Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
Pejman Yousefzadeh ·
October 15, 2012 at 12:05pm
One of my favorite blogs is Shadow Government, which does a great job at presenting foreign policy arguments from the right-of-center side of the partisan divide. Its bloggers worked overtime to chronicle some of the assertions Joe Biden made at the vice presidential debate, and the resulting picture is not one that flatters the vice president. Consider the following Bidenisms:
- Joe Biden didn’t tell the truth when it came to the disaster in Benghazi, and he threw the intelligence community under the bus in the process.
- Joe Biden didn’t tell the truth when it came to discussing policy regarding Iraq and Afghanistan, and he threw the military under the bus in the process. Relatedly, see also this.
- Joe Biden clearly got outclassed by Paul Ryan in discussing Afghanistan, and he threw the Obama administration’s policy on Afghanistan under the bus in the process.
- Joe Biden doesn’t seem to understand that when it comes to getting a nuclear weapon, the toughest job is producing fissile material. Getting a nuclear delivery device is significantly easier by comparison
Lots of people say that Joe Biden won the debate. I’d like to know what they were smoking.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
Foreign policy is the most glaring example of the phenomenon that occurs so often in the public sector: Experience does not correlate with competence. Joe Biden has been a "foreign policy expert" precisely because he's been on the wrong side of every foreign policy debate since the mid-70s.
Edited on October 15, 2012 at 1:34pmApr '12
Re: Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
PY, your headings always pull me in. There was a time when American bravado and image of confidence would win a TV debate and dominate in the board room too.
Paul Ryan is the new generation who are hyper educated on their work because they are competing with the world's talent. Ryan knew to support his boss too. It was not all about Paul.
The media is the message and Biden gave the gift that keeps on giving to the Internet talent. I have watched more video mash ups of Biden this last week but got to see and hear Ryan's points again as a aresult. Who woukd a President prefer to have at his side? Who woukd a nation prefer representing their national image?
My best mashup was via Mark Hemingway's twitter, and was Ryan pronouncing all the complex foreign names and places. That exudes knowledge, not bluster and connections to unions. It was meant as comedy.
I also have seen videos of Biden as a younger politician around Gay hart's time and those are horrifying.
Going forward, political leadership will have to have more depth. The Internet and the bloggers are now the media.
May '11
Re: Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
Intelligence community: under the bus.
Military: under the bus.
Afghanistan policy: under the bus.
Beginning to see why Democrats are so fond of public transportation.
Sep '10
Re: Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
The first two Shadow Government articles are by Professor Peter Feaver of the Political Science department at Duke. Peter is a very sharp guy (and it takes a lot for a mathematician to say that of a political scientist, believe me). I know him personally from grad school days. He is, or was, a Democrat but joined President George W. Bush's White House during the dark times in Iraq because he was so concerned for our armed forces and for the nation. One of the best scholars and commenters on civil-military relations and foreign affairs -- I recommend reading anything he writes in those areas.
Edited on October 15, 2012 at 4:17pmSep '10
Re: Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
A Google search will get you directions on how to build an atomic bomb. I haven't tried any of them (yet) so I don't know if the directions actually work. Still, I was pretty shocked that Biden said that it is OK for Iran to have the material needed to build a nuclear bomb because they'll never figure out what to do with it. Our national security is based on the assumtion that Iranian scientists share Joe Biden's intellect.
Feb '12
Re: Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
Biden has never been a "Foreign Policy" expert. It is a manufactured accolade repeated loudly and often until enough MSM people have bought it. People who believe age automatically produces wisdom will accept it.
Aug '12
Re: Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
Sitting on a foreign policy committee is akin to auditing classes in college. It confers no expertise whatsoever.
Re: Maybe Joe Biden Isn’t Good at This Foreign Policy Thing
In some cases, it actually detracts from expertise, it seems.