'Big Mouth' Biden: Is This The Best Obama Could Do?

Newly minted Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden has been nominated and made his acceptance speech afternoon night. Biden managed to go the entire speech without saying anything stupid but who knows maybe Barack had him on seven second delay.

Following Senator Hillary Clinton's speech Tuesday night and her gracious efforts on the Convention floor Wednesday afternoon, it's become apparent that Obama made the wrong pick. As noted by blogger Darren Duvall, the upside to dissing Hillary is that Obama is not faced with the prospect of former President Bill Clinton hanging around the White House. At the same time, Duvall makes a good funny when he writes "A lot of what he (Biden) has to offer is a legacy of misstatements that make George W. Bush look like Oscar Wilde."

However Duvall also points out Biden's legacy of off-the-cuff and over the top remarks such as "crypto-racist" comments by Biden about Obama and ignorant statements about Indian-Americans in the State of Delaware.

Despite whatever failings Hillary Clinton may have, one can not imagine her making those types of comments. And one can not imagine Barack Obama losing with the New York Senator as his running mate.

But, he will never know now.

This could be it for Hillary Clinton. Democratic primaries in South Dakota and Montana Tuesday are the last of the bunch and could be sufficient to push Senator Barack Obama over the top with a little bit of Superdelegate juice. The Senator's husband, former President Bill Clinton told crowds in South Dakota Monday that this could be the very last day he campaigns for a candidate. In a related story sources are saying that the Obama campaign is negotiating with Hillary Clinton, presumedly to get her to campaign for Obama this fall in exchange the presumptive nominee paying off some of the New York Senator's campaign estimated $40 million campaign debt.

Richardson: How I Picked Obama

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson talks about his turning point in making the decision to endorse Barack Obama and not the wife of his former employer for President. Richardson cites intense pressure from the Clinton campaign and his disgust at anti-Obama television ads the New York Senator aired.



Richardson was confident he had been loyal to President Clinton during his years of service as UN Ambassador and Energy Secretary. Richardson claims that supporters of the former First Lady told him he owed her his support. "That really ticked me off," Richardson said, "But I don't think that loyalty is transferable to his wife... You don't transfer loyalty to a dynasty."

Latinos Upset Solis Dumped by Clinton

A leading Hispanic Democratic leader is fuming mad that Hillary Clinton has replaced her previous campaign manager, Patti Solis, with longtime advisor Maggie Williams, who happens to be African American.

In an email blast to Democratic party members, Steven Ybarra head of the voting rights committee of the Democratic National Committee Hispanic Caucus and a "super" delegate from California had the following warning for the Clinton campaign:

"Apparently, loyalty is not a two-way street," he wrote. "Latino superdelegates like myself . . . will have cause to pause."

Ybarra told reporters that Clinton's termination of Solis, whose parents were Mexican immigrants, was "dumb as a stump."

This is in the wake of a series of Clinton losses in primaries and caucuses and her campaign pinning its strategy on winning delegate rich Texas in March, with the help of Latino voters. To this end, the campaign has sent longtime Villaraigosa flack and former Sister City blogger Michael Trujillo to handle the ground war in Tejas.

Latino Leaders Endorse Obama

In a stunning blow to Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton - and her surrogate in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - the Mexican American Political Association has endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President.

On the heels of the endorsement of the Illinois Senator by labor leader Maria Elena Durazo Clinton's prospects of gaining significant support amongst California's Latinos appears to be fading.

Motivating the decision has been the campaign tactics of the Clintons in South Carolina and elsewhere that some have criticized as being race baiting.

MAPA's National President Nativo Lopez issued the following statement:

“Something nasty in the national campaigns reared its head over the past two weeks, which motivated us to consider another endorsement for a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party primary elections. We have observed with utter disgust the use of racially divisive and polarizing tactics employed by the Clintons, both Hillary and Bill, against Senator Barack Obama, not the first presidential candidate of African American origin. This is something that we would have expected from Republican candidates, but instead it surfaced from the bowels of the center-right institutional currents of the Democratic Party. The tactics are absolutely deplorable and clearly demonstrate what the Clintons think of all people of color."

Lopez' full statement can be viewed here.

Losing support of both the African American and Latino communities in Los Angeles could have a chilling effect on Clinton's prospects in California. It would have a greater impact and reflect poorly on politicians in the state such as Mayor Villaraigosa, Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who've been working hard on behalf of the Clintons.

Sam's American Hotsheet for Monday

So much for "We Report You Decide" at Fox News. Maverick Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul has been bounced from their on-air debates as well as third party candidates. An activist group, rockthedebates.org is pressing to get pledges from the Democratic and Republican candidates to debate Libertarians, Greens and other third party candidates. So far Paul and Mike Huckabee have signed on; Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney are opposed. What are they afraid of?

latinopoliticsblog.com questions the strategic wisdom of the Hillary Clinton campaign having Mayor Villaraigosa tag along in New Hampshire. More importantly - the blog drives home - why isn't the Mayor at home solving problems instead of playing Presidential politics out of state?

Al Gore To Run For President

At least that's the headline this old, dead Republican Mayor is predicting we will see soon.

He just won the Nobel Prize. He won an Oscar. What is there left for a 60 year old man to do?

With Hilary being the only real contender in the Democratic primary - and lots of liberals and environmentalists not real happy with her - You Can Call Me Al could be the savior they're looking for.

Al himself hasn't ruled it out; at the same time a number of major leave efforts are underway to draft the man who invented the internet to run for President in 2008.

That sound you just heard is the Clinton Campaign crapping their pants.

Hillary's Five Grand Plan

Hillary Clinton has proposed that every child born in the United States should receive a $5000 bond which would earn interest over time, which they would receive at age 18 to finance a college education or make a down payment on a house (or throw a massive kegger?).

If the bond earns the current average of around 3.6% and compounded daily, after 18 years the kid could cash out at $9,558.26

This is just more of the socialism that Democrats want to serve up.

One is reminded of the following phrase - though there is disagreement and uncertainty as to who said it:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. "

Keep voting yourself those benefits!

Liberals Want to Outlaw Conservative Talk

Well sort of.

Unable to achieve success in talkradio via the free market, liberals now plan to use government intervention to achieve their goals of more "liberal voices" on the air. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer want to bring back the so-called "fairness doctrine" and other regulations to "balance" programming. Its not just the liberals who are after talkradio but Republicans such as Trent Lott upset that their "free ride" on many conservative programs is over.

As reported by The National Review, longtime Clinton crony John Podesta has authored a treatise on what has to be done about the "problem" of conservative talkradio.

What's next? Are they going to outlaw blogs?

See the problem for you liberals is you might be able to try to outlaw the speech you don't like. However, the dangerous precedent you set will eventually come back to harm you when your opponents are in charge.

If it were up to some of the members of the City Council and the Mayor, laws might be passed that would impose government control on radio programs such as that of Doug McIntyre (pictured above) or blogs like this.

And even if the liberals get their laws, its likely they won't have the intended goals. Should stations be able to air unfettered and wildly profitable conservative talkradio programs, they will drop the format and political coverage altogether in favor of talk programming similar to Howard Stern or Tom Leykis or even other formats such as sports, music or foreign language broadcasts. And even if the government mandates certain types of programming be covered (such as they once did with community affairs programming) the broadcasters will find ways around those rules, such as airing the programs at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday (as many still do voluntarily).

The best bet is to let everyone express their views and then let them be judged in the marketplace of ideas. But do liberals get that? I imagine some do but their numbers are shrinking everyday.