WAS JOE BIDEN VETTED? What does Biden’s daughter’s arrest say about Obama’s judgment?

Apparently, Joe Biden’s daughter was arrested six years ago in Chicago and charged with obstructing police after someone else threw a bottle at a police officer. She reportedly also said something to the effect of, “Do you know who I am?”

Now, I wonder, will James Carville ask on CNN what this says about Barack Obama’s judgment in choosing Biden as his running mate?

If Carville can question John McCain’s judgment in choosing a running mate, Sarah Palin, whose 17-year-old daughter got pregnant, is he willing to question the competence of Obama for selecting a man whose 21-year-old daughter allegedly interfered with lawful police work?

Fit to print? I’m half-joking here because I know parents cannot be with their children every minute of the day and night, and even politicians cannot be held to account for everything their children do, however old the kids are. But I’m totally serious when I wonder if the story of Biden’s daughter (or the ethical questions about Biden’s lobbyist son) will get even half the attention that Palin’s law-abiding daughter got over the last few days.

Will The New York Times run three Page 1 stories on Biden’s daughter? We all know the answer to that question.

Frank Warner

Note: On behalf of President Clinton, Sen. Joe Biden authored and introduced the 1994 law to put an extra 100,000 police on the streets.

* * *

Update:

Palin's daughter's pregnancy wasn't highlighted by the Democrats because Palin supported abstinence-only education in Alaska. Most Democrats and Democratic journalists had no idea what Palin's stand was on sex education when they jumped on this.

Democrats wanted to claim it was "bad judgment" for McCain to choose a running mate with a pregnant daughter -- that, obviously, anyone with a pregnant daughter is unqualified to be vice president.

Recall, too, that Palin's daughter's right to privacy in this matter was violated initially in order to refute the Democratic zealots' lies that Palin did not give birth to Palin's fifth child.

American teens in every state, including Alaska, have more information on sex and contraception than teens anywhere else in the world, except maybe Scandinavia. To pretend her daughter didn't know how to prevent pregnancy is as goofy as assuming any kind of sex education, limited to classrooms, will stop most or all out-of-wedlock births.

Palin isn't worrying about her daughter. Her daughter and her daughter's baby will be fine. The baby probably will be born with a loving mother and father in the house.

* * *

Biden's daughter's actions six years ago matter as much as Palin's daughter's pregnancy today, which is to say they don't matter much at all to how Biden or Palin would perform as vice president.

Biden, however, should explain how his lobbyist son seems to get huge earmarks of federal funds for his clients, and how much money those clients also give to Biden. Biden's lobbyist son is one of few lobbyist sons of sitting U.S. senators. (One other lobbyist son is the son of Sen. Harry Reid.) That's a real live concern in this election. But we certainly won't see three Page 1 stories on this in The New York Times. It's not liberal bias. It's Democratic journalists' bias.

* * *

See also: If abortion is killing an innocent human being, why wouldn’t you do everything to stop it?

See also: It’s Joe Biden for veep, Obama wins Delaware!

See also: Iraqis tell Joe Biden to bug off.

See also: Hagel and Biden 5 years ago (2002): Coalition troops will have to stay in Iraq 10 years.

See also: Abolish Delaware! The irony of Joe Biden faulting Sam Alito on ‘one man, one vote.’

* * *

Comments

[blo]

I'll be surprised if I read this story ANYWHERE else besides here.

[Xavier Itzmann]

Al Gore's son arrested DUI on marihuana ... private

Biden directs $3M earmark to company son "consults" for ... private

Obama sits her daughters in front of his racist (now under the bus) preacher their entire lives every Sunday ... private

John Edwards fathers a son with another woman while his wife has terminal cancer ... private

Is it because they are males and Palin is a woman?

[anon]

I wonder when Joe Biden will be asked if Hunter Biden was ever in the same situation as Bristol Palin?

[Jack is Back!]

Why doesn't Bristol just say that Hunter Biden is the father and be done with it? No more press, no more Carville, no more US magazine - it just all goes away. Far, far away.

[James]

Did the Sulzbergers vet Pinch?

Quote:

the Times's new publisher, Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr ... was a sixties anti-war activist who famously declared that in a confrontation between an American and a North Vietnamese soldier he'd want to see the American get shot."

Unquote.

Stanley Kurtz (NRO on line, June 5, 2001)

[Papertiger]

I've had these links sitting in my Biden file, trying to think of what to do with them. This seems as good a place as any to do a dump.
They are all devastating indictments of a politician for hire. Be sure to see the Huffington Post link. Oh and about that hufpo thing, save it , make it available offline or whatever, because it's a withering stiffarm to Joe's chin. Only a matter of time and a check of the traffic before someone disappears it.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0304-26.htm

http://www.pacificviews.org/weblog/archives/000966.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackson-williams/joe-biden-true-friend-of_b_120776.html

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDU4OTdhMTFhN2YwZTY3MmMzNGFhYzc3ODdhOTA0ZjQ

[Papertiger]

Joe! What's in your wallet?

[bush_is_moron]

reportedly?

thanks for the rumor

idiot

[MayorOmalleySuxs]

"Is it because they are males and Palin is a woman?"

Nope, it is becuase they are Democrats and Pailin is a Republican. Ok, maybe a little bit becuase she is a woman.

[Neo]

Friend of Israel ?? ... New York Times, June 24, 1982:

Reporting on his meetings with the members of Congress, Mr. Begin said one of the senators had threatened to cut off aid if Israel continued creating settlements in the West Bank. The senator is reported to have been Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware. Mr. Begin cited the incident to give voice to a feeling that is held in his entourage - that Israel has rendered military service to the United States in battle-testing American arms. ”Sir, do not threaten us with cutting aid,” Mr. Begin said, in recounting his reply. ”First of all, you should know that this is not a one-way street. You help us, and we are very grateful for your help, but this is a two-way street. We do a lot for you.”

[Neo]

“lunch-bucket Democrat.”

It’s true that when members of Congress release their assets and incomes, Mr. Biden famously ranks near the bottom of the pile. But let’s remember that we’re talking about a pretty privileged pile. Only in a place as removed from reality as the Beltway could a man who has spent more than three decades in the United States Senate be hailed as a working-class stiff.

Shades of Eagleton ? …

The spokesman, Peter Esker, said Senator Biden was awake, resting comfortably and talking with his family after the [May 4, 1988] operation, his second this year to correct an aneurysm. An aneurysm is a ballooning of an artery. The 4 1/2-hour procedure was similar to that performed Feb. 12 on the left side of Mr. Biden’s brain. Under the procedure, a surgeon using a microscope pinches the aneurysm with a clip, bringing the walls of the artery together. The clip remains in the patient.

A continuation of the Cheney Vice-Presidency ? …

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden received five student draft deferments during the Vietnam War, the same number of deferments received by Vice President Dick Cheney, and later was disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager.

Chip off the old block …

A son and a brother of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) are accused in two lawsuits of defrauding a former business partner and an investor of millions of dollars in a hedge fund deal that went sour, court records show. The Democratic vice presidential candidate’s son Hunter, 38, and brother James, 59, assert instead that their former partner defrauded them by misrepresenting his experience in the hedge fund industry and recommending that they hire a lawyer with felony convictions.

This last one may explain why Obama is against going after the kids/family members.

But I have to ask ... did anybody vet this guy ?

["bush_is_a_moron"_is_a_moron]

Yeah. "Reportedly" by MSNBC. You were obviously too busy cheering for Obama to check the link.

[George]

I guess the L.A. Times doesn't mind spreading the rumor too.

[Will]

You're 100% right that you won't see anyone on CNN, or any legitimate media outlet bringing it up, because they wouldn't want to get laughed off the soundstage. This is an incredibly weak comparison.

You don't see why it is a bigger story that a conservative Republican who is for abstinence-only sex has a single teenage daughter who is pregnant? We're talking about a party that has repeatedly worked to block programs to help pregnant teens (Sarah Palin included).

[Fat Man]

Let us not forget the rest of Biden's family.

"Biden's Son, Brother Named in Two Suits" by Kimberly Kindy and Joe Stephens Washington Post Staff Writers on Sunday, August 24, 2008 at A09:

A son and a brother of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) are accused in two lawsuits of defrauding a former business partner and an investor of millions of dollars in a hedge fund deal that went sour, court records show.

[armchairpunter]

I am wondering when the media will begin to ask Obama if he's stopped beating Michelle. I mean the voters need to know whether that was addressed in the vetting process.

[Phil]

@Will, So Biden is for hedge fund corruption and obstructing officers of the peace?

[Thomas Rial]

The issue with Palin's daughter is not that she got pregnant...hey, life happens. But that Palin, along with her socially conservative friends in the GOP, refuse to accept that teens will have sex (not all, but many) and we need to be responsible enough as political leaders to understand that reality. Kids need sex education in public schools - sadly, some parents do not provide it, some parents are not approachable on the subject, and many will tell their kids to abstain when they certainly will not. Is it so "wrong" to allow students to discuss birth control with their school nurse or guidance counselor? Be provided protection when they ask? In my estimation, that is responsible. I know the Palin's will be loving supporting grandparents and help their daughter, but many teenagers do not have that support and need the rest of us to provide information and contraceptives to that they are not a burden when life throws them a curve like having a baby too soon.

The real issue is that Palin is wrong pushing a phony :"abstinence only" education policy, rather than an intelligent nuanced approach that could have helped avoid the unexpected difficulties their family (and many others) now face. This child will be in good hands, but many other children will either be aborted, placed in a dumpster, or raised by ill-equipped teens without proper moral and financial support. For that, we all suffer.

[LOL]

Biden's daughter may be a mess, but Biden is at the age where he doesn't have to worry about the stupid things his daughter does because his daughter 'is' independent - not a 17 year old!

[Frank Warner]

Palin's daughter's pregnancy isn't being highlighted by the Democrats because Palin supported abstinence-only education in Alaska. Most Democrats and Democratic journalists had no idea what Palin's stand was on sex education when they jumped on this.

Democrats wanted to claim it was "bad judgment" for McCain to choose a running mate with a pregnant daughter, that, obviously, anyone with a pregnant daughter is unqualified to be vice president.

Recall, Palin's daughter's right to privacy in this matter was violated initially in order to refute the Democratic zealots' lies that Palin did not give birth to Palin's fifth child.

American teens in every state, including Alaska, have more information on sex and contraception than teens anywhere else in the world, except maybe Scandinavia. To pretend her daughter didn't know how to prevent pregnancy is as goofy as assuming any kind of sex education, limited to classrooms, will stop most or all out-of-wedlock births.

Palin isn't worrying about her daughter. Her daughter and her daughter's baby will be fine. The baby probably will be born with a loving mother and father in the house.

* * *

Biden's daughter's actions six years ago matter as much as Palin's daughter's pregnancy today, which is to say they don't matter much at all to how Biden or Palin would perform as vice president.

Biden, however, should explain how his lobbyist son seems to get huge earmarks of federal funds for his clients, and how much money those clients also give to Biden. Biden's lobbyist son is one of few lobbyist sons of sitting U.S. senators. (One other lobbyist son is the son of Sen. Harry Reid.) That's a real live concern in this election. But we certainly won't see three Page 1 stories on this in The New York Times. It's not liberal bias. It's Democratic journalists' bias.

[[email protected]]

What is fair for the goose is fair for the gander. Evidently Joe Biden's family doesn't count because he is a man and Sarah Palin's family does. Sickening!

[deroy]

what about joe biden's FIVE draft deferments. then relieved from miltary service with 'asthma as a teenager' as 25 1/2. nat'l archives claims information on his final deferment not available.

he needs to be questioned on this.

his bio shows him as a 'vigorous youth who was a lifeguard and a football player', no mention of being a sickly child.

obama campaign claims biden answered these question in 1987, sorry. there are 21 year old voters who weren't alive then.

SPEAK, JOSEPH ROBINETTE BIDEN, JR.
the son of a used car saleman in delaware who finished 76/85 at syracuse law school on those FIVE deferments.

who took joe biden's place in VIETNAM?