Biden Drills Hillary Over Pakistan
God love Joe Biden. We knew he was good for the Democrats running for two reasons: A) He provides some minor comic relief for them, and B) Out of all of them, he sounds the most "adult" in his platform and assessments. Like Bryan @ Hot Air we were wondering when one of the Democrats would would hit the "smartest woman in the world" over her utter cluelessness on Pakistan. Color us surprised that Joe Biden stepped up to the plate to take a swing:
Democrat Joe Biden suggested Tuesday that presidential rival Hillary Clinton doesn't adequately understand recent events in Pakistan.
The Delaware senator was responding to news that Clinton suggested in two recent interviews that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is up for reelection this month.
Musharraf was actually reelected in October, and the upcoming Pakistani elections are parliamentary, not presidential.
"We have a number of candidates who are well-intentioned but don't understand Pakistan," Biden said at a campaign event Tuesday. "One of the leading candidates — God love her."
"There are good people running," continued the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has made his foreign policy credentials a centerpiece of his long shot presidential bid. "But to say Musharraf is up for election! Musharraf was elected — fairly or unfairly — president six months ago. It's about a parliamentary election!"
Clinton's comments came in an interview with ABC Sunday, in which she said, "[Musharraf] could be the only person on the ballot. I don't think that's a real election."
The New York senator also made similar comments during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer last week, saying then, ""If President Musharraf wishes to stand for election, then he should abide by the same rules that every other candidate will have to follow."
Both gaffes were first noted by conservative Thomas Houlahan, writing for the Middle East Times.
The Clinton campaign has not yet returned a request for comment on Biden's comments, but said yesterday the New York Democrat was referring to Musharraf's party, not himself in particular.
Republican Mike Huckabee took heat last week for also getting key facts about Pakistan wrong in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's death. He first suggested the country remained under martial law (it was lifted a few weeks ago) and later said that Pakistan shares its eastern border with Afghanistan (it shares its western border.)
If she meant his party then she should have said that. Hillary Clinton is calculating. Every statement delivered by her is plotted, planned, tested, and delivered with ease. Making mistakes like this does not bode well for her campaign. It makes her look clueless and foolish. Of course when it comes to Democrats, they usually do look that way, anyway; at least the politicos do.
Once again Joe Biden looks the most adult. He has made his foreign policy ideas clear and succinct. Love him or hate him, no one can argue to the contrary. What surprises us is that it is a man who has virtually no shot at the nomination who is drilling her, and not Senator Obama or Mr. Edwards. One would think that they would hammer her for such a gaffe. If we look at the fallout from the driver's license gaffe during the October 30th debate in Philadelphia we see that Senator Obama and Mr. Edwards hit her hard on that point; just as hard as they did during the debate. So we wonder why they have not yet stepped up and called her out. The caucus is tomorrow. Today would be the day to do it, and they would garner far more press coverage than Senator Biden does.
Marcie
Democrat Joe Biden suggested Tuesday that presidential rival Hillary Clinton doesn't adequately understand recent events in Pakistan.
The Delaware senator was responding to news that Clinton suggested in two recent interviews that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is up for reelection this month.
Musharraf was actually reelected in October, and the upcoming Pakistani elections are parliamentary, not presidential.
"We have a number of candidates who are well-intentioned but don't understand Pakistan," Biden said at a campaign event Tuesday. "One of the leading candidates — God love her."
"There are good people running," continued the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has made his foreign policy credentials a centerpiece of his long shot presidential bid. "But to say Musharraf is up for election! Musharraf was elected — fairly or unfairly — president six months ago. It's about a parliamentary election!"
Clinton's comments came in an interview with ABC Sunday, in which she said, "[Musharraf] could be the only person on the ballot. I don't think that's a real election."
The New York senator also made similar comments during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer last week, saying then, ""If President Musharraf wishes to stand for election, then he should abide by the same rules that every other candidate will have to follow."
Both gaffes were first noted by conservative Thomas Houlahan, writing for the Middle East Times.
The Clinton campaign has not yet returned a request for comment on Biden's comments, but said yesterday the New York Democrat was referring to Musharraf's party, not himself in particular.
Republican Mike Huckabee took heat last week for also getting key facts about Pakistan wrong in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's death. He first suggested the country remained under martial law (it was lifted a few weeks ago) and later said that Pakistan shares its eastern border with Afghanistan (it shares its western border.)
If she meant his party then she should have said that. Hillary Clinton is calculating. Every statement delivered by her is plotted, planned, tested, and delivered with ease. Making mistakes like this does not bode well for her campaign. It makes her look clueless and foolish. Of course when it comes to Democrats, they usually do look that way, anyway; at least the politicos do.
Once again Joe Biden looks the most adult. He has made his foreign policy ideas clear and succinct. Love him or hate him, no one can argue to the contrary. What surprises us is that it is a man who has virtually no shot at the nomination who is drilling her, and not Senator Obama or Mr. Edwards. One would think that they would hammer her for such a gaffe. If we look at the fallout from the driver's license gaffe during the October 30th debate in Philadelphia we see that Senator Obama and Mr. Edwards hit her hard on that point; just as hard as they did during the debate. So we wonder why they have not yet stepped up and called her out. The caucus is tomorrow. Today would be the day to do it, and they would garner far more press coverage than Senator Biden does.
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 6:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home