Don't Put a Muzzle on Biden

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julian-e-zelizer/dont-put-a-muzzle-on-bide_b_120806.html

Julian E. Zelizer
Don't Put a Muzzle on Biden

snip//

But Biden's quick verbal skills can be an asset for Democrats, and they should risk giving him room to speak his mind. The fact is that Democrats have not had a good "attack dog" as their vice presidential nominee for a long time. Just think of 2004, when Senator John Edwards sat there in a televised debate with his polished smile as Vice President Cheney systematically eviscerated his record and the Democratic Party in general.

Biden is a different kind of vice presidential candidate. During this campaign, Biden has offered some of the most biting comments about how Republicans have conducted the war on terrorism and foreign policy. In one debate, Biden offered a devastating critique of then Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani--and implicitly the entire Republican Party--when he said that all of Giuliani's sentences consisted of "a noun, a verb, and 9/11." Biden has called Bush's administration the "worst" in modern history with regards to foreign policy and argues that "every single thing they've touched has been a near disaster." He has been equally tough in his criticism of Senator John McCain. "The administration's policy and John McCain's view-- and I love him--are abject failures. We have never been weaker in relative terms than we are today," Biden said of their foreign policies.

This is the election when Democrats have the opportunity to go on the attack. The incumbent president is overwhelmingly unpopular, the economy is facing tough times, there is real confusion and uncertainty in foreign policy, and the Republican candidate only has tepid support from key factions in his own party.

From a strategic perspective, this is not the time for Democrats to play nice. Biden is the perfect candidate to take on this challenge, a man with a wealth of foreign policy expertise and political experience, yet a hardened politician who is willing to be as aggressive with the GOP as they have been with Democrats in recent elections. Democratic operatives should take the risk and give Biden some room to say the things that Obama himself probably can't say.

[napi21]

1. I don't think anyone is going to muzzle him! I doubt he would have taken

the job if he didn't get a pass on that one. Joe is going to be a BIG ASSET to Barack. You just watch!

[opihimoimoi]

2. Get that man a microphone and set him FREEEEEEEE

:)

:toast:

[Thrill]

3. If they were going to do that. They wouldn't have picked him

[hedgehog]

4. You can try putting a muzzle on him......

Wait - that's more Jim Webb




Joe Biden is more this:




But trust me, you don't want to get him mad!

[Cha]

5. Yeah, Biden can say mccain is

a noun, a verb, and a pow.