Is Biden Starting To Talk Like a Contender?

I have seldom felt strong political kinship with Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and have said that his only chance at being a strong contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination is to really show voters some fire and results as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in investigating the conduct of the Iraq war.

While we have yet to see tangible results from those hearings, Biden is stepping up the rhetoric and has of late become remarkably blunt and plain-spoken when it comes to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the Iraq war.

Biden was on FOX News Sunday with Sorry-Excuse-For-A-Journalist Chris Wallace over the weekend and he really laid it on the line after they played a clip of Cheney talking about the message leaving Iraq would allegedly send to the bad guys. Wallace followed the Cheney clip by reciting RNC talking points about Biden's Senate resolution against Bush's war escalation emboldening the enemy and the Delaware Senator let loose:

Wallace: Senator Biden, I know that this is not your intent, but, in fact, wouldn't your resolution send a message that would embolden our enemy and discourage our troops in the field?

Biden: Absolutely not. And not only does Carl Levin and Joe Biden and Senator Hagel and Senator Snowe, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Iraqi Study Group, every single person out there that is of any consequence knows the vice president doesn't know what he's talking about.

I can't be more blunt than that. He has yet to be right one single time on Iraq. Name me one single time he's been correct.

It's about time we stopped listening to that ideological rhetoric and that "bin Laden" and the rest. Bin Laden isn't the issue here. Bin Laden will become the issue.

The issue is there's a civil war, Chris. I said way back in November last year, speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, I said, "Does anyone support using American troops to fight a civil war? I don't, and I don't think the American people do. But if we fail to force a political consensus, that's exactly what we will have."

That's what we have. That's what the president has to deal with. And he's doing it the exact wrong way. And he's not listening to his military. He's not listening to his old secretaries of state. He's not listening to his old friends. He's not listening to anybody but Cheney, and Cheney is dead-wrong.

I like it. I like it a lot. Here's the YouTube clip. Biden comes after about two minutes of an answer from Carl Levin (D-MI):



It's tough for me to see myself supporting Biden in the Democratic presidential primary, but he is taking an early lead in the kind of language our candidates need to use against this administration.

Are you listening, Senator Clinton?