Marquette Warrior: Biden: Attacks on Palin “Outrageous”

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Biden: Attacks on Palin “Outrageous”

From The Hill:
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden repeated a Republican line of attack Thursday, slamming reporters for their “outrageous” and “sexist” treatment of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

“I just think some of the stuff said has been over the top, totally unfair, and has been sexist and I think the way the governor has handled it has been admirable,” the Delaware senator said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I think this stuff about how can she be a governor and vice president and raise three kids, c’mon, whoever those folks are don’t know any strong women.

“The truth is, some of the stuff that the press has said about Sarah and that others have said about the governor, I think, are outrageous. Look, I think kids are off-limits, flat off-limits.”
One could, of course, one could posit that Biden and Obama (who has also condemned the attacks on Palin) are playing a cynical little game of making humane statements, knowing that the leftist bloggers and Mainstream Media attack dogs will continue to go after Palin.

But maybe they have simply made a shrewd calculation that the attacks are likely to backfire, and want them stopped for that reason.

Or maybe, just maybe, they honestly think the attacks have been unfair. Biden, after all, was the single parent of young children after his first wife died. He stayed in the Senate nonetheless.

Is it an embarrassment that Sarah Palin’s unmarried daughter is pregnant? Absolutely. But then Obama’s father ran off and failed to support his family, and Obama has a brother living in abject poverty in Africa.

Like most Americans, Obama has a few embarrassing situations in his family.

So maybe, just maybe, decency has prevailed in the Democratic ticket.

Ragardless, the statements of Biden and Obama have cut the legs from under the liberal attack squad.

Labels: , , ,

10 Comments:

Blogger Nick said...

"One could, of course, one could posit that Biden and Obama (who has also condemned the attacks on Palin) are playing a cynical little game of making humane statements, knowing that the leftist bloggers and Mainstream Media attack dogs will continue to go after Palin.

But maybe they have simply made a shrewd calculation that the attacks are likely to backfire, and want them stopped for that reason."

Talk about damned if you do and damned if you don't. If Obama and Biden didn't come out and outright condemn these statements, you would go after them for that.

When they do come out and flat out condemn these attacks (as they should), now they're playing political calculus.

What option do Biden and Obama have to play here that would not be second guessed or critiqued by you? Should they sick the FCC or the FEC on the bloggers in question? Oh wait... that goes agaist our professed conservative values of free speach and constitutional government.

Really... they did the honorable, respectable thing, and condemned these attacks, and that was pretty much all they can do to stop them.

3:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah-palin-gender-card

The last clip is particularly enlightening.

4:06 PM  
Blogger John McAdams said...

Anonymous,

Yes, the Daily Show is making a good case for conservative hypocrisy.

Unfortunately, it ignores the fact that perfectly mirror-image hypocrisy has marked the liberal response to Palin.

I do trust that you would concede that, would you not?

5:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would like to point out that very similar things were asked of John Edwards after he announced he was staying in the race despite his wife's cancer.

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/bookman/

"Rush Limbaugh said the Edwardses were turning their eyes to the campaign when they instead should turn their eyes to God."

"Katie Couric, in a “60 Minutes” interview, accused Edwards of mining his wife’s condition for sympathy votes: 'Even those who may be very empathetic to what you all are facing might question your ability to run the country at the same time you’re dealing with a major health crisis in your family,' Couric told Edwards."

"And in Time magazine, columnist Jay Carney wrote that “surely many average Americans have to be wondering at what point the candidate will decide that his duties as husband and father to three children, including a 6- and 8-year-old, trump his duty to his country and the cause of winning the White House.”

5:10 PM  
Blogger John McAdams said...

What option do Biden and Obama have to play here that would not be second guessed or critiqued by you?

What can anybody in politics do that will not be second guessed or critiqued by anybody?

And are you actually saying that we have to take every pious profession by a politician at face value?

My post certainly left open the possibility that it is simply a principled stand on their part.

5:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In terms of Biden, there has been long criticism that his son, Hunter, and his wife got married after they became pregnant with and gave birth to their oldest daughter who I think is named Naomi. There's a chance he doesn't want attention from the media on that, which is the exact same situation as Palin's daughter.

Not that the media would care to cover it.

10:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what example you could find of equally perfect hypocrisy on the liberal side.

You might say it's hypocritical for a person to say Obama has plenty of experience, but then criticize Palin for not having enough experience. However, their experience does not mirror each other in the exact way in which Kaine's and Palin's do.

I challenge you to find a quote of a "liberal" and then the same "liberal" saying something directly hypocritical (like O'Reily, Morris, Rove) regarding Palin.

11:36 PM  
Blogger Nick said...

"My post certainly left open the possibility that it is simply a principled stand on their part."

It did do that... but it assumed the opposite was the case. You wrote as if the possibility that they honestly felt the attacks were unfair, was a remote possibility.

I know I'm cynical about politics... but given the evidence, do you not think that assumption is unfair?

I suppose I could just as rightly posit that the only reason you are writing the post in the manner that you are is to hold Obama accountable for something he has no responsibility for, in an effort to tarnish him with a certain voting block and bring votes to Palin/McCain.

Or maybe, just maybe, there is a slim possibility you don't want to do that.

8:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NjY4ODg3ZjA2ZDQwZjI3NTM1MGY3ZGE0YmM3NmJmN2Y=

12:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I requested a copy of the Biden out of wedlock pregnancy story, from the ZerObama campaign, but all I got was a XEROX of a Neil Kinnock speech.

10:43 PM  

<< Home