Since 1804, the first year presidential and veep candidates ran as a team, I can't think of an instance where the bottom of the ticket hurt the top. Only in 1972, when George McGovern indelicately dumped Thomas Eagleton as his running mate did the VP slot hurt the presidential candidate, but Eagleton's dismissal revealed a character flaw in McGovern. Eagleton was set adrift a few days after McGovern said he supported him "1,000 percent."
Now back to Biden, who coincidentally was elected to the US Senate in 1972. In a little more than a week, Biden has launched three gaffes. He told an audience that Hillary Clinton would have been a better pick as Obama's running mate than him. In an interview this week, he said that it's patriotic to pay more taxes.
Today Biden poked his fingers at a reporters chest, presumably a man, and declared, "You need to work on your pecs."
Normally all of this goofiness wouldn't matter if a lot of voters didn't have doubts about Obama--who is just four years removed from the Illinois State Senate. But stay tuned: Biden could go beyond the pale and make the gaffe of all gaffes. We have six more weeks of this political race, and the wear and tear of this campaign will negatively affect Biden. Yeah he's run for president before, but he was out of the race very early both times. Now he's flying from state to state, from time zone to time zone, from rotten meal to rotten meal. It's much different than campaigning in Delaware--San Bernadino County in California and Cherry County in Nebraska are larger in area than Biden's tiny state.
Here is the ultimate question: Will the senator from the First State put the Democratic ticket in a worse state?
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5 comments:
I couldn't believe the Biden pick simply because he is a walking gaffe machine.
Obama has enough issues to overcome, without daily does of Joe to defend also.
Did you ever think that maybe Joe is the only one crazy enough to have accepted the offer?
There is a great deal of conjecture that Biden may soon suffer from some "health issue" and resign, John, further weakening Obama by making his apparent judgment look worse than it already does.
This election has certainly turned out to be one of the most entertaining in recent years, hasn't it?
Loved the example of Cherry County, Nebraska. :)
Hey Biden has experience. Too bad that Biden has such a big mouth that could hurt him and Obama at the polls. It seems Obama might have failed miserably on his judgement to pick a member of his team.
Although to be sure some can argue that he has failed the test of judgement as far as who he hangs with.
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