Dear Senator Biden

[Omaha Steve]

I know you have a great record standing up for labor. When you mentioned Chuck Hagel as a possible running mate back in July, you lost me.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/23/285608.aspx

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Biden picks Chuck Hagel as a Republican he could have as his VP. Hagel, of course, is some of Washington's dark horse pick for VP for either Clinton or Obama. Hagel is to the Republicans what Lieberman is to the Democrats.

Warmest regards,

Omaha Steve

[AnnieBW]

1. I haven't heard anyone ask Biden

why he voted for the credit-card-sponsored bankruptcy "reform" bill.

[karynnj]

2. or why Hillary and Edwards did in 2001

It may be that too many have a similar problem.

[Debi]

10. I was told on another thread that Biden was the only one who voted for it

Hmmmm now must got vote hunting.

[TwilightGardener]

12. I thought Hillary also did, but I'm not sure about Edwards.

[Debi]

14. I hate having to do my own research - that's what I come to DU for

:P

[TwilightGardener]

17. Exactly! There's always people who know shit off the top of their heads--

and are willing to share, so I don't have to Google--God Bless 'em!

[Like It Is]

18. The vote was 75 Yea and 24 nay. Hillary was absent.

Don't blame Biden.

[Ian David]

3. I fucking hate Joe Biden

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3433659

I'd rather vote for Ron Paul than Joe Biden.

[Yael]

8. Can I say 'me too' without gettin tombstoned?

I loathe the man and the ego he rode in on. Not for his ideas -- for his arrogance and delivery.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Well, to be fair to Biden, he HAD to choose a 'Pub according to the debate question--

I don't think he would choose Hagel under any other than that dire hypothetical circumstance. Plus, you'd have to write off Edwards too, Omaha Steve--he picked Hagel as well. But Chuck Todd is smoking CRACK if he thinks that Hagel is being considered for VP for Clinton, Obama, or ANYONE on the D side. Hagel wouldn't do it anyway--he's still a proud Repub (ugh) and WAY too conservative.

[Omaha Steve]

5. OOPS!

Don't you know by now to correct me in private? :-) There are better Pub choices than Hagel though. But for an off the top of his head.....

[TwilightGardener]

7. LOL! Sorry, just keeping it real! But in Edwards' defense, it wasn't a bad answer

off the top of his head, as you say. They did work together in the Senate. Biden is friends with Chuck too, so it's not surprising he'd be their "token" Republican.

[Yael]

9. Hagel was noted in the YouTube debates too. Just a soundbyte...

[TwilightGardener]

16. I see it this way--Biden and Edwards deviously, brilliantly destroyed any chance Hagel might

have had within his own party for the GOP race--maybe we should thank them instead?

[KT2000]

6. Oh come on......

The question asked of Biden was - if you had to pick a repub for vp - who would you pick?
The answer was Hagel.

Biden did not say he was even thinking about having a repub as vp.

It was obviously a question asked to stir things up but not convey truth.

Just saw Weiner doggie's post - no intention of piling on!

[Debi]

11. Steve - you can always edit your OP to show the true question and answer

:shrug: rather than picked apart answers. Biden did enough to hurt himself tonight w/out any of our help x(

[Colobo]

13. Joe Biden needs to take a plane to Australia

and fuck a dingo.

[Debi]

15. Yea!!

You found the Biden bashing thread and jumped on in. Well GOOD FOR YOU! :hug:

[jillan]

21. Biden doesn't need to *f* a Dingo

His wife is gorgeous.

You know - Obama is at the bottom of my list, but I don't think I could ever be as rude as you.

[saltpoint]

19. I'm going to throw out a consideration just for the hell of it

on Biden and Hagel.

They both serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden is fond of Hagel in a way that he will never be fond of Dick Lugar, long the Chair when the Pukes held the Senate, and now ranking member for the GOP.

Lugar's problem isn't that he's an evil bastard. He's really not such a bad guy, but he's a company man from the word go, and his tongue is raw from all the Bush bootlicking.

Take the John Bolton case, for example. Lugar knew intellectually that Biden was right that Bolton was an unstable, globalphobic maniac. But he did everything he could to support Bush's nominee on the flimsy grounds that "a president should get to choose his own appointees, etc., blah, blah, blah."

The other problem with Lugar is that he's zombified. His is the safest seat in the Senate. Indiana Democrats didn't even bother to nominate anyone against him in 04. And he sleeps his way through his obligations. Evidently a staff member nudges him awake when it's time to back Bush on the war or on Bolton or whatver it is.

Hagel broke with Bush on the war, and is likely a more engaging colleague to have lunch with if your choice is someone on that committee and you want to talk shop. His own party has more or less disowned Hagel over Iraq, and naturally Biden is impressed with that dynamic. I take it as a consideration of bipartisan emphasis, which is to say, a bit of a savvy campaign strategy. Were Biden nominated, he'd be under enormous pressure to choose a Democrat, and he would, certainly, but we might see a Hagel as Sec. of Defense much in the way we saw the Big Dog appoint Cohen (R-Maine) as Sec. of Defense.

It's good politics.

[Like It Is]

22. O.C. I started a Biden/Hagel thread on DU after the YouTube debate.

It caught fire and was really flaming. There were both positive and negative reactions. But it was really rolling when the moderator locked it out. I was fit to be tied. Biden and Hagel are really good friends and I think they would work well together. We really need to unite this country. that ticket would do it.

[saltpoint]

23. Hi, Like It Is. It's not unheard of for people to want bipartisan focus

but it happens so rarely at the top levels as to be almost a vanished notion.

We have to get through this autumn to get a clear picture of who's left for the Pukes. Tommy Thompson is out of there by next weekend. He doesn't know it yet, but he's over with.

Maybe Tancredo is gone also, and Duncan Hunter. I'd like to see Huckabee out also, if for no other reason than to have a halfway electable Puke out of major contention. My dark suspicion is that he'll be on their shortlist for veeps. Yuck.

If Joe Biden comes on strong in Iowa and New Hampshire, and it won't be easy given current attitudes and fundraising realities, I think he'd stand a fair chance at the nomination in Denver. But Iowa and New Hampshire would have to come first. He doesn't have to win either one, but he has to place prominently in the top 3 or so to continue raising money and rallying his troops.

If he were to win the nomination -- again, not an easy chore -- the pressure on him to choose a Democrat to run with would be enormous. A tidal wave, in fact. A candidate doesn't want to piss off the very people he has to rely on to win the general election by going outside their ranks to complete his ticket. It leaves a sour taste in a lot of mouths at the local level and our candidate needs those very people's full contribution and support to beat the Pukes in battleground states. It would be reckless and insensitive at one level for him to choose Hagel.

I'll take Hagel's Iraq stance. It took clarity and courage for him to make that stand against Bush. But the rest of his voting record really leaves me drained.

If it's Biden at the top of the ticket, what about Brian Schweitzer for veep? Or Bill Richardson? Or Kathleen Sebelius?

[jillan]

20. Maybe Biden is able to work across the aisle?

I think that is a good quality in a leader.

And Chuck Hagel isn't exactly Ted Stevens....