Amtrak A Big Winner With Obama

For years our nation's train system has languished with minimal support and easy access for people to use airlines. Now that the cost of flying has skyrocketed and the technology (and political will) for high-speed rail has finally come to America, funding for trains is now a reality. That doesn't mean just talk, it means a huge boost for Amtrak:

WASHINGTON - New England travelers should benefit from faster, more frequent and safer train travel with an extra $1.3 billion pumped into the long-struggling Amtrak, half of it directed to the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, the Obama administration announced yesterday.

Amtrak, never a favorite of the Bush administration or Republican Congresses, has struggled to retain critical federal subsidies in recent years. But the $787 billion stimulus package recently signed by President Obama will allow the system to renovate trains and stations, improve safety systems, and provide more passenger capacity, administration officials said.

"Amtrak has never been at the trough," said Vice President Joe Biden, rejecting the long-held conservative position that the nation's rail system is a money-losing series of pet projects.

High-speed rail is the key for our short to medium-distance trips. Creating high speed networks is the ideal as we go forward, but for now a large investment in Amtrak is a good start. It will definitely help travelers in the Northeast, but eventually we'll start looking a little more like Europe when it comes to train travel. And no, that isn't a bad thing at all.

Finally, A Vice-President That Cares

For eight long years not only did we have a terrible President in George Bush, we had a sinister Vice-President that went along with him. Cheney's abysmal poll numbers only told part of the story. The man was pre-occupied with expanding secrecy in the Executive branch, torture, corporate power and war. When asked about how people felt about him, he could care less. Our new VP however, well, it's like night and day.

From USA Today Op-Ed by Vice-President Biden):

For years, we had a White House that failed to put the middle class front and center in its economic policies.

President Obama has made it clear that is going to change. And it's why he has asked me to lead a task force on the middle class.[...]

One of the things that makes this task force distinctive is it brings together — in one place — those agencies that have the most impact on the well-being of the middle class in our country. We'll be looking at everything from access to college and training with the Department of Education, to business development with the Department of Commerce, to child care reform with Health and Human Services, to labor law with the Department of Labor. With this task force, we'll have a single, high-visibility group with one goal: to raise the living standards of middle-class families.

Over the upcoming months, we will focus on answering those concerns that matter most to families. What can we do to make retirement more secure? How can we make child and elder care more affordable? How do we improve workplace safety? How are we going to get the cost of college within reach? What can we do to help weary parents juggle work and family? And, above all else, what are the jobs of the future? Here, we'll be looking at green jobs, better-paying jobs, better-quality jobs.

The only jobs Dick Cheney cared about were those of private contractors, especially those that worked for Halliburton. Everything was done in secret and strictly for the sake of a profit...at the expense of the country. Now our Vice-President is willing and wanting to listen to us, to hear our ideas and implement the best plan to move the middle class forward and expand it once again. Too many people have suffered under Bush and Cheney. The time to reverse that is now.

Sunday Talk Roundup: Biden Vs Cheney

Care of the always amazing TPM. This week's theme was the battle of the incoming versus the outgoing Vice Presidents:

Unlike Palin, Biden Knows What The VP Does

Sarah Palin described for a third-grader last week how she wants to abuse the power of the Vice-President's office. It was an over simplification of exactly how she sees being McCain's number two but important nonetheless of how she emulates the Dick Cheney method of corrupting government. Joe Biden was actually interviewed by a fifth-grader recently and at about the 4:00 min mark of this very cute video, he accurately tells young Damon Weaver what the VP does per the Constitution of the United States.

Joe Comes Back On Stage

Joe came back on stage this morning after taking a few days off to the mourn the passing of his mother-in-law. Without missing a beat, he rightly tore into actions of John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Joe Biden Sent His Son Off To War Today

Last night's debate must have been tough for Senator Biden to prepare for but nothing comes close to what he had to do today. Like too many other worried parents, Joe Biden saw his son Beau off to Iraq, along with his National Guard unit.

Palin Was Clueless On Protecting Homeowners

Last night in the middle of the debate, Gwen Ifill asked Palin about her running mate's support of allowing bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgage payments on people's first homes. Biden called out McCain's opposition to helping homeowners (particularly those unlike him that only own one house). Palin didn't want her side to come off as mean and uncaring of the millions who are threatened by foreclosure on their homes so she quickly lied and ran away from the question.

From ABC News:

Sarah Palin got her facts wrong in Thursday's debate with Joe Biden when discussing where John McCain stands on new protections for homeowners facing foreclosures.

The Alaska governor incorrectly made it sound like McCain supports giving bankruptcy judges the power to rewrite mortgage payment terms on first homes.

He doesn't.

Joe Biden did what he did best in the debate and went after John McCain and his failed policies. His adversary across the stage clearly showed that she was way out of her league when it came time to defend her man McCain:

"[W]e should be allowing bankruptcy courts to be able to re-adjust not just the interest rate you're paying on your mortgage to be able to stay in your home, but be able to adjust the principal that you owe, the principal that you owe," said Biden. "That would keep people in their homes, actually help banks by keeping it from going under.

"But John McCain, as I understand it," he continued, "I'm not sure of this, but I believe John McCain and the governor don't support that. There are ways to help people now. And there -- ways that we're offering are not being supported by -- by the Bush administration nor do I believe by John McCain and Governor Palin."

"Governor Palin, is that so?" asked PBS' Gwen Ifill.

"That is not so," said Palin, "but because that's just a quick answer."

Sarah was pretty good at running from questions she didn't have a clue on and if there's something to give her credit for, it was this. Meanwhile back in reality, homeowners with plummeting home values that can't afford their mortgage payments have nowhere to go, that is until they lose their home to foreclosure and the banks are given a free pass and a $700,000,000,000.00 check.

Palin May Not Have Fallen On Her Face, But She Still Lost

Based on the interviews with Katie Couric, a lot of Americans were expecting a spectacular explosion from Sarah Palin. While there were a few gaffes, for the most part she appeased her base and managed to stay on the stage for ninety minutes. Now I would have loved if Gwen Ifill asked her some of these questions but conservatives did a great job of keeping Gwen quiet and inserting a dose of covert racism into the debate in one shot.

As the show went on, Sarah followed her flow chart and while she came off as robotic at times with those talking points, she scored points with her base, especially when she viciously jabbed Biden over Iraq. Sure, the majority of the country was probably horrified to hear her say that Obama and Biden wanted to "wave a white flag of surrender," but Palin's strong suit is not to appeal to undecided voters (the majority of which are opposed to the war). In fact, as the polls showed after the debate, Biden dominated with undecideds. As long as Palin brings the fundamentalists to the polls, she'll have done her part.

While this debate will probably not sway anyone dramatically to one side or the other, there were some memorable moments. In her closing segment Sarah Palin went for the obvious Ronald Reagan reference as she tried to use people's fears so that they'd vote for her and McCain to hold onto our freedoms or else we'll have to explain the loss of them to our grandkids. It was a touching wingnut moment to say the least. Too bad the quote was about Reagan's appeal to end Medicare.

That one probably sailed over the heads of many so I think the key moment for most people was when Biden teared up over the loss of his wife and child and relating to America that he knows what it is like to be a single parent. He showed he was a human being and not just a politician. Then Sarah Palin showed her utter classlessness when she followed it up not with empathy but a tone-deaf response that showed she was still in the debate prep room while everyone else was at the main event. If she was mentally there, then that speaks even more negatively of her character.

Of course there was plenty more and we'll certainly be talking about it in the next day or so before round two of Obama/McCain starts on Tuesday. As many have pointed out, this was no Bentsen-Quayle event and even that verbal sparring match didn't help the Dukakis/Bentsen ticket. All last night did for the big picture was to show that Palin could survive a debate and that Joe Biden could clearly step in for Barack Obama in case of something godforbid. You could tell that Palin had studied and was still cramming with her notes up on stage. Meanwhile Biden spoke with ease and made his points clearly and concisely. As his word cloud shows, he hammered McCain over and over again while Palin had trouble putting together coherent sentences.

Oh and everything that DemFromCT says too.

Cliff Note Sarah Vs. To The Point Joe

Really, there is no comparison between the two people on stage tonight. Sarah Palin leaned heavily on her notes and ran from any questions that weren't answered on those 3x5's. Joe Biden on the other hand, is clearly connecting John McCain to George Bush and smacks any petty attack that Palin throws his way. He doesn't look like a policy wonk as many feared and he isn't brutally attacking her either. Joe has just the right amount of facts and Sarah has empty statements. She may not have burned the place down (yet) but this is hardly a pretty sight for any Republican supporter to watch.

As they did for the first debate, ThinkProgress is live-blogging the event and is easily refuting every false assertion that Palin makes. Everything from her BS about being in the middle class to calling out meetings with foreign leaders that haven't happened. All the "gosh darns" and "ya betchas" isn't going to save that car crash. Nope, not even the winks and the shout out to Dad sitting in the audience.

Despite her presence on the stage, Joe Biden is following Andrew Halcro's advice for the most part. He is going past her and talking directly to the middle class. His policy knowledge translates directly into what him and Obama will do for Americans that have suffered under eight years of George Bush. With fifteen minutes to go, unless Biden starts crying on the floor like a baby, this is game, set and match.

What To Expect From Palin Tonight, From The Man That Has Debated Her Before

Sarah Palin may be political neophyte on the national stage but that doesn't mean she hasn't been in a debate before. She did get to be a Mayor and Governor somehow, even if it was by underhanded means and backstabbing her way to the top of Alaska's government. Everyone is talking about how Biden should play his cards tonight, so I hope he talked to Andrew Halcro. When he ran against her and Tony Knowles, Andrew learned the hard way that Sarah Palin knows what to do in a debate.

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Palin is a master of the nonanswer. She can turn a 60-second response to a query about her specific solutions to healthcare challenges into a folksy story about how she's met people on the campaign trail who face healthcare challenges. All without uttering a word about her public-policy solutions to healthcare challenges.

In one debate, a moderator asked the candidates to name a bill the legislature had recently passed that we didn't like. I named one. Democratic candidate Tony Knowles named one. But Sarah Palin instead used her allotted time to criticize the incumbent governor, Frank Murkowski. Asked to name a bill we did like, the same pattern emerged: Palin didn't name a bill.

And when she does answer the actual question asked, she has a canny ability to connect with the audience on a personal level. For example, asked to name a major issue that had been ignored during the campaign, I discussed the health of local communities, Mr. Knowles talked about affordable healthcare, and Palin talked about ... the need to protect hunting and fishing rights.

So what does that mean for Biden? With shorter question-and-answer times and limited interaction between the two, he should simply ignore Palin in a respectful manner on the stage and answer the questions as though he were alone. Any attempt to flex his public-policy knowledge and show Palin is not ready for prime time will inevitably cast him in the role of the bully.

Truer words could not have been said. Biden should definitely not come off as a bully and in fact, if he plays his cards right he can turn her into the over-aggressive candidate that is over compensating for not knowing anything. She is definitely believes in a non-answer to everything (as we've seen with Katie Couric) and that is a tactic that can be countered. This isn't Alaska, we are talking about the Vice-Presidency and Joe Biden can take a policy and relate it to ordinary people. Sarah Palin may not be Robert Bork, but she is certainly someone that Biden can run circles around without coming off as a policy wonk.

Biden Delivers A Foreign Policy Speech Palin Couldn't Even Dream Of

Of course even if Sarah Palin knew anything about geopolitics (which is different from geography Governor) she wouldn't deliver an eloquent and informative speech like Joe Biden did today in Cincinnati. As Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden knows more about the world in his pinky than Palin could hope to learn in several years, let alone the time from now until the election.

McCain Goes Hypocritical And Out Of Context In One Fell Swoop

John McCain has been losing ground to Barack Obama all week and now his attacks on the Democratic nominee are going downhill in a hurry. McCain said he didn't know much about the economy, so he decided to prove it today by calling Obama's plan "just plain dumb." Of course, stupidity, greed and Republican policies that include deregulation got us into this mess, but there is no mention of that from Mr. Straight Talk.

From RawStory:

The Republican said his Democratic rival had failed to do anything to avert the crisis with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two giant organizations which guarantee billions of dollars in mortgages which were taken over by the government on September 7.

"He didn't lift a hand to avert this crisis," McCain said, accusing Obama of remaining silent in Congress as the mortgage crisis was building.

McCain also pounced on a comment by Obama's vice presidential running mate Senator Joseph Biden that it would be "patriotic" for wealthy Americans to pay higher taxes at a time of economic need.

"Raising taxes in a tough economy isn't patriotic," McCain said. "It's not a badge of honor, it's just plain dumb."

McCain also omits the fact that he had no clue that the economic crisis was coming while Obama has been talking about the economic problems of ordinary people since he started campaigning. The crisis on Wall Street didn't come out of nowhere, it was precipitated by millions of Americans being taken advantage of by the financial sector and they simply left too many people stranded and the whole thing came crashing down on them.

As for being dumb and raising taxes, the only people that sounds dumb to are the ones that do not want to give up their multi-million dollar incomes. Obama wants to raise taxes on those making $250,000 a year or more, while cutting taxes for people that make less. What the greedy bastards on Wall Street and in the Republican caucus took from the middle-class, he wants to give it back. That isn't dumb, it makes perfect sense. In fact, go ahead and see what your taxes will look like if you go with Obama or McCain, chances are Obama is going to save you money and will try to restore the broken system in the process.

Sarah Palin Can Read A Teleprompter, But She Can't Compete With Joe Biden

This small snippet of video is just a preview of what is to come in the VP portion of this campaign. Palin can deliver pithy statements, but Joe Biden has more passion for the common man in his pinky than her entire body:

While Palin Is Wrapped In Controversy, Biden Goes After Bush

Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin has had a rough few days since she started off as McCain's VP choice, in fact rumors are swirling that she could be dropped. While the GOP plays defense over Palin's record (or lack there of) and her atrocious behavior, Obama's number 2 is not sitting back. In fact, Joe Biden is going after the Bush Administration, and we aren't just talking about in the rhetorical sense.

From ABC News:

Looking to the future but with one eye on the past, Biden also promised that an Obama-Biden government would go through Bush administration data with "a fine-toothed comb" and pursue criminal charges if necessary.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation," he said, "they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution - out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one, no attorney general, no president, no one is above the law."

That is a sentiment not shared by the current President nor the Vice President. Bush and Cheney are aware of the laws but they most certainly think they are above them. Biden frames the issue perfectly by saying that it isn't about partisan attacks (something the GOP cares about solely, party above country always) but accountability for the actions of those that govern and their crimes against the governed. Biden is well aware of the crimes that the current Administration has committed, but he talks in the manner of someone that wants to take this matter seriously and leave no room for the die-hard partisans on the right to claim that this is anything but the quest for justice.

It is nothing more, nothing less.

The Obama/Biden Ticket, Now It Is Official!

The third night of the convention is drawing to a close at the Pepsi Center and everyone is getting ready for the big finale tomorrow night at the much bigger Invesco Field. The military-themed Wednesday went off without a hitch and ended with the touching story that is the Biden family history and Joe's strong speech. Despite the way the GOP will inevitably spin another successful evening in Denver, Senator Biden made clear that McCain is the wrong choice because he makes bad choices...and that Senator Obama knows what he is talking about and stands up for what is right.

From DailyKos:

Biden's speech began with lovely tributes to his family, including his mother, of whom he said:

My mother's creed is the American creed: no one is better than you. You are everyone's equal, and everyone is equal to you.

Biden ends by using his authority on foreign policy to detail how Obama's foreign policy judgment has time and again been correct while McCain has been wrong. Biden's foreign policy judgment will not be substituted for Obama's; instead, his credibility will be used to affirm Obama's judgment.

John McCain was wrong, and Barack Obama was right -- again, and again, and again, on the most important national security issues of our time, John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama has been proven right.

I have to say, Biden compliments Obama very well, and the two of them will help carry us as we will carry them from the nomination to the White House (and Naval Observatory too). When Obama showed up on the stage to greet his officially nominated running mate, the room was electrified and the country saw it through their television and computer screens...and those that dare to dream and hope for a better America saw the Democratic team that embraces it, not more of the same eight years like the man who is headlining the RNC next week.

Beware: Delaware Is Bigger Than It Looks

Delaware may be the smallest state in the Union save for Rhode Island, but it packs a massive punch with their Senator Joe Biden. I was honestly hoping for Tom Daschle to be given the VP nod but if I had to have a second choice, it would be the man from Delaware. Now of course no one is perfect and Joe certainly has his flaws, but I truly believe that his strengths will shine through in the next ten weeks and three days.

Now the first thing that is going to happen from the right are the attacks. That is primarily why Obama waited until three days before the convention. Also, he has already responded to their attacks before they started, so Obama is way ahead of McCain's game. Biden will certainly say what he thinks and has the wit and debate skills to get those ideas across. Being in the Senate for all these years, he hasn't become secluded from his constituents but always learning about what is going on in Delaware, across the country and throughout the world. Not only has he sought information for his own good but as a dedicated public servant that heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Now the whiners have to be called out on our side and we must bond together to make Obama/Biden from a campaign to the next leaders of the Executive Branch. While the traditional media was turned on its head on this VP rollout, that is where the rest of us surge forward. Donating to the campaign, signing up to get involved and talking to everyone you know across the country is what will make Barack Obama our next President and Joe Biden the Vice President. Now go enjoy the convention next week and get ready to work your arse off so we can finally realize change in our country, the change we've needed since the day George Bush walked into the Oval Office.

A Maverick No More

John McCain isn't the same guy Americans remember from eight years ago, those that know him best (at least on the Dem side) in the Senate have seen the change and are calling him out on his likeness to the current disaster of a President.

"Totally Out Of Touch"

Senator Biden hits the nail on the head after seeing the disgrace that was George Bush's last State of the Union:

Someone Wants A Cabinet Position

Yeah, Joe is right about a lot of things. He's a little off on others. Nevertheless, he doesn't have a shot in hell, so this must be a shout out to the front runners to pick him for something nice, like Secretary of Defense, State, etc. Maybe he even wants to be Vice President, though I don't even think that is very likely. Though his credit card company friends would love it.

Biden Obliterates Giuliani

Joe might not have much of an impact on the Democratic primary, but his line on Rudy Giuliani was definitely one of the most memorable moments from last night: