The picture of then-Senator, Joe Biden (with coffee pot in hand,) has been consistently posted along with a quote for many mornings within Kula's Morning Reaction series. It is what prompted the origin of this series to focus upon the transitions and daily activities of the other Executive Office holder: Vice President-Elect, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.
Today's Menu Specials:
- Reheated Leftovers from June w/ "State" Sauce.
- Green Glow Casserole.
- "V"ice cream.
As always (just over the bump), I start you off with a quote from The Gentleman to mull over with your morning Joe.
4 DECEMBER 2008 --
Stated during a press conference after taking part in a meeting with the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism:
"We're not doing all we can or should and we're not doing all we can to prevent the world's most lethal weapons from winding up in the hands of terrorists."
-- Vice President-Elect, Joe Biden
::::: APPETIZER :::::
Vice President-elect, Joe Biden, is asking for our help on behalf of Secreatry of State-designate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, via email.
Our campaign pledged to help Senator Hillary Clinton -- one of the vital members of our team and our future Secretary of State -- retire her campaign debt. That's the money her campaign owes to the vendors across the country that make our political process possible.
Barack and I had the deepest respect for Hillary as an opponent on the campaign trail. Her undeniable intellect, talent, and passion strengthened Barack as a candidate and tested our movement for change.
We welcome Hillary as a partner in our administration, and I hope you will show your support by helping Barack fulfill our campaign promise.
Will you make a contribution of $100 or more now to retire Hillary's campaign debt?
I'm going to be frank folks: $10 is all I'm willing to give, and here's my reasoning.
It's the holidays and I've got family to consider. Friends come next in line and given the dozen of cards I have to write and send out I'm looking more and more strapped for cash than ever before. I contributed the max during both the primaries and G.E. while also working to contribute some to candidates in local, State and National races.
Barack's worth another $4.99 & Joe's worth another $4.99. Hillary's getting my 2¢ and the following piece of my mind.
You haven't earned back my full support after certain remarks from the primary contest; but I've never spoken ill of your character, Mrs. Clinton. You took away a different (and in my view perverse) lesson from Alinsky's rules and applied them in some of the most heinous manners toward your fellow party members. That this deluge of rhetoric is a large part of what sharpened Mr. Obama's nomination and national image is the reason I'm willing to give anything at all to your cause. But I ask you, and those others whom are equally willing to assist you in your need during this charitable season, to what end will our generosity lead you?
One Hamilton for one Clinton. Donation's in & the break's over. Earn back the money you've already spent, and consider this a good-faith loan.
::::: MAIN COURSE :::::
As written on Wednesday here at Joe's Inn, Mr. Biden and Homeland Security Secretary-designate, Janet Napolitano, met with the Commission that oversees WMD & Terrorism threats after reading their recently released report (Available to read as a .pdf file here). What followed for coverage was everything short of being a complete oversight. As an example I point out two news sources who covered this meeting and wound up reporting nearly the same information -- both of which entirely miss the point and significance of Vice President-elect Biden's role.
Matthew Jaffe of ABC News reports the statements of both leaders and link them together with global news in an attempt to add drama. It's as though just mentioning Mumbai, Pakistan and Washington in the same article that features Biden, Napolitano and a Chairman of some sort is enough to get the readership hooked.
Like a day well-spent fly-fishing in the river, this report is catchy and shallow.
Yet the series is named, Political Punch: Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper. Reporting the facts is fine, and actually welcomed given the edginess that tends to lead in news reporting styles. It's about Biden, reading a report and moving on. Hardly amazing. Poop, plop and phooey, Trap.
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In another attempt to offer a "Bidentity" (yes, I'm stealing that buzzword), Reuters offers a more direct reporting style to get attention on Biden: The dramatic headline.
US must halt spread of nuclear, bio weapons - Biden.
The United States has done too little to fight the spread of weapons of mass destruction, U.S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden said on Wednesday, as he got a congressional report warning of their pressing threat.
Reporting with fear tactics. Pathetic.
All this does is attempt to make Biden, Napolitano and the Commission sound like they're mimicking the Bush Administration's cockamamie, WMD wolf-cries of 2002. Be mindful of potential threats? Certainly. Associating the incoming administration with the current one? Hint: McCain lost and that was your best hope to make the comparisons. This selling method doesn't work six years later, Reuters.
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So now, three days later, it seems some in the media are catching on to the true-running theme that's received more hints than a Sunday morning crossword. The Seattle Post-Inteligencer solves the Obama-Biden synergy clue with two across.
Obama could not have made his intentions of inclusion clearer the past couple of weeks, with his carefully chosen uses of the words "we" and "our," after beginning each announcement with words like, "Vice President-elect Biden and I are pleased to announce .... "
I suspect that this potentially significant departure from the style of past presidents has gone unnoticed because the Washington press corps has been too busy obsessing over mindless minutiae and nonsense made to sound more important than it is.
As is becoming my standard mantra: Sit on it, Media.
This transition is about inclusiveness and gathering talent. Try focusing on that other part of the Transition team for some really, juicy bylines. You know, the activities within the Bush Administration's final 45 Days.
You've been hinting at it for quite some time now, after all. There's a month and a half. Go for it. Show some stones.
::::: DESSERT :::::
Eight Vice Presidents have served two full terms:
John Adams, Daniel Tompkins, Thomas R. Marshall, John Garner, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, Al Gore and Richard Bruce Cheney.
Only one President has had more than two Vice Presidents. It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who had:
1. John Nance Garner (1933 to 1941)
2. Henry A. Wallace (1941 to January 1945)
3. Harry S. Truman (January to April 1945)
Truman went on to become the 33rd President after the death of President Roosevelt, less than three full months into his fourth term of office.
::::: THE CHECK ::::::
Thank you for patronage here at Joe's Inn!
Will you give money to Hillary at the request of Veep-elect Biden? What do you think of the media coverage of the Gentleman thus far? Coming around? Too late or early to tell?
See you next time.