Biden calls himself "the odd man out" among '08 Democrats

By Walter Shapiro

snip

This is the same question that I asked Barack Obama yesterday. What would you say to Democratic primary voters who don't want the next president to get us into a war with Iran?

The way to avoid a war with Iran -- and to avoid a really dangerous Iran 10 years from now -- is to figure out how to connect the dots. And one of the things that I find when I talk to my Democratic colleagues is that they view everything in isolation. As if you can have an Iranian policy that can succeed that has no bearing on the relationship with Russia, China, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan. And that is the part that I find so unsettling.

All the Democratic candidates talk about Iran now, but they don't talk about Iran in terms of the difficulty we're having now with the decline of the dollar and the rise of oil prices. They really don't connect it.

Take the recent vote on Kyl-Lieberman. My argument against Kyl-Lieberman didn't go to the merits ... of whether or not the Revolutionary Guard was all bad or only some bad. And it didn't even rest upon the notion that going to embolden Bush. It was just counterproductive. And it amazes me that the candidates with the money don't seem to get it ... This was going to cause the price of oil to skyrocket...

Guess what happened? Oil went up $30 a barrel. It's not all because of that, but at least 15 percent of the risk factor related to Iran. So you have Ahmadinejad with $25 billion last year -- at $50 a barrel for oil -- to do bad things. Now he's going to have $50 billion to do bad things.

more... http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/21/biden/

just can't wrap their heads around how one thing effects another. sad they have risen to this level in world politics. with that many suppressed cognitive processes, its a wonder how they have risen so much money. (It lends credence to "Joe Biden is too smart for my taste."):eyes::argh: :crazy: :banghead: When that is exactly whom we need as POTUS. (although on second thought thats why they have so much money in donations. the money people are counting on them being so stupid... just like bush.)

If nothing else comes of his candidacy (sniff sniff), may his words be adapted and repeated by the other candidates. NOBODY has delivered such thoughtful, straightforward, unflinching answers to policy questions as Joe Biden.

Yeah yeah, I'm a Biden supporter from the get-go. Yeah yeah, I'm a Delaware resident. But I'd put money on the fact that if Biden was given the same attention and scrutiny that the "money-candidates" are getting in the Media, he'd be a shoo-in. He's got it all, and he delivers it like he wants to solve problems, not just be President of the USA.

All the other more exposed candidates have to do is sit back, let Joe say something, and then say it themselves. Why are the other candidates so wishy-washy with answers? Because they don't have them at their fingertips like Joe.

I could point out the guy's strengths all day, but the fact of the matter is that if someone with Biden-doubts did some honest research, they'd discover that this is our guy. The Democratic Party would be fools not to flock to this guy's side.

And sadly, they probably will be.

I hope they don't squander this chance...

with all their answers. They often are over-managed and over advised. That evidently isn't the case with Biden. He has a lot to say and he says it without hesitation or nuance.

read this article. Just ignore the stuff about Biden and comparison to other candidates -- ignore the political stuff -- and this article explains the situation and ramifications of the global situation better than I've ever heard.

We need to be informed regardless of who gets the nom.

(kick)

<snip>

I have an expression that I have used in my career that is very much in vogue these days: "Big nations can't bluff." I find myself wondering -- all kidding aside -- that the single biggest advantage that I have in being the Democratic nominee is that none of you guys will wonder whether I'm tough enough. I don't have to threaten. I don't think anybody who has worked with me in 35 years, who has covered me, for all the foibles I have, wonders whether I'm going to have to prove in a general election that I'm a tough guy by taking some stupid position about war. I think what people make judgments about is what kind of president they think you're going to be based on your track record and their perception of your character and how you deal with tough things.


<snip>

He's simplifying it to keep the "bogey man" essence of the Iran story alive, which to me is an unwelcome slant and propaganda.

So a country is going to make a fortune on oil, because of the US destabilizing the region and its the US thats rattling sabers and causing the uncertainty in the oil markets. you'd be a fool not to see that this is simply because Iran is supposed to be a US puppet state and it isn't. Its the same reason Cuba is treated like it is, theres a divine right complex about them from the US Govt.

Dancing around and pandering to the bullshit reasoning is getting the world nowhere but closer to WW3