[Shodemofi]

Well, according to CNN's front page, Joe Biden has been selected to be Barack Obama's VP.

Quote

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama has picked Delaware Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, two Democratic sources tell CNN.
Delaware Sen. Joe Biden is Sen. Barack Obama's choice to be his vice-presidential running mate.

News of Biden's selection came after word that three Democrats who had been considered contenders, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, had been ruled out. The two Democratic sources who told CNN that Obama had chosen Biden spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Obama campaign says it plans to announce his vice presidential running mate in a text message Saturday morning. Obama was then expected to appear with his vice-presidential choice at an afternoon rally in Springfield, Illinois.

Biden was long considered a likely choice for vice president, but the buzz surrounding him intensified after he returned earlier this week from a two-day trip to the Republic of Georgia after Russian troops invaded.

Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, brings years of experience that could help counter GOP arguments that an Obama administration would be inexperienced on foreign policy.

Sen. John McCain's campaign quickly reacted to word that Biden would be Obama's running mate with a dig at Obama's foreign policy credentials.

"There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden," McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt said in a written statement.

"Biden has denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing -- that Barack Obama is not ready to be president."

Biden abandoned his own White House run after a poor showing in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. He also ran for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out after charges of plagiarism in a stump speech.

The 65-year-old was first elected to the Senate in 1972. Shortly afterwards, his first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. He considered resigning, but decided to continue with his political career.

Biden is currently serving out his sixth term, making him Delaware's longest-serving senator.

Biden is married and has three children. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and got a law degree from Syracuse.

In 1988, Biden suffered an aneurysm and nearly died but has recovered fully.

One of Biden's grandfathers was a Pennsylvania state senator, according to the Almanac of American Politics.

Biden will make his first big speech as the vice-presidential candidate on Wednesday, August 27 -- the third night of the Democratic convention.

Thoughts?

Personally I think he was a good choice. Obama's weakness has been in foreign policy, and as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that certainly lends a bit of experience to the Obama ticket. As you can see Republicans are already making a big deal out of how Biden said he didn't think Obama was ready in the primaries.

This post has been edited by Shodemofi: 23 August 2008 - 12:37 AM

[Moridin]

Excellent choice.

[bigwoody]

Mostly a solid choice. More good than bad, certainly.

[yrock]

Biden was one of my favorites in the primaries, good choice I'd say. Looks like a solid ticket for the Dems.

[Gran the Adequate]

Best Biden quote(heard it on the news a little while ago, so this is probably butchered):
"I DO NOT want to be asked to be VP, but if asked, I will say yes."

[Arcturus Jefferson]

Anyone making fun of McCain's age while rooting for Obama looks a hair silly now.

[Shodemofi]

To be fair Biden is 6 years younger, but I agree, they're both on the older side of things. If Obama were to win 2 terms and Biden were to run in 2016, then they would look silly.

Edit: Terms =/= Turns

This post has been edited by Shodemofi: 23 August 2008 - 01:40 AM

[HordeOfDoom]

To be honest, I think this highlights Obama's weaknesses more than it adds strength to his campaign. Not to mention issues of who'll actually be in charge with such vastly differing experience between the two (Obama and Biden). Cheney already played off of Bush's inexperience badly enough, we don't need a repeat of that.

[kingzog]

From Biden's first run for the Presidency:

Quote

Then in September 1987, the campaign ran into serious trouble when he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by Neil Kinnock, then-leader of the British Labour Party. Though Biden had correctly credited the original author in all speeches but one, the one where he failed to make mention of the originator was caught on video. Within days, it was also discovered that, while at Syracuse Law School, Biden had plagiarized a law review article in a class paper he wrote. Biden said the act was inadvertent due to his not knowing the proper rules of citation, and Biden was permitted to retake the course after receiving a grade of F in the course. Biden also released at the same time the record of his grades as an undergraduate which were C's and D's with the exception of two A's in physical education, one B in a course on English writers and an F in ROTC during his first three semesters. His grades improved later in his undergraduate career but were not exceptional. Further, when questioned by a New Hampshire resident about his grades in law school Biden had claimed falsely to have graduated in the "top half" of his class, (when he actually graduated 76th in a class of 85) that he had attended on a full scholarship, and had received three degrees. In fact he had received a single B.A. in history and political science and a half scholarship based on financial need.

Truly a quality choice.


A little something more recent.

This post has been edited by kingzog: 23 August 2008 - 02:22 AM

[Arcturus Jefferson]

He's the "experienced" part of the ticket.

This post has been edited by Arcturus Jefferson: 23 August 2008 - 02:18 AM

[Mussolandia]

Obama's gone for the "content choice", for once. He picked someone that might actually help once he's in the White House. I say it's a good move in terms of the quality of the leadership available to the US voter, but electorally it is not going to bring supporters to the Obama camp. Biden is a typical liberal Democrat from a very blue state. Chalk up Virginia to the Republicans.

Will be interesting to see if McCain picks Romney and if that has any impact on the electoral map. The Dems can't win without Michigan and I've seen a few polls where a McCain-Romney ticket beats an Obama-Anyone ticket. Granted, it was a while ago and the impact of VPs is overstated, but the race is really close. Closer than I thought it'd be, at this stage. This is the season where Democratic leads begin to erode. Obama's has all but vanished.

[paragon12321]

He could have done much worse. Obama/Sebelius?

[Lamuella]

without reading this topic, let me make some predictions as to what will be happening:

posters who favor the democrats will be saying this is a good or interesting choice.

posters who favor the republicans will be slamming the choice or acting very amused about it as if this has doomed the campaign

at least one person will have already tried to smear Biden.

how did I do?

[Utracia]

I was hoping for Bill Richardson myself...

[Kazuki Mutou]

I would have preferred to see Biden heading the ticket, but this will do.

[paragon12321]

Lamuella, on Aug 23 2008, 12:16 PM, said:

without reading this topic, let me make some predictions as to what will be happening:

posters who favor the democrats will be saying this is a good or interesting choice.

posters who favor the republicans will be slamming the choice or acting very amused about it as if this has doomed the campaign

at least one person will have already tried to smear Biden.

how did I do?

Yes, no, yes; but that's close enough.

@Utracia: Richardson was the first to pop into my head too. There weren't too many really bad choices to make. Although, I'm still angry it won't be Obama/Colbert.

Edit: o/grammar

This post has been edited by paragon12321: 23 August 2008 - 10:48 AM

[mastab]

Haven't they known he'd pick Biden for a while now?

[commandant Tom]

there was a lot of speculation that it was Biden, but the media busted the story at like 2 in the morning before the text message went out.

Sort of ruined the whole surprise, but whatever.

[Ethan Smith]

The text came at 3 AM.

[Lord GVChamp]

He's alright. Foreign policy expert, supposedly, so hopefully the ticket will have SOME foreign policy expertise. Unfortunately, I am not really a fan of BIden's Iraq policy, though his China policy seems alright at first glance.