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:
- U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops meet with plenty to discuss in the wake of the election.
- From Israel, Biden gets advice on Iran.
- Needing a new recipe for V.P., are we just copying an old one?
As always (just over the bump), I start you off with a quote from The Gentleman to mull over with your morning Joe.
2 OCTOBER 2008 --
Stated during the 2008 Vice Presidential debate:
"... past is prologue..."
-- Vice President-elect, Joe Biden
::::: COCKTAIL :::::
While awaiting the first course, have some comedy-liquor distilled in the back by one of the souse chefs from The National Review, Dave Konig.
"As I watched Joe Biden take that stage in Grant Park, beaming, triumphant, waving his arms to the crowd in that Bidenesque way of his, I felt I was part of history. I felt like I too was there, in Grant Park, with Joe Biden (I was actually at home, in my pajamas, not with Joe Biden)."
::::: APPETIZER ::::::
Apparently the election of Joe Biden to Vice President-elect has gotten some U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops into a political debate when it comes to teaching the Church's stance on abortion issues and whether the Gentleman's pro-choice views warrant a refusal to offer him communion at Sunday Mass.
According to LifeNews.com (which was later covered from this Catholic-run blog by Politico and others) Mr. Biden's hometown Bishop in Scranton, Penn., Bishop Joseph F. Martino, has decided to refuse Communion based on the Gentleman's views of abortion in contrast to those of the Roman Catholic Church. However in Wilmington, Delaware, his local Bishop has made the decision to not follow suit.
Bishop W. Francis Malooly, of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, [Delaware] is participating in the meeting the nation's bishops are holding this week in Baltimore.
He told the Associated Press that he won't ask Biden to withdraw from receiving communion even though several of his fellow bishops have done so. He said he would rather change Biden's opinion on abortion.
"I won't politicize the Eucharist," Malooly said. "I don't want to alienate people. I want to change their hearts and minds."
Exit polls that were conducted on Election Day showed that, "54 percent of Catholics chose Obama. And vice President-elect Biden, who is Catholic, also supports abortion rights," according to Politico.
Bishop Martino was also in attendance at the Baltimore congress yesterday. There, as reported in depth by The Boston Globe, the group asked that Cardinal Francis E. George (Archbishop of the Chicago Diocese) draft a letter to the President-elect stating that though The Church would support the incoming Administration's policies to improve American's healthcare needs and immigration reform efforts, it would also be adamantly opposed to policies that supported abortion rights.
Given the voting results, exit polling and "near-ultimatum" style stance of yesterday, the suggestion that the Catholic Church is losing some significant influence in the mindset of the voting populace may be a bit of an understatement.
::::: MAIN COURSE ::::::
Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, urged the United States to stand firm against Iran's nuclear program and extremists in the region during a telephone conversation she held on Monday with Vice President-elect, Joe Biden.
This is where Joe Biden gets his game on. Not wasting any time after the elections, V.P.-elect Biden has been calling and discussing American-Israeli support with calls placed to their Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, and Likud Party leader, Binyamin Netanyahu.
Anyone thinking that 'Ol Joe is sitting on the bench, waiting for the chance to get in the game must have missed the swapping of jerseys in the locker room. :)
::::: DESSERT ::::::
Obviously, Vice President-elect, Joe Biden, is no Dick Cheney. last week on the 6th Christopher Stern of Bloomberg.com offered a near-perfect model for comparison to Mr. Biden: He suggests Walter Mondale (President Carter's V.P.)
During his tenure, Mondale said he served as an extension of the presidency, traveling to China and the Middle East on diplomatic missions and advising Carter on international and domestic issues.
Where Dick Cheney was a businessman, playing to the interests of corporations, capitalists and the wealthiest power-mongers of the world, Joe Biden has been the diplomat that sees more than just a stake for the nation to consider money-for-power agreements. Biden's history with foreign relations is based on understanding the cultural, social, political and economic interests of an entire nation as they relate to the interests of America.
He's Dudley Do-Right to Cheney's Snidely Whiplash.
However, Mr. Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University School of Law professor and author of The Modern Vice Presidency: The Transformation of a Political Institution points out that a Vice President Biden will be like V.P. Cheney in one, specific way.
"At 65, Biden isn't likely to be eyeing a presidential bid of his own in, say, 2016, when a second Obama term would be over."
::::: THE CHECK ::::::
Thank you for patronage here at Joe's Inn!
As we await Kula's return from vacation, remember to keep an eye out for Guest Reactors who are covering for her this week on Morning Reaction. I'll be continuing to run the Inn until Saturday Night with a special MR designed for the "culinary politician."
See you next time.