The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

In case you missed Vice President Joe Biden's appearance on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show  last Thursday night, I highly recommend watching it! It has to be the best such interview I've ever seen. Both Biden and Colbert came across as genuine, honest, and empathetic in this moving, tear-inducing interview, which can be viewed in its entirety at the following two links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opVaEC_WxWs (Part 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwmMPytjrK4 (Part 2)

While I honestly couldn't see him ever becoming president, I personally like Vice President Joe Biden. The guy wears his heart on his sleeve (not literally, of course), comes across as kind of an every-man, and for both good and bad, seems to always say what's on his mind and mean what he says. This has gotten him into trouble on a number of occasions. Yes, if he became president for a couple of terms, we'd likely wind up seeing just as many Bidenism books on the shelves as Bushism books (or close to as many). Here are just a few of Biden's gaffes: - "If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there's still a 30% chance we're going to get it wrong." - speaking to members of the House Democratic caucus gathered in Williamsburg, Virginia, on February 6th of 2009 - "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pic...

In light of the shooting at the Navy Yard this past week, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre joined host David Gregory on Meet the Press yesterday, where the two engaged in the following back-and-forth: Gregory: "This is similar. After Newtown, you were outspoken in saying more security was the answer ... This was the Navy Yard. There were armed guards there, Mr. LaPierre. Does that not undermine your argument?" LaPierre: "No, the whole country knows the problem is there weren't enough good guys with guns! When the good guys with guns got there, it stopped..." Gregory: "Can it be the sliding scale where, you do have armed guards there, but now there's not enough armed guards? And when it comes to schools, if only we had an armed guard, and then if we had teachers with weapons, then we could stop it. I mean, where does it stop?" "Good guys" with guns? What, like the stories I've recently read of police officers shooting and kill...

Former Republican vice presidential candidate and lover of an Ayn Rand blow-up doll - Paul Ryan - made quite the comment on our healthcare system today. Here, I'll let him explain things himself. Paul, take it away... "We believe that this law is going to collapse under its own weight... This to us is something that we're not going to give up on, because we're not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people. We want to prevent this law, which we really do believe will do great damage to families and the health care system in America." This is merely the foreshadowing of Ryan's 2016 presidential campaign, which will be called, "Vague Details of Destruction," where Mr. Detailed himself will lay about specifics in a vague manner as only he can. These vague details of destruction will include the following sure-fire winning quotes from Mr. Ryan: - "We're not going to give up on destroying the health care s...

At a town hall on Sunday night, Republican Vice Presidential candidate and post-P90x workout Screen Powers lookalike - Paul Ryan, said the following: "(Obama's vision is) ...a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty and compromises those values -- those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us a great and exceptional nation in the first place." This is funny. Paul Ryan is laying claim that Barack Obama - a self-described "Christian" - will threaten this country's "Judeo-Christian" values, yet is campaigning to become second in power to a man that is Mormon. That'd be like if a Republican Vice Presidential candidate declared that the Democratic nominee for president intended to ruin the sanctity of marriage by making gay marriage legal in all fifty states, when the Republican nominee for president had been divorced four times. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/04/paul-ryan-social-conservatives-religio...

I don't like to toot my own horn (unless I'm in the shower and the mood suddenly strikes me of course), but I happen to be quite pleased with myself following the prediction I made on Tuesday and in watching the Vice Presidential debate last night. As I wrote on Tuesday, "In a CNN poll, it showed that 55% of voters expect Ryan to win the debate, compared to 39% who felt Biden would win - a +16% for Ryan. That margin isn't quite as great as Obama's preceding last week's debate, but is still quite significant and due to this, I have a feeling that Biden will be seen as at least coming close to a push when all is said and done, if not being seen as the outright winner. This isn't to say that from an overall quality of performance perspective, I feel that the Vice President will triumph tomorrow. However, due to the lower expectations residing over Vice President Biden, I feel he'll be able to live up to and exceed those expectations to make it appear to...

Preceding the first presidential debate, which was held last Wednesday night, a Times/Zogby poll showed that 49% of voters felt President Obama would win the debate, while 26% felt that Mitt Romney would win - a +23% for the president. This is one of multiple reasons as to why I think both the news-media and the voters felt that Romney won the debate. While one individual may fare better than another, if he/she was expected to perform far better, his/her opponent may be seen as the victor. In college football, if top-ranked Alabama squared off against a team like Bowling Green and was a 35-point favorite over the Falcons in this game, and Bowling Green lost by only 10 points, many people would see that as a moral victory for them, even though in actuality they would have lost the game. Keeping all this in mind, like with Obama in the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney's running mate - Paul Ryan - is expected to triumph over Vice President Joe Biden in tomorrow's debate. I...

Word came forth today, which confirmed earlier rumors that Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, required his running-mate shortlisters to provide him with a full 10 years of their tax returns. As many know, he's come forward by saying he'll only release a maximum of two years worth of his tax returns. This included the person who eventually won the job - Paul Ryan. After Romney selected Ryan as his vice presidential candidate, the two men were interviewed together and Ryan declared that like Romney, he too would release two years of his tax returns. While this appeared to be a smart and sensible decision to most unaware of the rumors regarding how Romney vetted his potential running mates, it may wind up backfiring on the Republican ticket before the election rolls around. Once this bit of news becomes more widespread, what are voters supposed to think? "Mr. Romney - you required that all of your possible running mates release 10 years of their tax returns t...

Earlier today, I wrote a blog where I stated that if President Barack Obama made Hillary Clinton his Vice Presidential candidate, he'd be all but guaranteed a victory in November. I also said that I doubted he would make the switch, unless Joe Biden made a horrendous gaffe or got involved in a scandal. What did I read just a few moments ago? A Biden gaffe and the very surprising responses by 2008 Republican Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees John McCain and Sarah Palin, whom said it'd probably be wise that Obama make the before-mentioned Clinton his VP candidate.  What was it Biden said? Speaking to a crowd of African-Americans in Danville, Virginia, the Vice President said, "Unchain Wall Street. They're going to put y'all back in chains." This was met with immediate criticism by the Romney team and Republicans in general, McCain and Palin going so far as to say it'd be wise for President Obama to name Hillary Clinton as his new Vice Presid...

There are still about three months to go until the presidential election, but if it were held tomorrow, I think President Obama would likely win. However, with three months to go, there's still a lot that could happen to alter the tides in one direction or another. I do think there's one move Obama could make which would all but assure him of being re-elected - that's make Hillary Clinton his vice presidential candidate. Obama should likely do fairly well with women voters as Democratic candidates tend to do. However, this would likely be the icing on the cake (so to speak) to swing women independent and undecided voters to his/their side. Mitt Romney made his move in announcing Paul Ryan as his running mate and has seen a very slight (below-average) bounce in the polls due to it. While I personally find Joe Biden to be a likable guy, I honestly don't believe from an election standpoint, he either adds or subtracts anything from the president's standing. I believe...

I think I may have uncovered the next "Yes We Can" slogan in the world of politics and this is quite possible, as these very words emanated from Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's mouth and there's rumor she may be a potential running mate for the Republican presidential nominee in the 2012 election. What were these words? Stay with me now... "We Have Did". This slogan is going to catch the nation by storm, especially if Brewer is the Vice Presidential candidate. Can you imagine all the signs, shirts and bumper stickers reading these very words? It gives me goosebumps to think about political rallies and supporters of her's chanting, "We Have Did! We Have Did! We Have Did!" I have to give George W. Bush some credit. He paved the way for future GOP candidates whom don't have a firm grasp of the English language to run for president. He have did. Yes, he have...did. http://www.pensitoreview.com/2010/09/02/arizona-gov-jan-brewer-r-we-have-d...