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[ezra816]

back from san francisco. holy shit i love that city. definitely one of the best cities in the country. danced the night away with childhood friends and their significant others. explored the sites with mine. lounged the day away with chris and his friends in the best park ever. ate amazing food, saw adorable sea lions, hugged the hugest trees

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[ezra816]

i heard russia saying that they thought it was a ploy by a presidential candidate to improve his standings but didnt hear anything further than those allegations. i found that in bbc, didnt see it in any of our national papers (not to say it wasnt there). bbc didnt go much further than reporting his allegations, and they didnt even mention which candidate in the article. i thought it was fairly laughable, but perhaps there is more to the story...?!

erick absolutely loves biden, and has for years and years. we were in san francisco when we heard the news and i think he was happier about that than anything else on the trip. i dont know much about him, but apparently according to erick via all the cspan he watches, biden has a history of being tell-it-like-it-is and i-dont-give-a-fuck-if-you-dont-like-it type of guy. which im attracted to because i see a bit of me in that. but obviously that gets him in trouble often, for like all fire-crackers, he puts his foot in his mouth. he reminds me so much of my boss at work--real charismatic, straight-up, almost goof-ball, but still somehow gets the respect he deserves. i dont know much about his politics. he is far less scary then palin. and far less likely to ever be the commander-in-chief he obama wins than palin if mccain wins.

i love election games too. we should watch the debates together!!

Biden

[ezra816]

Biden is tough--a very smart but "keep it simple" kind of guy--a straightshooter. He gets to the bottom of issues quickly and fearlessly. He conducts Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committee hearings efficiently and with authority. He asks probing and difficult questions and does not hesitate to strongly criticize bad government or policy. He takes rational positions based on the facts. He has the balls to stand up to anyone: foreign leaders and officials, corporate executives and power politicians. He is known to have called Slobodan Milosevic a "war criminal" to his face. Biden is fairly partisan, but given the many problems in the world today, and the Republican's misguided or non-existent attempts to solve them, I actually like his stick-in-the-mud attitude. We need a certain stubbornness to overcome the failed policies of the last administration. He will be a great spokesman for Obama's policies.

I don't give much weight to the "he's inside Washington" and "he undermines Barrak's message of change" arguments. Voters know that one doesn't have to come from outside Washington to change things. And besides, for many voters simply replacing the current administration is change enough. I think picking Biden for VP strengthens the Obama ticket by providing a nice balance of "change" and "experience." Obama has incredible ideas for change. Because Biden really knows how Washington works (and doesn't work), he can help Obama implement those ideas more effectively.

Also, one cannot ignore the value of having a VP with deep foreign policy experience. VPs can be very important diplomatic chesspieces. Biden fits perfectly into this role. He knows many world leaders personally. He is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and has played a significant role in defining US foreign policy. You can send him on his own to any country in the world to competently represent our interests abroad.

Anyway, people are going to vote for the name at the top of the ticket, not who the VP candidate is. Polls indicate that naming Biden did not really affect how people feel about Obama or whether they would be more or less likely to vote for him.

[doyourdamnthing]

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, I mean, that's a storybook, man."
-Biden on Obama during the primaries. Yeah, foot in mouth indeed. Other than that he's okay I guess. Just not very exciting. But it is true vps aren't gonna make or break a ticket. I mean come on, Dan Quayle was vp.

[ezra816]

yeah i remember that statement. there was all kinds of discussion if there was a comma after "african-american" or not. obviously the connotation changes with that.

can we hang out soon? i am more free on the weekdays than on weekends. i am totally serious about watching the debates and whatnot. let me know when you guys play frisbee at days park etc.