Wrong

Nobody wants Al Franken to boot Norm Coleman's ass out of Paul Wellstone's Senate seat more than me, but if Reid and the Senate pick the winner, I won't be pleased. At all.

I'd rather Coleman win, than Franken get the seat under shady circumstances.

If the Senate can bring pressure to make sure all the necessary votes are counted, that's fine, but it needs to be totally and completely above board, and the results respected.

In related news, Joe Biden's seat is going to his former Chief of Staff, who will hold it until a special election in which he vows not to run. This is good because I can think of no one who could better continue the decisions of the man the people of Delaware elected to the Senate than his long-time CoS. And democracy-wise, this is far preferable to the much-rumored appointment of Biden's son, Beau. I've little patience for nepotism—and even less among good guys.

Another 1,000 Words

[h/t open thread at Kos]

Big Dog Allowed

We've seen the worst of Bill Clinton these past few months, Tonight, we saw the best. And it's mighty good.
Andrew Sullivan, noted Clinton-hater.

Yeah. It was that good. And Kerry gave the speech of his life tonight as well. Biden was strong, and then Obama brought it home with his cameo. All I could think is, "Who the fuck is voting against this?" And, "What can the GOP pull that can outdo this?"

Which inevitably leads to, "What the fuck is the matter with this country that this is even a race?"

What Does This Picture Have to Do With Joe Biden's Iraq War vote...

Yes, Joe Biden voted for the Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq. But was he the same breed of sheep as everyone else who did? Was it solely political calculus like is suspected of Hillary? Or, total capitulation and trust in the President?...

You might recall a certain Rose Garden ceremony with a certain flesh-haired loser Democrat who sold out the Party (and as it turns out, the country) by going behind closed doors and crafting deal with Bush and the Republicans.

But who did Dick Fucking Gephardt really screw over? David Corn reminds us...

One of Biden's better moments came in the run-up to the war with Iraq. In the fall of 2002, the Bush administration, claiming Saddam Hussein had amassed loads of WMDs that he could hand to al Qaeda for attacks against the United States, was demanding that the House and Senate grant Bush the authority to invade Iraq whenever he wanted. Rather than cave to Bush, Biden, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, worked with Republican Senators Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel to craft an alternative: a resolution that would allow Bush to attack Iraq only for the purposes of destroying Iraq's WMDs and only after seeking UN approval. If the UN withheld permission, Bush would have to come back to Congress and prove that the threat was so "grave" that only military action could eliminate it. This was a wily legislative maneuver that could have averted a war. (And Biden told me and Michael Isikoff during an interview for our book, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War, that he had received backdoor encouragement from Secretary of State Colin Powell.) But Biden's bipartisan measure was ultimately derailed by a fellow Democrat: House minority leader Richard Gephardt, who essentially accepted the White House's blank-check approach. After Gephardt did that, Republican senators told Biden, How can we be to the left of Dick Gephardt? "I was so angry," Biden later said. "I was frustrated. But I never second-guess another man's political judgment."

Biden went on to vote for the Iraq war resolution. Which demonstrated his Washington-ness. He had tried for something better. When that failed, he, too, accepted the prevailing notion. But his pre-vote effort to create a much more limited resolution will afford the Obama-Biden ticket a small measure of cover when its foes point out that Obama's main charge against John McCain (he supported the Iraq invasion) can also be applied to his running-mate.

As Corn points out, Biden still voted for the War, but what he wanted was NOT the bullshit he ended up putting his name on.

It was a mistake, but not as glaring as would appear at first glance, and much more excusable and reconcilable.

Vice Versus

People all over the blogosphere are crapping their drawers over Obama's forthcoming-any-time-now pick to fill out the ticket. Why is he letting the suspense build? What does it mean? How long will he wait? Will it doom or save his chances?

First of all, there is no candidate that is perfect. None. Most have downsides (Biden, Webb, Richardson)—some significant (Hillary—the definition of high risk, high reward—could be huge in either direction). And those without foreseeable downside (Sebelius, Bayh, Dodd)? Low impact, no upside.

I'm not sure how much if any impact this pick will have on the election, but looking forward to actually serving, I can tell you the only one of them I feel strongly that I DON'T want as Vice President—Hillary Clinton.

As for the politico.com column flying around that "it won't be Hillary because she was never vetted for V.P" is garbage. You can be sure that Obama did all the oppo research needed months ago, when he was actually in a deathmatch with her.

Biden, Your Time

I know I said Joe Biden was dead to me after the odious Bankruptcy Bill of 2005, but I can't help but feeling that the Obama campaign—and Democrats in general—need someone willing to throw a freaking punch.

Evan Bayh? Screw that. If we're going with a Senator that voted for the Iraq War, he better bring more to the table than Bayh. Joe Biden has a fastball, and he ain't afraid to throw it.



UPDATE: Kevin Drum concurs. (See, Toast?)