With all of the empty accusations being directed at Sarah Palin, for the benefit of younger visitors to the site, I thought I would provide some historical context to introduce you to some things that Joe Biden would much prefer you did not know.
Some will remember that Joe Biden ended his first campaign for the White House in September of 1987, after accusations of plagiarism surfaced :
What might be called the Glib Crib Crisis began when the New York Times revealed that Biden had been guilty of rhetorical shoplifting.
Once could be easily explained as a minor oversight, but twice :
To make matters worse, Biden repeated the offense in a tape he made three days later for the National Education Association.
Soon afterwards, a review of earlier speeches given by Senator Biden began to establish a pattern of serial behaviour :
Once textual fidelity became an issue, reporters found earlier cases in which Biden had failed to give proper citation to Humphrey and Robert Kennedy.
During his first months at Syracuse University Law School, in 1965, Biden failed a course because he wrote a paper that used five pages from a published law-review article without quotation marks or a proper footnote.
Each of the infractions, taken individually, could be “much ado about nothing” as Biden describes them, but a series of events predicated upon very poor judgement, is much more than what Biden describes. This is Joe Biden, Obama’s choice for Vice President of the United States. Given how poorly he performed in his home state, during the recent primaries, the Democratic voters of Delaware may very well view him as he was described in 1987 :
A Pre-Existing Subtext. “The basic rap against Biden,” explains Democratic Pollster Geoff Garin, “is that he’s a candidate of style, not substance.”
An Awkward Revelation. The Kinnock kleptomania was particularly damaging to Biden since it underscored the prior concerns that he was a shallow vessel for other people’s ideas.
A Maladroit Response. Top Aide Tom Donilon claimed that Biden failed to credit Kinnock because “he didn’t know what he was saying. He was on autopilot.”
Imagine, a Vice President who “didn’t know what he was saying. He was on autopilot”. This man wants to represent us in dealings with foreign leaders ? Potentially dangerous stuff. These incidents would indicate a pattern of questionable judgement out on his own, away from the shelter of the U.S Senate.
Even worse, is Obama’s decision to put him into the West Wing. This is the kind of decision making that we do not need, not even as a community organizer. Given the description “he’s a candidate of style, not substance”, it could be as simple as birds of a feather..
Biden does make some statements of his own, that will stand the test of time..
http://beltwayblips.com/video/joe_biden_on_barack_obama/