're looking at me right now, that's real. You're looking at me that's real. You start looking in the camera right now and answer my question and see how you look. Okay just see how you look.

SIMON: Joe Biden went through-

MATTHEWS: Go ahead talk to the camera, don't talk, don't talk to me, see what you looked like. You look like a dolt!

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2008/10/03/matthews-palin-looked-camera-dolt

I'd have to agree. Look at the person who is talking to you. Weird that you consider looking at the camera some sort of triumph under any circumstances tho'.

 

[jimpeel]

A Delaware based blues group called Nothin' But Trouble has a blues song about Biden that is funnier than hell.

Listen to it by clicking HERE

Lyrics:

Joe Biden Blues

Delaware politician on every commission
A top foreign policy man
Chairs a mean inquisition, and holds his position
Got a mem'ry like "Rain Man"
When the man got a mission, got no competition
He got all his bucks in a row
He's a master tactician, you know
And his hair plugs hardly show

He's Joe Biden
J-O-E B-I-D-E-N
He's runnin' again

When he starts speechifying
He can go on from morning 'till the night
If a Bork or a Thomas comes up for the Court
You can bet he'll be in on the fight
He knows everyone, heads of state, Oprah, Leno, the Pope, Sylvester Stallone
He's as social as ol' Bill Clinton
But without the saxophone

He's Joe Biden, baby
J-O-E B-I-D-E-N
He's runnin' again

Give him your tired, your poor hungry folks
He gonna feed 'em well
Give him a wife-beatin' law-breakin' punk
And he'll find'em a nice jail cell
Give him a Georgia, Iraq or Iran
You can bet that the man got a plan
Give him a problem that no one can solve
And he'll fix it on C-SPAN

He's Joe Biden, baby
J-O-E B-I-D-E-N
He got your tax reduction right here
Yeah Mr. Biden, he's your man

He can gut a new corporate welfare bill
From here to kingdom come
He can crunch all the numbers, spread goodwill
And be back for luncheon at one
I got a bridge in Brooklyn says
There ain't nothing that he can't do
Make a statesman out of Obama
And make a Democrat out of you

He's Joe Biden, baby
J-O-E B-I-D-E-N
A weapon of mass seduction
He ain't just any also-ran

Labels: Bidenmania, Music