Thread: Biden gets old school; Giuliani takes bait, Biden gains support

At the last Democratic debate hosted by MSNBC, the subject of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani’s many public attacks against Senator Hillary Clinton was brought up by the moderator, and Biden was waiting with an attack.



“Rudy Giuliani, the most under-qualified man to seek the presidency since George W. Bush,” Biden said when asked about Hillary’s qualifications. “[He] shouldn't be questioning the experience of anyone on this stage... There’s only three things he says in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11.”

The line was followed by a roar of laughter from the audience.

In a race where Giuliani, the front runner on the GOP side, and Sen. Clinton, the current Democratic poll leader, have been running as if they are the party nominee, Sen. Joe Biden has been polling low in the single digits, not only nationally, but also in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Tonight Biden took a page from the oldest political playbook; he attacked his most prominent opponent, not only for laughs and applause, but in hopes that Giuliani would hit back.

If Biden could incite the most popular Republican candidate to attack him, it would have the effect of increasing Biden’s national media exposure, name recognition, it would energize Biden’s base, and add new legitimacy to his candidacy.

Giuliani’s communication director, Katie Levinson, played right into Biden’s hands with a press release attacking the Delaware senator saying, “Senator Biden’s comments were of particular interest. The good senator is quite correct that there are many differences between Rudy and him.”

Levinson continued with a calculated attack at Biden’s 1987 presidential bid. “For starters, Rudy rarely reads prepared speeches and when he does he isn’t prone to ripping off the text from others.” Biden withdrew from the race after news that a portion of a speech he had delivered may have been plagiarized, an incident that the voters in Iowa don’t mind in 2007.

The Giuliani press release then tuned to insulting Biden, “And, Senator Biden certainly falls in to the bucket of those on the stage tonight who have never had executive experience and have never run anything. Wait, I take that back, Senator Biden has never run anything but his mouth.

Finally, the remarks from Giuliani’s communication director turned from insulting to childish: “Such a desperate attack from Senator Biden is to be expected considering I — Katie Levinson — have a better chance of becoming President than he does.”

Such a demeaning and immature response from Giuliani is almost certainly more than Biden hoped for. Biden is a respected member of the Senate and is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee where his plan for a political solution in Iraq recently passed with the bipartisan support of 75 Senators.
Biden’s issued and immediate response to Giuliani’s campaign through his own communication director, Larry Rasky:

“We are well aware that former Mayor Giuliani will attempt to drag this race into the mud where the Republicans like to wage their campaigns. It’s pretty obvious that they can’t defend themselves on the real charge that Mr. Giuliani walked away from the cops and firefighters who were waiting for the 9/11 Commission to be enacted and the Biden crime bill to be restored.”
During the debate, Joe Biden also stated that is was the Biden crime plan that was responsible for accomplishment that Giuliani most touts at his events, reducing crime in New York City.

“If you take away the Biden crime bill which gave New York 3000 more cops, [Giuliani] is left standing with nothing,” Biden said.

Rudy Giuliani's continued attacks against Biden is exactly what he needs to propel his campaign and fundraising from the back of the pack to a victory in 2008.

The plan is already paying off, Biden officials report that they are increasing the number if volunteers in Iowa and they just exceeded their $500,000 fundraising goal for an Iowa ad campaign yesterday (11/13).

Biden isn't moving much in the polls, but that doesn't matter in Iowa. John Kerry came back from being just as far behind to take the win in Iowa and then in almost every other state.

As Joe Biden loves to say, "Iowa is the great equalizer."

So are you a Biden and a Huckabee fan?

I am not a Huckabee fan... I merely recgonize that he is honest and also the GOPs best shot at winning. If the Democrats are dumb enough to nominate Hillary, then Huckabee is the only Republican who can beat her. However, the GOP nominee is going to be Romney and everyone knows that.

I am a Biden supporter. I admit it.

Originally Posted by Rev. Rob

I am not a Huckabee fan... I merely recgonize that he is honest and also the GOPs best shot at winning. If the Democrats are dumb enough to nominate Hillary, then Huckabee is the only Republican who can beat her. However, the GOP nominee is going to be Romney and everyone knows that.

I am a Biden supporter. I admit it.

I would be happy with either Huckabee or Biden. They are my top from each party. It used to be Thompson and Richardson, but they have just gone blah lately.

I have to admit, I never saw the attraction with Thompson (Fred, not Tommy, right?).

I was really looking forward to seeing Richardson jump into it, but I have been really let down by him. Despite being proven wrong on his Iraq withdraw plan, he still percisits. He even flip-flopped on the one thing that I was proud a politician was finally standing up on, people aren't "born" gay.

I will say that I like Huckabee as a person, which is rare with politicians. Though I completely disagree with him on a lot of issues, he has my complete respect.

I thought Biden was the Dems version of Guiliani (You know, more jokes and school yard trash talking than actual things of importance), until the last two debates. He's obviously the strongest Democrat who seems to able to rally support from both parties to get shit done. He's realistic and practical.

He is definately the only Dem I would support at this point unless Guiliani gets the Nom. In that case, I would vote any Dem except Hillary. She is an absolute Lunatic. She is the first Politician, and one of the few people I can honestly say, that I hate as a human being.

I like Biden a lot too. He speaks his mind. You know what he's thinking. He doesn't mince words. He's for real, nothing fake about him. He has a lot of experience and he knows what he's doing.

I like Dodd a lot too. He's a strong fan of the constitution and restoring our rights that have been violated in many ways in the past 7 years.