Biden's Comments

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-19-2004
Biden's Comments
110
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 6:36am

Biden is quoted as saying the following in Seattle on Sun--any thoughts on this:


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 6:59am

what confuses me is --- 'gonna test' him "be ready' .... and yet his compaign is primarily about diplomacy.


So are we to assume when he is ~tested~ by all these places he's gonna invite them over the white house for dinner to talk it out?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 9:22am
Why can so many conservatives not seem to get past the thoroughly discredited idea that every problem has a military solution? Or that "being tough" can only be described in military terms?

When even the freaking Secretary of Defense (historically always at war with the State Department over "turf" and funding) is on record saying: that
funding for non-military foreign affairs programs ... remains disproportionately small relative to what we spend on the military," he declared in a much-discussed speech last November.

"What is clear for me is that there is a need for a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security."

He said in July that diplomatic leaders, be they in ambassadors' suites or on the State Department's top floor, "must have the resources and political support needed to fully exercise their statutory responsibilities in leading American foreign policy".

He has also noted ruefully that there are more people serving in military bands than in the entire State Department.


....then you know that it's gotten bad, and too much emphasis has been placed upon the military as the solution to every problem out there. I like Joe Biden, but he doesn't have any more of a crystal ball than anyone else does, and when he says "Obama will be tested," he has no way of knowing whether that's correct, or what sort of "test" it might look like. But regardless of how accurate a prognosticator Biden is, one thing which ISN'T a matter of speculation is that "sitting down and talking it out" is a woefully-underutilized tool lately. Like the military, it's also not the tool for every problem....but unlike the military, it hasn't been getting abused in that way lately.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 9:25am
fyi - I don't think that way ... I just found his comments sort of contradictory

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-17-2003
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 10:02am

I don't see the big deal about this statement, the times have already challenged these candidates before a single vote has been cast and we've seen who's ready to take charge and who's not ready.

Calm, steady and in touch or slow, old and out of touch.

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Reward Republicans for 8 years of failure? No way, No how, No McCain!

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 10:20am
Since we all know Biden has a habit of blurting our his true thoughts and putting his foot in his mouth, these comments may be cause for concern.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-19-2004
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 10:24am

Maybe Joe does know something or has gotten to know Obama and has concerns about him as the commander in chief.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 11:35am

That is very sobering and realistic. Look what happened last time we had a young president that rogue leaders considered weak. We came very close to being Nuked. This is what Biden is referring to when he says they will test him like they did John Kennedy. This is very frightening.

American voters have a choice, to put someone in that his own running mate who has had 30+ years experience in foreign affairs is warning us that rogue nations will test WITH SUCH MAGNITUDE, or someone who they will not test like this.

This is the most serious issue that we face today.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 11:38am
I was alive during the Cuban Missile Crisis. These times are TOO DANGEROUS for a repeat. I think we should head Joe Biden's warning. Rogue nations will test him the same way they did KENNEDY. That was a PRETTY SEVERE test. Why do we want to put ourselves to this kind of test when we don't have to???
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 11:41am
Joe Biden is warning us that rogue nations will consider Obama weak and test him to the degree that Kennedy was tested. There hasn't been a president since who has had to deal with this kind of SEVERE test. We were very lucky to have survived it with Florida still in tact. I don't think it's worth the risk.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 11:43am
He was very serious when he said this. "Mark my words", he was being real. I have been worried about this very thing since Obama secured the nomination.

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