He almost said it, but he didn’t. Vice President Joe Biden, who has a reputation for verbal gaffes, almost asked “Who cares?” but stopped himself, when he weighed in on the White House’s latest war of words with his predecessor, former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Cheney, a repeated critic of the Obama administration’s foreign policy initiatives, this week accused President Barack Obama of “dithering” and being scared to make a decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan.

“I think that is absolutely wrong. I think what the administration is doing is exactly what we said it would do.  And what I think it warrants doing. And that is making an informed judgment based upon circumstances that have changed … to come up with a sustainable policy that has more than one dimension,” Biden told pool reporters traveling with him at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Prague.

But the Democratic vice president worked hard to keep his foot firmly out of his mouth, after looking piqued when asked about Cheney’s suggestion that Republican former President George W. Bush’s administration had left behind a thorough assessment of the Afghanistan war, according to a pool report.

“Well, look, I don’t …” Biden said, and then paused, the report said.  “Who cares what …” he began again, sounding annoyed. He paused again, looking as though he wanted to stuff the words back in his mouth.

“Well, let me put it maybe,” he said, and he paused a third time, glancing at communications director Jay Carney with a smile, the report said.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I can see the headline now,” Biden said, shaking his head. “I’m getting better, guys. I’m getting a little bit better, you know what I mean?”

Obama has been holding meetings with top advisers to review a request for 40,000 more troops for Afghanistan from General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander there. Obama said he wants to make a thorough review of the request before making a decision.

“A whole lot has changed in the last year. A whole lot’s changed,” Biden said. “So the idea – even if they did – let’s assume they left us a review that was absolutely correct, is that review relevant and totally applicable to today in light of the changes that have taken place in the region, in Afghanistan itself? So I think that is sort of irrelevant. Not sort of, I think it’s irrelevant.”

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Larry Downing (Biden gestures during a ceremonial event with Cheney on Capitol Hill, January 6, 2009)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden said on Wednesday Republican rival Sarah Palin deserves respect.
 
Biden said he assumes that the first-term Alaska governor is qualified to be second in command of the United States, but has not yet made a decision.
 
“She is governor of a state. She warrants respect,” Biden told a town-hall style meeting in Sarasota, Florida, shortly before Palin was to address the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
 
“The only thing that I have to find out and you have to find out is what are her views,” said Biden, a member of the Senate for 35 years who faces Palin in a debate next month.
 
“I have made no judgment about whether or not she is qualified … (but) I’m assuming as governor of a state, even though she’s only be there a couple (of years) that she’s qualified.”
 
He said that will be determined by her views and what she would do as vice president.
 
Looking ahead to their debate, Biden said, “I will walk in with respecting her significant accomplishments and we will make our differences known and that is what we will debate. at least that is what my expectation is.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress

FORT MYERS, Florida - Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, mocked by Republicans as a “gaffe machine,” took a swipe Wednesday at a remark by John McCain’s campaign manager that “this election is not about issues.”
 
“This election is not about issues?” Biden asked rhetorically, drawing hoots and hollers at a town-hall style meeting with several hundred people in Fort Myers, Florida. Noting Americans have difficulty paying for such basics as health insurance and gasoline for their cars, Biden said, “Where I come from, that’s an issue.”
 
Campaign manager Rick Davis, in an interview with The Washington Post, said, “This election is not about issues.” He said, “This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.” He predicted that the more voters get to know McCain and Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama, the more they will like the Republican ticket.
 
Biden bristled. “You have the greatest character in the world, but you are not going to give me a fighting chance that would keep my job. I love ya, but I don’t want you as president,” he said.
 
During 35 years in the Senate, the fast-talking, often long-winded Biden has earned a reputation for gaffes. Republicans count two since last week’s Democratic National Convention — when he referred to Obama as “Barack America” and put himself on the top of the ticket by saying he was “running for president.”
 
On Wednesday, Biden made another slip of the tongue. In promising to help Americans if elected, he said, “the Biden, excuse me, the Obama-Biden administration.” Amid laughter, he added, “Believe me, you all got it right: Obama-Biden.” 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young 

As far as vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is concerned, Michelle Obama has given what will prove to be the most pivotal speech at the four-day Democratic Convention.

And Biden predicted on Tuesday that her prime-time address at the opening of the convention on Monday will help propel her husband, Barack Obama, to the White House.

“Wasn’t that the most incredible speech you ever heard,” Biden, who addresses the convention on Wednesday, a day before Barack Obama steps to the podium, told a breakfast meeting of convention delegates from Biden’s home state of Delaware.

“Mark my words,” Biden said.

“When this convention is over and three to four years from now they are commenting on why the Democrats won, they are going back and say the single most significant event that occurred at the Democratic convention is Michelle Obama — not Barack Obama, not Joe Biden, not Ted Kennedy — but Michelle Obama’s speech.”

“She gave a window to the American people who she is, who he is and what really is the American dream,” Biden said.

Michelle Obama used the address to introduce herself as a working mother, sister, daughter and wife who has much in common with her husband’s humble roots.

With Republicans accusing her husband of being an out of touch elitist, Michelle Obama described him as a Harvard-educated lawyer turned community activist and now a U.S. senator dedicated to helping the downtrodden.

Democrats hope her convention speech, along with those of other this week, give Omaha’s a boost in the polls in his razor-close race with Republican John McCain to replace President George W. Bush in the November election.

Michelle Obama said in her remarks, “What struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, even though he’d grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine.”

“He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did,” she said.

“Like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities they never had themselves,” she said.

“Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values — that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do.”

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