Monday, October 20, 2008

Biden to Supporters: "Gird Your Loins", For the Next President "It's Like Cleaning Augean Stables"

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe Reports: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions.

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

Not only will the next administration have to deal with foreign affairs issues, Biden warned, but also with the current economic crisis.

"Gird your loins," Biden told the crowd. "We're gonna win with your help, God willing, we're gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It's like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy."

Ominous Prophecy From McCain Surrogate, NOSTRABIDEN


The Delaware lawmaker managed to rake in an estimated $1 million total from his two money hauls at the downtown Sheraton, the same hotel where four years ago Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., clinched the Democratic nomination. Despite warning about the difficulties the next administration will face, Biden said the Democratic ticket is equipped to meet the challenges head on.

"I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know, so I'm not being falsely humble with you. I think I can be value added, but this guy has it," the Senate Foreign Relations chairman said of Obama. "This guy has it. But he's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us."

"There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'," Biden continued. "Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."

Biden emphasized that the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border is of particular concern, with Osama bin Laden "alive and well" and Pakistan "bristling with nuclear weapons."

"You literally can see what these kids are up against, our kids in that region," Biden said in recalling when his helicopter was forced down due to a snowstorm there. "The place is crawling with al Qaeda. And it's real."

"We do not have the military capacity, nor have we ever, quite frankly, in the last 20 years, to dictate outcomes," he cautioned. "It's so much more important than that. It's so much more complicated than that. And Barack gets it."

After speaking for just over a quarter of an hour, Biden noticed the media presence in the back of the small ballroom.

"I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here," he joked.

"All kidding aside, these guys have left us in a God-awful place," he then said of the Bush regime, promptly wrapping up his remarks. "We have the ability to straighten it out. It's gonna take a little bit of time, so I ask you to stay with us. Stay with us."

from ABC News
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Does Biden really know something or is he just running his mouth trying to scare votes for Obama? Perhaps Biden is laying the groundwork for the real plans that Obama has in store for the United States? Good Grief, it almost sounds like Biden has lost it or he's reading from an old X-Files script. Does Biden anticipate Armageddon? Is this the beginning of a plan to remove Biden from the ticket and insert someone else? Hillary? I don't know. I don't have the imagination to be able to figure out what's going on. Or maybe I have too much imagination and am seeing things that aren't there. Biden has always been one to open mouth and insert foot. Is this another such time? And if he actually knows something, should he be saying anything at this point in time?

If you notice at the end of the speech, after speaking for more than 15 minutes, he "suddenly" realized the press was present. Is he kidding? Is this a joke? He's at a campaign event and he didn't think the press would be there? Has he lost grip with reality? This may be a situation that transcends politics, if Senator Biden has become unhinged. Some of what he is quoted as saying doesn't even make much sense to me. Maybe I'm not understanding? I know I'm not the smartest person in the world, or maybe I'm just having an extremely bad case of brain fog. Do I even understand English? (Bidenglish?).

If Biden is trying to scare votes for Obama, I think he's going about it the wrong way. Polls show that voters tend to trust McCain more when it comes to National Security matters. This unnamed menace might try to "test Obama's mettle", but they probably wouldn't try McCain. He's been tested. I doubt any terrorist can do anything to him that the North Vietnamese didn't already do.


Under normal circumstances, I don't scare easily, but for some reason this is spooking me, even more than the idea of living under a very Liberal Democratic Obama administration. I'm not sure what decisions will have to be made that will seem sound or unpopular. I'm not sure where my unease is coming from: from Biden himself, from what he's saying, or from something that Obama might be hiding. I can think of too many scenarios that might answer my questions, and I don't like any of them.

Is this someone we want as VP? I am not asking this question because I can't support the Democratic ticket. I'm asking because his statements have me very spooked.  

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