*************

Many would disagree with you just based on what little was done in the 90's, even with the "peace dividend". Besides a healthy stock market, what was accomplished?

Health care reform? NO.
Trust? Absolutely NOT!!!
Pride? Are you Kidding?
Infrastruction Improvemments? NO.
Immigration reform (despite the recommmendations of the Jordona Commission)? NO.
Education reform? NO.
Intelligence reform? NO.
Address a growing Al Qaeda? NO!!!!!!

"Begged for by the loser" ...

Yep! That fits.

Did your reflection type that?

Thanks for your concern, but I can see just fine.

The comparison you are making is between the actual performance of a sitting President and someone who is simply trying to present some new ideas. To suggest that it is fair to subject both of them to the same level of vitriol is unreasonable. President Bush is responsible for the death of thousands of U.S. soldiers, tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens, the mortgaging of our children's and grandchildren's future, the loss of respect for our nation throughout the world, and many of our civil liberties. He is deserving of every bit of criticism he receives - and lest you are tempted to forget, much of that criticism is coming from your fellow Republicans. Senator Biden, along with many of the other candidates - Democrats and Republicans alike - are simply presenting their thoughts and ideas of alternative approaches. Should we subject those ideas to vibrant debate? Absolutely? Should we hurl schoolyard insults at the candidates and reject their ideas simply because of their party affiliation? Absolutely not.

it's true, libs waaaaay outnumber conservatives on the blog. I think most liberals go into attack against Romney's religion and ALL conservative candidates much more frequently than conservatives against Democratic candidates. Even Bush 41's parachute jump mad people angry and reactive. Chill out man, it's just a parachute jump.

As for countering this pathetic MMQ'backing talking point: There's nothing wrong with someone stating what they would have done at critical moments in the past. Of course, you can't only talk about the past, you have to talk about the present and future as well. But, anyone who doesn't acknowledge the past and try to explain how/what they would have done in a given situation is not giving you the full picture of how they would be president.

Posted By Steven in Charleston

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Steven, I like your puppy analogy. On this story about Biden you have 44 comments some supporting Joe, many not.

CNN posted an article about President Bush's father sharing how it's very difficult hearing the media, Congress, etc hammering his son.

549 Comments – 95% hate-filled attacks against President Bush.

If Republicans were the little puppy that comes running at the sound of the refrigerator, Democrats would be the rabid mouth-foaming dogs whose leash is entangled with the refrigerator.

Can you SEE it? Or are do you wear partisan blinders?

It still amazes me that there are so many who say that we are fighting terrorism. I didn’t realize you could declare war on a tactic. Terrorism is a tactic just like carpet bombing or Blitzkrieg. I thought we fought Nazi Fascism during WW II not Nazi Blitzkrieg.

As for the term fundamentalism, we didn’t fight Nazi fundamentalism either. Anybody can be a fundamentalist, it doesn’t make them evil; weird or strange maybe, but not necessarily evil. I’m sure anyone can find plenty of politicians who can be consider a fundamentalist.

I keep waiting for the day that some politician has the guts to say we are fighting Islamic Fascism. No one in the current administration has the guts to say it, nor does it appear that any of the current Presidential candidates do either.

Yes, and that plan would be to smash and slaughter everyone and everything in sight. As has always been the case in winning a war.

You need to stand a little closer to your history books, bub.

Five thousand years of recorded human history have shown that peace can never be "won" nor "negotiated." It must be begged for by the loser.

In fact, what we consider "peace" has ONLY ever existed after terrible periods of military engagement. Like it or not, peace is not the natural state of affairs in the world, and never has been.

The best thing we can be is prepared to smash aggressors with "great vengeance and furious anger" (to quote Tarantino, S.L. Jackson and ultimately the King James Book).

Joe, buddy, the day the President of the United States feels compelled to first consult the League of Thugs and Dictators at the UN, or ANY foreign body, and ask for a "hall pass" in order to defend this great nation, is the day you can stick a fork in this nation, because we will truly be "done."

The other thing is that the U.S. did have the support of the rest of the world on that day and all the days thereafter until Bush squandered it all.

Its this kind of thinking that messing up this planet. Religion and protecting our current Zeitgeist is at the bottom of junk that our masters are feeding us. Money is the new Religion. Education and Dialogue are the only ways to find peace.

INSIDE JOB.

I have this cute little puppy. And whenever I go into the kitchen and open the refrigerator, no matter where in the house my puppy is or what he is doing, he will run as fast as his little puppy legs will carry him, skidding around corners on the hardwood floors, to get to the kitchen. He doesn't stop to think if he is hungry, or if he is enjoying what he is doing more - his brain only can process one thought: "Must....eat......"

I've got to say, I find a lot of similarities between my puppy and the Conservatives on these boards. Did you even bother to consider what Biden had to say? Or did your brain automatically go to: "Democrat.....must trash......"

We can squabble all day over whether the idea of a meeting would have been the best one, or whether Switzerland would have been the best place to go, or whether some nations would have chosen to sit it out. Those things really aren't the point. The POINT Sen. Biden was making, for those of you who didn't bother to consider it, was that he would have immediately realized that Radical Islamic Fundamentalism is a global problem, and therefore requires a global solution. What happened on 9/11 was tragic to be sure, but the reality is these sorts of things have been happening for years - we just didn't care because they weren't happening to us. And what happened when it DID? The WORLD rallied around us, sharing in our grief in a way that we never bothered to share in theirs.

Radical Islamic Fundamentalism is just one of many huge problems facing our world - and the sooner we make an effort to solve them together, the better.

I'll put it another way. We pi$$ed away our chance to avenge the Americans we lost on 9/11, pi$$ed away global support and most importantly, pi$$ed away our greatest chance of actually hampering the progress of world terrorism.

Now where are we? We've lost more American lives than on 9/11, we are hated in the middle-east more than ever, we have to support a dictator with nukes in Pakistan, bin Laden gives us the middle finger whenever he wants, al Qaeda and the Taliban are regaining strength in Afghanistan, solid allies are not so solid anymore and we are jeopardizing our children's economic future because of Iraq.

So people, sometimes talking before you act isn't really such a bad idea and it doesn't make you weak either.

Hey, Ed, a little conceited, are we? Your idea isn't as good as it sounds– serial killers are known to be of unusually high intelligence. Ever heard of Ted Kaczynski (aka Unambomber)?

Look in the mirror America. Look at how cheating in schools has risen to an all time high, even by good kids. Look at how disdainfully almost all politicians and Corporations ™ look at you-and laugh on the way to the bank. Look at how you cheat on your taxes and laugh.

We can't handle the truth. And that is why this country has been heading down the toilet. Instead of the "We're all in this together" mentality which made this country great, we've warped into a nation of "Everyman for himself".

We vote without looking into candidates backgrounds. We don't go to the primaries, instead voting in the general elections for who was chosen for us. "Oh dear god, I don't want my friends to know I voted for someone who lost!" We vote, not for candidates who most reflect our values and beliefs, but for who is "electable" according to most of the Press(tm). Then complain that they follow their own agenda instead of your own.

Doing the right thing isn't always easy. But the one candidate with verifiable integrity, with the openness to talk about the difficult issues, with the guts to tell us when we (the people) are part of the problem, with the phrase "United we stand, Divided we fall" etched upon his soul, with the intelligence to select people for positions because they are qualified and not because they're buddies, we dismiss them.

You know what, America? You don't deserve Joe Biden.

As the world went,we had the world going into Afganistan, it were the actions over and above Afganistan that lost us world concensus. It is something that we lost and shall not recover.

I remmber 9-11 quit well, and I call the moment the President was told in the classroom of the events. To me at the time he reminded me of a deer in the headlights of a car. His first reaction was to get back to Washington before anyone even knew what was going on. Fortuentely, his military advisers and calmer heads realised that his place was not in Washington but in a secure location until it could be sorted out.

Had he limited his response to Afganistan, completed the mission there to include the capture or killing of bin Laden we would today be in a solid leadership role within the world. Rather in typical cowboy mentality we have yet to finish ant thing that was started. Our resources are spread thin about the world. What military victories that have been handed to him on a platter have not been followed through with sound diplomatic measures to capitalize and secure those victories.

I am tired of the shot first ask questions later of this administration. Jimmy Carter is belittled for not going to war with Iran when the students seized our embassy. The question we must ask is what purpose would it have serviced would we have saved the personnel, did Iran represent a danger to the United States, would the cost have been justified. Well, I was sitting on the tarmac while aircraft were being loaded the day after the embassy was seized, thank fully calmmer heads prevailed and those forces while airborne were recalled, no mission was ever actually announced.

Unfortunetly, Monday morning quarterbacking does nothing for us as a nation, expecially if we refuse to learn from past events.

Now in reality, no canidate out there can acheive a 100% withdrawl of the military forces contained in Iraq in 9 months as some of the canidates have blindly stated. That is unrealistic bluster that is immature and demonstrates a total misunderstanding of what is now at stake to the region.

The soundest plan offered to date, calls for the withdrawal of military forces, leaving in place those that are required to secure our bases, and provide training and support to the Iraqi military forces and security police. Iraq is no longer a military mission for the United States, the militay operation consisted with the defeat of the Iraqi military and the disposal of Saddam. After that it became a diplomatic matter with military support.

In other words the military has given this administration it's victory. It is now time for this adminstration to acknowledge that the remaining missions that have yet to be accomplished in Iraq and those missions that have achieved such absolute failure are diplomatic missions not military missions. The Iraqi situation today must be won with diplomactic efforts, not military actions. Today the proper role of the military in Iraq is in the support role of the diplomatic mission, not the other way around.

I haven't always agreed with Joe about everything, but there's no perfect match when you're choosing a politician to represebt you. He has unmatched foreign policy instincts and experience. And his eye is truly always on the working middle class. Plus, with over 30 years as a very successful senator, he really knows howe to move an agenda through Congress. I strongly encourage everyone to take your eyes off the "rock stars" for a moment and give Joe a fresh look.

BIDEN 08

This time his source is Hillary – It takes a (global) village to win a war.

It would be funny if it were not so sad.

I could while away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
And my head, I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.

I'd unravel ev'ry riddle
For any individ'le
In trouble or in pain

With the thoughts you'd be thinkin'
You could be another Lincoln,
If you only had a brain.

And the winner of dumbest post of the day is...

Where have YOU BEEN genius??? The country has been sold out, and beholden by global enonomies LONG AGO..
Why don't you stop driving your 8MPG 10000 pickup while your'e at it too..we don't nead mid-east OIL...Your post is 100% uninformed and REFUTABLE...I'm a CONSERVATIVE, and take great offense to the many postings I have seen – similar to yours – that give us a bad name.....
You complain about a ONE WORLD dynamic...it is all your ultra-rich friends who are to blame for this....

Monday morning quarterback.

Answer: Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, etc., and every country who didn't want to be caught siding with the infidels. In other words, most. Besides, we already have the UN and I thought Democrats were a fan of the UN?

America has already been working with other governments to track down the terrorists. It is terrorists we are after, not "Islamic fundamentalism" Joe. Muslims can be as fundamental as they want as long as they don't break the laws. His poor choice of words would only enhance our image as Crusaders.

This is just more meaningless rhetoric from our candidates.

Posted By Barry, Raleigh, NC : November 11, 2007 8:34 am

I would also like to add that he would have listened to top national security leaders in our own country that warned Bush about going to war in Iraq, that it would be unwinnable and that there was no connection to 911 there, or any WMD. He would not have pushed a PNAC agenda to try to gain control of the world's oil by going to war with Iraq. He would not have taken his eye so quickly off of Afghanistan, where the real terrorists were, to go to an unnecessary/illegal war in Iraq. He would not have manipulated public opinion and fear to further his neocon agenda.

What on earth has President Bush done to secure our nation since 911? He wanted to sell our harbor security to a middle eastern country to make the oil connection there as well. It wasn't until he heard how upset the American people were at that thought that he decided not to do so.

Anyone other than Bush and Cheney would have lead our country in a much better direction. All of you neocon brainwashed Republicans still supporting this administration are in for a huge awakening. Bush is driving our country right into the ground. OUr dollar has fallen to new lows, gas prices are at new highs and still going up, the housing market has stopped, banks are hesitant to loan money and this is furthering the slow down of our economy, the stock market is very fragile, etc. You don't think we need the rest of the world? I beg to differ, we are owned by China, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. We are not the most powerful country anymore (in large part thanks to the PNAC Bush agenda). Everyone needs friends, or they end up alone. If we only choose Israel as our friend, it will be the end of the USA as we know it. We are slowly becoming a third world nation that focuses on corporate interests only. This will be the legacy left behind by this very corrupt administration currently in office. Hillary would be no different. Biden makes quite a bit of sense and Obama would be the only other candidate I would consider. All Republican candidates make me feel like we will bomb the entire world to try to prove how "macho" we are.

Bush has been responsible for more deaths than Bin Laden. 911 caused the deaths of 3000+ people. If you take into consideration the Iraqi people killed alongside our brave soldiers, Bush and company has killed many many more than those who died in 911.

I don't care for being grouped into someone that thought everyone was for war in Iraq. I never supported it, felt it was a huge mistake, saw through the lies being presented to us, knew how difficult it would be to gain control in such a divided region. Cheney even knew it ahead of time. We are not all blind sheep lead by fear. Had we not gone to war in Iraq, our country would be so much farther than where we are now in so many areas...education...economy....trust...pride....infrastructure...etc.

It will be a wonderful day when we have this all behind us.

No, Mr. Biden. Even your 20-20 hindsight is bad.