Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) was brilliant on Sunday. In making the talk show rounds, we has determined and forceful in making it clear the present administration is using smoke and mirrors to describe their efforts (or lack thereof) in Iraq. Sen. Joe had probably his best moment on FauxNEws Sunday. My favorite exchange involved Chris Wallace setting Joe up with an apparent inconsistency between what Kerry said last Winter, and what he is saying now.:
BIDEN: . . . And the fact of the matter is, that what we have done, we have traded a dictator, who, in fact, no one wanted to stay there, happy they're gone, like to have him gone, thinks it's good we're gone, and it's resulted in chaos because of the incredible mismanagement, as Dick Lugar said, of this president.and while he was still on fire, CNN Late Edition:
That's a statement of fact. It's very, very good he's gone. Kerry's happy he's gone. Kerry would have done everything to get rid of him. But he would not have mismanaged and sent so many mixed signals that this administration has, so that the end result is today we have something close to chaos in that region.
BLITZER: John Kerry is going to have a chance to debate the president this Thursday night. What advice do you have for John Kerry when it comes to national security, foreign policy, which is the subject of this debate? What must he do to come from behind? Because in all the national polls right now he's behind.
BIDEN: Well, first of all, John doesn't need my advice. He knows a great deal about this, and I wouldn't presume to tell him. But I'll tell you what I think should be done.
Whether the president does it in a debate, John Kerry should level with the American people. He should say, for example, "Mr. President, when you became president, there was only possibly one nuclear weapon in North Korea. There are now six. Why? Because you had sent mixed messages, you were in paralysis for five and a half months. And then for a year and a half, you've watched those 8,000 nuclear rods get taken out. You watched them, you never -- you never had a plan, Mr. President.
"Mr. President, in Iraq, Mr. President, in Russia, when you took office Putin was moving toward democracy. Now, democracy is in retreat in Russia, Mr. President. Mr. President, you need to listen either to Mr. Powell or to Mr. Rumsfeld. You can't continue this mixed message you're sending to the world."
That's the message I would try to deliver. I don't know what John will do. It's a very different thing.
And look, here's the point. General Abizaid said people say we can't win. John Kerry is saying, we can and must win. Joe Biden is saying that. Dick Lugar is saying that. John McCain is saying that. The CIA is saying that.
What we're saying is, Mr. President, unless you take your blinders off, level with the American people, the course you have us on, Mr. President, is a losing course.
What else did General Abizaid say? General Abizaid, when asked whether we needed more forces in Iraq, said yes. What's the president say? No, we don't need more forces.
I always liked Joe, and this was one of the reason why!
Flash
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