Great article Matt on your Guns & Rosaries Blog!!

There were so many considerations to be weighed by Barack Obama in his VP choice-so many that there was no perfect choice. But in the end, Obama made the best choice possible in selecting Joe Biden.

To be sure, Biden is not perfect. He has an abrasive personality-at least in public-and has a history of putting his foot in his mouth. This was the man who, not so long ago, described Obama as "bright, clean and articulate"-with all those unconscious racial implications. When he appears on C-SPAN talking down to witnesses in Senate Committee hearings, you find yourself wishing that someone would tell him off for his arrogance. And yes, I did refer to him in a past posting as "Joe the Jerk". He also has an embarrassing past issue of plagiarism that will surely be brought back by his opponents.

In addition, his selection seems to contradict the whole Obama message of freshness and change that has proved so popular up to now. Biden, a 6-term senator, is pretty much Mr Insider in Washington.

Perhaps most troubling for Obama is the fact that during the primaries, when Biden was a presidential candidate, the Delaware senator publicly questioned Obama's readiness for the presidency. Not only that, when asked about it at a debate, Biden stood by the remark-with an obviously uncomfortable Obama standing next to him. That will be sure to get a lot of play in the coming months. How many times will Biden be asked what made Obama ready to be president between then and now?

As for the other choices; Tim Kaine would have only added more inexperience to the ticket. Evan Bayh would have put everybody to sleep in the first week. Bill Richardson would have been a good choice as far as experience was concerned. Hillary? Aside from placating a few million women, Obama knew it wasn't worth the headaches. Bill and Hillary are not comfortable in any other place but number one, and Obama knew it. He would have been crazy to choose Hillary-if she really wanted it.

Biden gives Obama precisely what he needed; someone with political and foreign policy experience plus one perceived as more to the center. (God, I hope these politicos don't revive that word, gravitas.) A few months ago, I opined in this blog that of all the Democratic candidates, Joe Biden was probably the most qualified to be president. Given Obama's glaring lack of experience, that consideration had to be the deciding factor in the decision. (Not that I said it, I mean rather because.......oh, never mind.)

gary fouse
fousesquawk

The Biden pick has Hillary’s fingerprints all over it. We finally found out what she got for getting out of the race, the VP pick. Why Biden? Because he has a lot of baggage (especially of late dissing Obama and questioning his readiness), but going back at least to his run for president in ’88, because he’s a loose cannon on the campaign trail, and because he won’t help win (Delaware has how many electoral votes?). If Obama/Biden don’t win, Hillary is there in ’12 to say “told ya so.” If somehow they do win, Biden as sitting VP is too old to run in ’16, the next time there is an open democrat contest. Hillary’s a bit long in the tooth then, but no doubt rested and ready.

Obama announced the pick in 3:00 a.m. text messages to supporters and Dem. Nat. Comm. members. That’s a dig at Hillary. “Sure, Hill,” says the Obama campaign, “you may get to force the VP pick, but look who’s making 3:00 a.m. telephone calls.”

Jesus, you people "see Hillary" everywhere don't you? It's eerie. Almost like "The Sixth Sense" but with Hillary in place of Dead People. They don't make comments more convoluted than that last one.

Gary, you mention Biden's "plagiarism problem" - that had been in the back of my mind for the last 20 years whenever I thought about Biden. What I remembered was he stole a few paragraphs from great Labor Party politician Neil Kinnock, and bizarrely read them verbatim including a reminiscence of growing up in Wales with coal miner parents. Made him seem pretty spacey, maybe drunk.

Finally, TWENTY YEARS LATER, I got the real story (hat-tip to Keith O) He had been quoting those inspirational paragraphs in his stump speech, and crediting Kinnock, for weeks or months; ONE TIME he forgot to include the crediting part. And Dukakis jumped on that gaffe, sent it to all the media, and it became the first modern "feeding frenzy." Gee, thanks Mike! And you won that primary, that turned out real good as I remember! Now I don't feel so bad about the Willie Horton ads.

Biden's a great choice, not only for his experience but his pugnacity. You lot might get a taste of what's coming from TPM's Greg Sargent: Biden brings another key strength: He's extremely effective when he goes on the attack on foreign policy. Rather than whine about how mean Republicans are when they hit Dems on national security, as so many Dems do, Biden has a real talent for responding with an appropriate mixture of mockery and contempt...
When Biden takes aim at Republicans on foreign policy, he exudes a strong sense of authority on the topic that tends to shrivel his target into a cartoonish figure rather quickly.

If nothing else, the FUN quotient of the next few months just got ratcheted up bigtime.

Wow, Jubal. Can't believe a straightforward proposition qualifies as convoluted in your book. You're smarter than that. Hillary gets something for bowing out of the race. Not complicated, not unheard of, and speculated about for weeks in the blogosphere. Obama comes out with a strange VP pick -- you're one of the few on the right that says its good, that Biden's formidable, etc. -- a pick that benefits Hillary. Again, not complicated.

I don't pretend to see Hillary everywhere. But democrat presidential politics? Yeah, guy, I see Hillary there. Hello? Has she been anywhere else for the last 16 years?

Ha ha. Your comment was crazy, but now you think I'm Jubal? That's extra funny, because I was just pretending to be Matt's guest last week at Schubert Flint, and he wouldn't let me in.

No, this is Vern from the OJ. As far as I know though, some Republicans might agree with me that your Hillary conspiracies don't make much sense.

(Ha ha - that's from the other famous Nelson. No not Mandela. The Simpsons.)

Wow. Did I miss read you or what, Vern? I owe Jubal an apology which I humbly offer.

I knew he was "smarter than that." Vern, on the other hand . . .

Really sorry, Matt.

Obama's brilliant. This pick takes three issues off the table for Democrats against McCain:

1. Age 2. Health (Biden's had some tough issues, and 3. Change (36 years years as an entrenched establishment Senator -- the consummate Washington insider!)