BIDEN: Tonight the American people will be looking for their next Commander-in-Chief.

[jillan]

"Tonight the American people will be looking for their next Commander-in-Chief. He or she will have to end the war in Iraq responsibly, because this President has no plan to end it. And, the next President will have to turn immediately to other hotspots, including Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to protect America’s interests.

. . . In the meantime, we have more than a hundred thousand American troops risking their lives every day. We owe them our support as well as our gratitude, and that includes making sure that so long as they are there, they have the equipment to keep them safe, including mine-resistant vehicles. Some of my colleagues did not vote for that funding. That was a mistake. Some of those who will stand on the stage with me tonight also said that there might be troops in Iraq until 2013, the end of their first term as President. I ask them, 'how can you vote not to fund our troops when you acknowledge that they will still be in harms way years from today?' The safety of our troops is more important than election year strategy.

"The next President will also need to understand that many of the challenges we face are connected – you can’t deal with one without having an impact on the others. For example, the next President will have to meet the challenge posed by Iran with smarts as well as strength and without further poisoning our relations with the rest of the Muslim world and, in particular, destabilizing Pakistan and Afghanistan. I voted against the Senate's amendment to designate Iran's entire Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization because I don't trust this administration not to twist this legislation into a justification for war - just like it did with Iraq. Democrats need to unite around an approach that is both tough and smart, not back legislation that plays right into President Ahmadinejad’s hands by escalating tensions with Iran. That only serves to keep oil prices high – with the proceeds going right into the government’s pockets – distracting Iranians from the terrible failures of Ahmadinejad’s leadership and solidifying them against us, while doing nothing to prevent Iran from getting the bomb.


"For the next few months, the American people will be looking for a leader who can face these challenges head on from their first day in office."

Go Joe!:toast:

[aquart]

1. " I don't trust this administration not to twist this legislation into a justification for war -"

I should have heard that from every single member of the Congress.

[PatSeg]

9. The American people know

Biden knows. Why can't other members of Congress come out and speak more directly.

[gateley]

10. Yeah - that's a big reason why I'm a Biden supporter. No bullshit, he says

what's on his mind, and of course that's what gets him into trouble at times. But I'll take gaffes any day over scripted and PC responses.

And it's absolutely right about not trusting Bush any more - they've been burned too many times.

[woodsprite]

2. I'm looking at Joe!!! n/t

[jillan]

3. I have a feeling he is going to kick ass tonite :)

He's got to!

[Think82]

4. KICK for Joe Remember, Biden wanted 90-min debate exclusively on Iraq and no one accepted the challe

except Gravel anbd Kucinich. That should tell everybody something, no?

[lyonn]

5. When is the debate and where can we watch it?

Finally got my butt out of the house today and am way behind on gossip, etc.

[jillan]

6. here ya go ---->

http://blog.joebiden.com/

[lyonn]

12. More neat info on Joe

Nice that the Nev. Senator is backing Joe and Carter's son. That primary/caucus is in Jan.. This Could get damned exciting.

Tonight I am truly counting on Biden to show his stuff, if they give him a chance. Let's hope he doesn't make a gaffe. Others can screw up but not Joe, go figure.

[ginnyinWI]

14. MSNBC, at 9 p.m Eastern n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. Tonight? Is Bush resigning?

[lyonn]

13. The only way they are getting the idiot out of office

is in a straight jacket, strapped to a stretcher shouting "I have been chosen by god and I am the only one to save America - remember the taxes; 9-11; terrorist; terror; taxes; 9-11", well you get it. All those sound bites he has memorized over the last 7 years. It makes me giggle just thinking about this. They will try to sneak him out the underground tunnel but the msm couldn't miss that kind of action even if it would go against the ruling repub party.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

17. Bush is still there blurting out all this rubbish!

[youthere]

8. Kicking for Joe

[rucky]

11. Biden is the one to watch.

:thumbsup:

[ginnyinWI]

15. He's the best of the pack, IMO.

I'd prefer Gore or Kerry, but he's the best one running.

[eridani]

16. So, what does protecting "America's" interests actually mean?

More imperialist domination? Thanks, but no thanks.

[jillan]

18. You are right - fuck America. Why bother protecting it?

[eridani]

19. Who is "America" exactly?

Apparently you think that "America" is really those corporations who have their headquarters in all kinds of exotic island locales without tax laws, and even Dubai (so conveniently close to all those terrorist funding networks)--anyplace but America. My definition of "America" is the rest of us poor saps who just live here.

Why does defending our land and our people imply needing military force all around the rest of the world? 9/11 is clearcut proof that the interests that need such force don't give a flying fuck about the rest of us. Cheney and the rest of his "haves and have mores" thugs were far too busy poring over maps of Iraq's oil fields to bother with attending something so silly as a terrorist task force.

[jillan]

20. And now they are doing it to Iran.

That's why I support Biden. He understands how insane it is to bomb Iran - how that will only turn the rest of the world even more against us and infuriate the thugs around the world even more.

You have me pegged all wrong. Especially about corporate America.
I recently walked away from a decent paying job at a large corporate bank. I couldn't live as a hypocrite anymore. I couldn't take making the CEO richer while I had to bust my butt just to get a 5% raise. I couldn't screw over people any more by convincing them that they should go in debt. I had an opportunity to leave and I took it. And speaking of corporations that have headquarters in other countries to avoid paying taxes - you do know that one of the candidates running got rich off of one of those - and I am not talking about HRC. It makes me sick.

[eridani]

21. If that is the case, then quit identifying with your former employer et al.

"America" is us, not the people who want to dominate the rest of the world by military force and who have no loyalty whatsoever to the American population.

Iran the country would have no interest in us (though many people living there would very likely continue to appreciate our culture) if we hadn't been fucking with them for the last 60 years, beginning with our foreign policy elite's overthrow of the SECULAR democracy that Iran was in 1954. That, and most of our other underhanded foreign policy during that time, has had exactly jackshit to do with the defense of actual Americans.