I had planned to have a pop quiz here. Where you the reader would be asked to compare two quotes, one from Joe Biden and one from Ahmadinejad. The two quotes coming from speeches given in the last 24 hours. Joe Biden recited one of the quotes during his speech today on foreign policy in Cincinnati, OH. The other was translated from a speech given by Ahmadinejad yesterday addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations. I had planned to ask you to guess who said what. There would then be a clever moment when it became clear that it didn't matter who said what, as they were saying the same thing. Unfortunately I can't give you an official quote from Joe Biden at this time as the Obama camp has only released excerpts from the speech as a transcript. But I promise I'm working on it.
Today when I was watching Biden deliver his self titled Big Important Foreign Policy Speech, after listening to him lie about his voting record on Iraq and say he didn't support the invasion of Iraq, when according to votesmart.org and of course public records he did in fact vote to invade Iraq in 2002 it was starting to sound like the same old stump speech, but then Old Joe got rolling.
As Joe spun the tale of Barrack Obama's War, how seven years ago Obama voted against the war in Iraq, which is true, however Obama was a state senator at the time, not a US Senator so it didn't mean anything in the grand scheme but it did put Obama on the right side of the anti-war movement. Biden then extoles the virtues of Obama's voting against the surge, but in a strange twist then starts giving Obama credit for the growing success in Iraq. I know it's confusing. I got a bit lost myself. Biden starts referring to "Barrack's Plan", now I know Biden will say absolutely anything that Obama tells him to in order to get in the White House, but "Barrack's Plan"? It's as though he assumes no one will ever fact check him.
According to my calculations under "Barrack's Plan", Saddam Hussein have been in power for the last six years, the people of Iraq would still be living in fear of murder rape and worse from their government and Iraq would still be harboring and offering financial aid to terrorists. That's a bad plan. But that is exactly where we would have been if Obama was making the decisions, if Biden were calling the shots we would have gone in to Iraq in 2002,then we'd pull out a few months later, leaving destruction and chaos in our wake. I don't care who you are neither of these plans end well. Both leave us with enemies not allies in Iraq.
While many don't agree with the 'handling' of Iraq, it's many because they don't understand War. War is not for the weak of heart, it requires commitment, flexibility and resolve. I don't have the time nor the inclination for a history lesson on the challenges of winning a war, but suffice it to say, we've still got troops in the DMZ in South Korea and that war ended over 50 years ago. The people of a Free Iraq are our allies, they are just a young nation rising from the ashes of a cruel dictatorship. A people that were held hostage in their own country for over 30 years under Saddam Hussein. After 30 years of mistreatment by their own government, and a half hearted effort by the United States in 1991, the Iraqis were right to question our presence initially. It is our American soldiers on the ground that are winning the hearts and minds of the Iraq people through their continual presence and support. The Iraqis now believe they can be a democratic nation and they know American will stand by them. This plan sounds like a much better plan!
Back to the quotes, about three quarters of the way through the speech, Joe utters a line that now I wish I had DVR'd. He said something to the affect that In Afghanistan the production of opium has increased since we invaded. He then went on to say that terrorism was spreading in the region.
This is what Ahmadinejad said yesterday:
"In Afghanistan, production of narcotics is multiplied since the presence of NATO forces. Domestic conflicts continue. Terrorism is spreading.."
When the Vice Presidential Nominee for the Democratic party starts sounding eerily familiar to a vicous tyrant who savagely murders women in his own country for the unforgivable crime of being raped, I think its fair to start talking about why I will not vote for that candidate.
For those of you unacquainted with Ahmadinejad, please allow me to introduce you to the man that is belived to be responsible for the 1979 kidnapping of the American hostages in Iran, and has made it known that he believes his rise to power will bring about Armageddon. Just yesterday he began his speech on the floor of the United Nations by pleading with Allah to "hasten the arrival of the Imam-al Mahdi" for those non-muslim scholars this signals the beginning of the Apocolypse, Rapture to the Christians in the group. Sarah Palin gets chastised for praying, but this guy gets quoted by Biden after telling the UN that he is on a mission from God to bring about the end of the world?
This is the guy Barrack Obama through his surrogate Joe Biden has said that he will speak directly to without conditions? I bet he sends Biden first. People have an alarming tendency to go 'missing' while visiting Iran. Especially those that go there to promote freedom and democracy.
Joe Biden's speech was to set the tone for Obama's big debate this weekend. Biden was to lay out the vision of deliberate diplomacy while not appearing soft on our enemies all the while downplaying the fact that we haven't been attacked on American soil since 9/11. Throwing out words like "smart sanctions" in reference to Iran. Does that make the ones we've been using for the last several years stupid? What is utterly mind blowing is that he managed to condemn the decision to invade Iraq, while bragging about Obama's intentions to invade Pakistan if he had "actionable intelligence". What does that mean to Obama? If twelve years and eighteen United Nations resolutions weren't enough diplomacy in Iraq, what is? Don't even get me started on teh intelligence... So let me get this straight it's ok to invade a sovereign allied nation, but not one that has threatened the United States? Interesting plan Obama has there and he's the one trying to "improve" our standing in the world?
Famous for political gaffes and hyperbole, Biden has provided plenty of fodder for the media during his career as well as this campaign. Whether it's insulting immigrants or asking a wheelchair bound man to stand to be recognized, the media just laughs it off cause it's "just Joe being Joe". His running mate may not be as forgiving however, after Biden commented that the democratic ticket didn't support clean coal, a public scolding was immediately issued from Obama.
Biden managed to work in a few personal stories just misleading enough to create the illusion of grandeur. He spoke of how his helicopter was 'forced down' over Afghanistan, which is true, but it was due to a snowstorm not to enemy fire. He also mentioned his recent trip to Tbilisi to visit the Georgian president, what he failed to mention is that he had to fly commercial for the photo op because the department of defense refused to authorize his trip. It almost makes you feel bad for Biden. Both he and Obama feel the need to embellish their roles on the world stage to feel deserved of the post they've been nominated, when all John McCain has to say is 'Look at my record, it's speaks for itself.' Biden's verbosity is infamous, unfortunately for him just saying something doesn't make it true. Even if you're not the first person to say it.
