Joe Biden's performance on Meet the Press yesterday was, in a word, abysmal.
The senator from Delaware possesses a basic political weakness -- lack of discipline.
Biden didn't only hurt himself on Meet the Press, though. If I knew little of Biden and was only partially informed about what congressional Democrats are up to, I would have come away from this interview believing that Democrats have no intention of forcing a withdrawal from Iraq.
His appearance on Meet the Press should be instructive to the other Democratic presidential candidates: they should never be defensive about their intention to end the occupation of Iraq. And they should never concede that the invasion was anything less than a tragic mistake.
Biden spent the first half of his interview with Timmeh essentially defending the invasion and occupation of Iraq. When confronted with his change of position on setting a deadline for withdrawal, did Biden admit he was wrong before or that conditions had changed? No, he instead chose to undercut the Democratic Party position on the Iraq by arguing that the funding bill passed by Congress doesn't have strict deadlines, only target dates. We can argue about if those provisions allow for reasonable flexibility in conducting the re-deployment, or if they're loopholes that weaken the legislation. But Biden took it a step further. To defend his own inconsistencies he emphasized the difference between deadlines and target dates and in doing so undercut the primary purpose of the funding bill -- to put both legislative and political pressure on Bush to withdraw.
And, worst of all, Biden's rhetorical retreat didn't seem to be part of any larger strategy. He simply let Russert drag him along, intentionally maneuvering Biden into defending Bush.
At one point in the interview, as Timmeh pressed Biden about his 2002 Iraq vote, Biden actually said "But he did have the stockpiles of WMD." He asserted this so forcefully that Russert had to stop him and ask "Where did they go?" Biden's response: "Well, it turns out he didn't have them." And later: "He did have material that could theoretically be weaponized."
Again, this is about political acumen. I'm not sure how Biden truly feels about his 2002 vote. Or about WMD. But he should have been prepared. Call it a gaffe, but for a moment it sounded like Biden still believes there were WMD in Iraq. And his mistake was the result of defensiveness about the intent of Democrats to end the war. He managed to mention the manipulation of intelligence by Bushco, but then why continue to justify his vote with "material that could theoretically be weaponized" crap. Interestingly, he then blamed Lieberman and Gephardt for cutting deals with Bush behind Biden's back and forcing him to vote on a flawed bill. True, perhaps. But Biden just sounded like he was making excuses for his mistakes.
Another classic Biden moment. Timmeh asks him about Jim Baker's criticism of Biden's partition plan for Iraq and the first words out of Biden's mouth are "Well, Henry Kissinger endorsed my plan."
The second half of the interview, mostly on domestic and social issues, was an improvement, but not by much. The segment on abortion "rights" was pretty egregious. Actually, Biden doesn't view abortion as a basic right. He sees Roe as an "accommodation" between political and religious priorities. And, again, he tried so hard to defend his support for the late-term abortion ban that passed Congress (while simultaneously defending his critique of the Supreme Court ruling) that he sounded ridiculous. It turns out that he only now became aware that Republicans and the Supreme Court are using the ban to attack Roe and the greater right to privacy. Really, Joe? Are you that stupid? No, you just can't admit you were wrong. And there was this -- Biden's only use of the phrase "pro-choice" was followed by "to use the jargon."
And, though I am loathe to agree with Brian Williams, Joe Biden truly is a gaffe machine. When asked by Russert about Harry Reid's "the war is lost" statement, Biden responded with the same line from last Thursday's debate: "Look, this isn't a game show or football game..." Then, moments later, during the same answer he defended his Iraq policy by saying "it's like if you're in a football game and you know you're going to lose, you might still try get your full-back an all time rushing record by giving him the ball.." Again, lack of preparation. Lack of discipline.
Toward the end of the interview, Biden admitted that he's "thought a lot more about how to be president, than how to be elected president." And, although it's a nice throw-away line, I think it's actually true. Let's hope our other candidates don't make the same mistake.
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