Biden Today: Slams McCain Hard on Foreign Policy

Joe Biden sets the stage nicely for the debate Friday night with a blistering talk on foreign policy in Cincinnati, Ohio today. The great thing about our ticket is that our VP candidate can give a speech like this with credibility and gravitas and actually knows whereof he speaks. Contrast that with Sarah Palin being set up in photo ops with foreign leaders (the first time she’s ever met a foreign head-of-state, by the way).

Not Biden, who lets McCain have it on foreign policy and national security:

“… the policies he would pursue as president would be wrong for America – nowhere more so than with our security and standing in the world.”

and

“John is more than wrong — he is dangerously wrong. On a question so basic, so fundamental, so critical to our nation’s security, we can’t afford a Commander-in Chief so divorced from reality and from America’s most basic national interests.”

Ouch. Much more below:

McCain’s Top Adviser Lobbied AGAINST Terrorist Gun Ban

If this isn’t the type of issue to McCain on, then I don’t know what is. Via TPM, McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann (you know, the one who was on the payroll of Georgia), actually lobbied AGAINST a bill that would close a loophole allowing those on the terrorist watch-list from buying guns.

Newsweek reports that, according to registration documents filed by Scheuenemann’s lobbying firm, Orion Strategies, Scheunemann lobbied on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) against a bill that aims to close a gun-control loophole that inhibits the government from stopping people on terrorist watch-lists from buying guns. According to Newsweek, “the bill was inspired by an official audit covering a five-month period in 2004 which found that, because of the loophole, the Feds had to greenlight 35 out of 44 cases where a gun buyer was on a terrorist watch list.”

Again, to make this crystal clear: John McCain’s top foreign policy adviser lobbied against a bill that would prevent terrorists from buying guns.

WaPo Smacks McCain Down on Landstuhl Troop Visit Story

Update: This story is getting Front Page treatment in the dead-tree edition tomorrow.

Finally some fact-checking from the traditional media.

McCain’s dishonest ad about Obama’s canceled visit to Landstuhl is probably the most dishonest of the election cycle so far (and we’re only six weeks in). The issues have been outlined, and admittedly the Obama campaign could have been clearer initially about what happened. But that isn’t any excuse for the attack campaign McCain has been executing on this issue.

Worse yet was the initial media reaction. After the ad went up, instead of fact checking the issue, the media was content to simply replay the ad, and essentially ask, “what do you think, Mr./Ms. Pundit?” This was even after the fact that is was clear that there wasn’t any significant money put into the Ad by, meaning it was for the cable pundits more than anything else.

Then, something happened. I don’t know if it was the media was shamed into actually doing their jobs, but they have suddenly started…doing their jobs. First was Andrea Mitchell with a well-deserved debunking:

Obama Welcomes McCain’s Support on Withdrawal Plan

Now that Obama’s trip overseas is just about over (in fact, he may be on his way back stateside as we speak), he is obviously feeling a little free to engage McCain on his silly statements. To that end, he decided to take McCain on based on his seeming agreement with Obama and al-Maliki’s 16 month withdrawal plan.

Story:

In terms of his comment about — that maybe 16 months sounds good — we are pleased to see that there has been some convergence around proposals that we’ve been making for a year and a half. The fact that John McCain now thinks that we should put more troops into Afghanistan I think is a good thing and that the Bush administration acknowledges that as well.

…. The fact that John McCain now thinks that it’s possible for us to execute a phased withdrawal — I think that’s a positive thing and if the administration believes that as well, then I will, I will be fully supportive.

He also takes a (well-deserved) shot at the GOP and McCain for goading him into taking this trip:

It’s hard for me to understand Sen. McCain’s argument. He was telling me I was supposed to take this trip. He suggested it, thought it was a good idea. Although I gotta admit we had it planned before he made the suggestion. Uh, John McCain has visited every one of these countries post primary that I have. He has given speeches in Canada, in Colombia, Mexico he made visits. And so it doesn’t strike me that we’ve done anything different than the McCain campaign has done which is to recognize that part of the job of the next president and commander in chief is to forge effective relationships with our allies.

More of this next week, please.

What your papers decided for you this AM

Do you read the paper editions of the New York Times? The Washington Post?

If so, this morning was both a profound disappointment and a confirmation about the motives of the traditional media.

Both papers featured large pictures of Barack Obama in Berlin. But neither paper could resist biasing their coverage.

The Times? Leads with another questionable headline: Obama, Vague on Issues, Pleases Crowd in Europe

Vague on issues? You wanted him to get into a domestic policy speech in Berlin? When Ronald Reagan said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” was he being too vague about the wall he was referring to? Was he wrong not to give Gorbachev a twelve-point plan for tearing down the wall?

When John Kennedy said “Ich bin ein Berliner”, was he being too vague? Should he have referred to the particular street he lived on in Berlin? Should he have mentioned his neighbors, the Schmidts?

And the Post, believe it or not, was even worse.

Good Lord

Obama is about to give his speech. The crowd is HUGE. Andrea Mitchell says it’s at about 100k, but I’d say it’s at least four times that much (Update: Looks like the unofficial number is at 215k). I have no idea how this is going to eventually play, and whether there will be a backlash. But this is an impressive crowd indeed.

MSNBC has a live feed.

The Page has the transcript of the speech.

John McCain: Travel-Agent-In-Chief

After reading about John McCain’s latest absurdity, suggesting Obama should travel to Latin America, it became clear to me that the man is not only running for Bush’s third term, but for the position of Travel-Agent-in-Chief. Indeed, he worries about Obama’s travel schedule so much I’m starting to wonder if he gets a commission.