Vice President Joe Biden has many fine attributes but his gift for gaffes is beginning to rival Dan Quayle’s record. In this gem from Blacksburg, Virginia, Biden declares that he has never seen it written that we cannot be the leader of the world in automobile production in the 20th Century.
It’s astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness…takes its toll
But Listen Closely
Not for very much longer
I’ve got to…keep control
It is clear that Biden recently ran into this lot:
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/08/joe_biden_to_the_rescue/ Hope Biden stops Romney’s rise in the polls.
Lottakatz, about that feedbag — story.
Once when my kid was young, we were in a park that had a wishing well and he threw some pennies in and began to look very pensive. Quickly my guilty-mother gene spurted “bad bad” neurotoxins and I began to imagine that he was wistful because he wanted something that I had inappropriately denied him, thus becoming a “bad mother.” (I will say that the courts had given me a drubbing that made it hard to avoid thinking “bad mother” at every opportunity, so I was vulnerable to those crazy thoughts.)
Long story short, I prevailed upon him to actually divulge the object of his wishing well desires.
He wanted “a ferret with a diamond collar.”
==================================
I don’t like Biden. I worked like a jackass to arrange some testimony before his committee in about 1990 (Judiciary Committee) and after putting it all together at my own expense, we brought in mothers to talk about atrocities committed in family courts all around the country, and how constitutional rights were routinely denied although the denials were unable to get addressed under the civil rights act because the federal courts refused to exercise their jurisdiction in these matters, cavalierly dismissing the most horrendous complaints because they were “family law” that did not belong in the federal courts. Biden prevented them from speaking, one after the other, because state court judges had issued gag orders, allegedly to protect children from having their privacy violated. We pleaded with him to allow the testimony without using the children’s names and he steadfastly refused, finally telling one mother from New Jersey, “I don’t want to share a jail cell with you because you’re violating a court order in Congress.”
DO NOT LIKE HIM.
Nothing he will ever do will ever sit right with me, because of this — and I admit that it is a petty prejudice on my part, but so be it. So long as the 14th amendment allows me to have petty prejudices, I can’t stand the guy.
And I hope he never gets a pet ferret with a diamond collar.
Biden’s from Delaware. I don’t like their bankruptcy laws. Do you want to talk about a rocky horror picture show? How about South Dakota and their usury laws?
I saw the Rocky Horror picture show once when I was in California. I thought it was disgusting.
Here is one for Biden…
Dredd,
Do you know why Morrison named his band “The Doors?”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Morrison
Lottakatz, Did W really have a “problem”? He said anything he wanted to say and it didn’t matter, because he did anything he wanted to do.
Under those circumstances, misspokings don’t count.
Mespo, We have very little history in the way of disagreement. I did take your initial comment personally, the transposing of an inaccurate date- even if it was 100 years off- didn’t merit the label. And did I mention that I like Joe? 🙂
Also, I was reading the early reports on the ‘chains’ matter as the story broke and what I had read was basically that Joe was pandering to an African American audience and “y’all” and the word “chains” as a metaphor was proof, it was at best a poor choice of words without the overlay of racism IMO and a tempest in a teapot. I saw “chains” as a less narrow metaphor and find it appropriate. Any dissatisfaction with “y’all” just struck me as nuts, though he pronounced it incorrectly, it was a stretch for him I think, like “cheezy grits”.
It occurred to me later that you were likely addressing both issues with your initial statement and I certainly hope you were; you are someone that values precision but if you weren’t if you weren’t addressing both, well, lighten up because confused dates does not a jackass make. That or I WILL be expecting a rhinestone embellished feedbag from you at Christmas. 🙂
I do have a question though since the use of the word “chains” in that venue has become, for some, a matter of concern (not me). Is the larger metaphor (as I see it) correct or appropriate as a metaphor in any setting? Obviously I think it is, both as a description of the economic state of the 98%, Student loan debt, credit card debt, mortgage debt, medical debt- cradle to grave and not dischargeable in bankruptcy and believe it’s use in any venue is appropriate. Do we have a difference in the nature of the use of the word or in the venue, or both? Actually yes, I’m kind of interested in your view.
As to your wondering why politicians can’t get it right even with a teleprompter: I think Joe is most interesting when he’s not using a teleprompter and feel the same about most politicians. I think politicians in general are. I also think some politicians, like Ms. Palin, are not readers, do not read well or speak well and teleprompters don’t help them much. They don’t have a good intellectual handle on the concept they are speaking about so they become confused even when it’s written right in front of them. That was Bush’s problem IMO.
Let Biden Be Biden. I saw the statement in real time,I said aloud,”Got that right” This is being spun almost as much as Howard Dean’s”scream”
God, look at all the time wasted on this drivel… I guess its great this country has nothing else to worry about.
Where do we have good race relations?
The blacks have been given and won some restitutions over the years since ’54, but the relations have in general gotten worse, IMHO. At least in my hometowm.
As for teleprompters, do you think Joe’s “Taps” speech was a teleprompter guided one. My illusion perhaps that it was not.
LK:
It’s nothing personal but Biden has a long history of such gaffes and when you purport to speak for someone else you have the obligation to think first and talk second. How anyone makes these errors in the era of the teleprompter is beyond me. His remark in Danville (which has a history of poor race relations) about the chains is just plain stupid and fear mongering.
You should know that I am hopping here to comment things as I read them.
Joe’s speech is the most remarkable I have ever heard in terms of being personal and intimate.
Thanks Lotta, and yes, consider Ryan making it,
Wow, some things must be true:
—-it IS the start of the late campaign hysteria, if Joe gets this many comments. We know Joe, so what’s new. Do some work, I say, and research Ryan. But hope this reflects negavively on the poopers of gaffs, and hausses Joe’s stock.
—-“,,,Oh jeeze, I just wrote a rant over the proper use of “y’all”- I think I’m infected with it too. Just shoot me.”
Hell, we use y’all for even those within the family. It like “it” is kinda vague and adaptable, goes more after intuition than defined careful use.
—-again as to Joe, what GeneH says. So there so sir.
—-just to differ: the brittish empire. consider the opponents to colonization. Resemble the Amerian indian?
So does their success merit respect? Think not. Its mmorals do not nor was that implied either in the comment, but I add here for emphasis of my disdain for their and our “greatness”.
“Ecuador Accuses UK Of Threatening To Arrest Assange From London Embassy”
“(RTTNews) – Ecuador has accused the British government of threatening to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from its Embassy in London, and warned that such an action would force a strong response from the South American nation.
….
“Today we received from the United Kingdom an express threat, in writing, that they might storm our Embassy in London if we don’t hand over Julian Assange. Ecuador rejects in the most emphatic terms the explicit threat of the British official communication,” Patino said.
….
He said such a British action “would force” Ecuador to respond strongly, stressing that his country was not “a British colony.” He said a decision had been reached on Assange’s request for asylum and added that it would be announced on Thursday.
In the meantime, the British Foreign Office said in a statement that UK had a “legal obligation” to extradite Assange to Sweden. It also warned that the Ecuadorian Embassy’s diplomatic status could be revoked using the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987 if that country refuses to hand over Assange willingly. Such a move would allow British police to enter the Embassy and arrest Assange.”
http://www.rttnews.com/1949086/ecuador-accuses-uk-of-threatening-to-arrest-assange-from-london-embassy.aspx?type=msgn&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=sitemap
The leaks didn’t much hurt Britain as I recall but they sure embarrassed Blair and cast Britain in the role of a U.S. lap dog. Not much has changed apparently. I’m not one for imperialism but jeeze, they had it together at one time, they used to be an honest-to ghod empire. This is just petty and sad.
Shano, I thought Ecuador was/had granted asylum? No, yes, are the British cops there by invitation or as a challenge to Ecuadorian sovereignty? I gotta’ check that out.
nick spinelli,
When I was very young (about, 13-14, I fell madly in love with Dylan Thomas and Brendan Behan. I read everything they wrote and books of criticism about their work and their biographies. I actually have forgotten most everything I read about them and much/most of what hey wrote so all I can say is that this story applies to one of them and is a story I actually ‘use’ to this day.
One of them was accused of plagiarizing another writer, It was a short bit of work a paragraph or verse and reworked a bit but very close in wording to another bit of writing or verse of poetry.
A critic argued that he was not going to jump on the bandwagon with unrestrained criticism. His reasoning was that the writer was a voracious reader as well as a prolific writer having many irons in the fire at one time. (Some measure of drink may have been in the mix also.) The critic argued that it was not beyond imagining that the writer wrote the stolen words and the words were so appropriate to the writer that he (the writer) actually thought he had come up with them. The writer had a body of original work behind him and didn’t need the pilfered writing. Malice or deliberation didn’t seem a reasonable conclusion.
I thought that was a reasoned and civilized conclusion. Maybe what Mr Behan or Thomas needed was a better editor.
I always hold off judgment on plagiarism charges that make the news until I read the actual plagiarized writing and consider it using the guidelines that seemed reasonable to me long ago, among others. Writers read and actual mistakes happen.
Maybe Joe wrote it and didn’t realize he plagiarized it. 😉 Maybe it was outright ‘misdemeanor’ theft. Joe’s been around that track before. Maybe his speechwriter lifted it, that’s not beyond the realm of possibility. Not making an excuse but politicians running for President generally have speechwriters and politicians and their speechwriters steal each others good lines forever. I think it’s easier to spot now and less tolerated so maybe Joe and politicians in general have gotten less sticky-fingered in the last couple of decades because citizens demand better. My affection for Joe is unshaken. That’s the difference between being perceived (by me) as a nice guy and a not nice guy. A minor one-off won’t do it for me, show me a recent ‘felony’. I am entirely unfair in that regard. I’m not running for office, I don’t have to meet expectations. 🙂
Those guys running around campaigning against gays and proposing laws to keep them disenfranchised that get caught with rent-boys and in public restrooms don’t get any slack from me, there is no benefit of the doubt. If they were nicer guys, more likable to me, less of a force for evil, I would likely feel differently on a case by case basis. I have my own bias’ and admit that freely. You could point that out but it would be redundant, mea culpa. Mea culpa.
Just a BTW:
This is a pretty good, short abstract on plagiarism that has a good explanation of “institutional plagiarism” and some political plagiarism.
“Plagiarism: a misplaced emphasis
Published in Journal of Information Ethics, Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 1994, pp. 36-47, with minor editorial changes.”
“…
Similarly, most studies of plagiarism focus exclusively on the competitive variety and ignore its institutionalized forms. The example of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. illustrates this. Biden was a U.S. presidential aspirant who in 1987 was exposed for having plagiarized the speeches of some other politicians, such as British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock. This caused much moralizing in the media (some of it ghostwritten) and contributed to Biden dropping out of the race for president. Yet the dependence of almost all leading politicians on speechwriters was little remarked. Biden was caught out in the sin of plagiarizing from other politicians (a type of competitive plagiarism), whereas plagiarizing from speechwriters was treated as acceptable because it was plagiarism of workers in a subordinate position (institutionalized plagiarism). Indeed, when Biden plagiarized from Robert Kennedy’s speeches, it was actually the words of Kennedy’s speechwriter Adam Walinsky that both used (Posner, 1988:19).”
http://www.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/pubs/94jie.html
LottaKatz:
I agree. What is so wrong with y’all? I use it and my accent germinates from Eastern Washington where, except for a brief time in Europe, is where I lived nearly all my life. I think it is rather unfair to criticize people based upon the pronunciation of certain words, especially when one fully understands what the word conveyed is.
When I entered my early 20’s I had to deal with a lot of people who were from outside of the state and listen to them chide us when certain words were spoken. I had to consciously untrain myself to say “Wash instead of Warsh”, “Special instead of Spayshel” and “Creek instead of Krik”
Finally I just got tired of it and went back to talking normal. Though I have lost a few words.
“Spose I’ll jest head up Meeshun Krik and go k-eye-ote huntin.” now I feel better.
On balance, Wenatchee is not pronounced “Wee-notch-she” it is pronounced “When-atch-she” . Guess I am a hypocrite
As with the passage of the Medical Care Act, this is a big uckinFay deal.
Biden…. Equals bifen…..no offense to fraternity boys…..
Mespo,
Now I think ill have to turn you in to the ASPCA…….that is an insult to their intelligence……and at least a jackass has some redeemable qualities….. Can you say the same for bifen……