Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. "And he's going to need help . . . to stand with him. Because it's not going to be apparent initially; it's not going to be apparent that we're right."Sen. Joe Biden, October 19, 2008.
Pajamas Media's Michael Ledeen, an Iran expert, takes a closer look at Biden's bizarre statement.
This sort of a thing is a commonplace for incoming presidents; I can’t remember one who wasn't told something like it during the transition period, and a lot of energy is invariably devoted to analyzing likely scenarios and designing adequate responses. On this one, Biden is simply part of the conventional wisdom. The surprising part of his statement is the last sentence. What does he mean when he says “it’s not going to be apparent that we’re right”?
Of course, it may mean nothing. Lots of Bidengaffes are simply the result of an inability to stop talking, and words just come pouring out. But it may mean what McCain is suggesting it means: that Biden knows that Obama has no sense of what the world is really like, and it’s likely that Obama’s initial reactions will be misguided. The inference would then be: so until I, Biden, get him straightened out, he's probably gonna look bad."
Wow.
More:
On the other hand, he may think he knows something real. There are some blog reports suggesting that US intelligence agencies now believe that Iran will be building its first bomb by next February, and Biden may take those reports seriously. If so, President Obama would have to do something. What? Does Biden think that his administration’s first instinct would be to call a conference and then fly to Tehran to negotiate a big deal? Or does he think it would then be necessary to take drastic action? The talking cure seems more to Obama's taste, but no serious person believes it would succeed.
As I've said many times before, we are not dealing with reasonable people in Iran. Obama doesn't seem to know that, but believe it or not, I think Biden does.
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2 comments:
Just a guess... but given the level of sewage and vitriol coming from the McCain-Palin campaign and their remaining supporters, present company included, Biden could actually have been talking about the very likely uber-partisan tsk'ing, tsk'ing that the likes of Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Liddy, Ledeen, Ruberry, and more will inevitably spew in their knee jerk negative reaction to every sneeze.
Hence the prompt to Obama supporters at this Obama-Biden event to "stand with him".
When in doubt, John, go with the obvious answer (see above) instead of trying to make things up.
Thanks Rob-n.
I'd never heard those points before.
You're brilliant.
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