Exclusive 1-on-1 with Joe Biden
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Jay Warren's Joe Biden Interview
Jay Warren's Joe Biden InterviewClick here for information about Biden’s campaign stop in Martinsville
Posted 4:39 p.m. Wednesday
WARREN: Senator Biden thanks for taking some time to meet with us.
BIDEN: I’m delighted to be with you.
WARREN: I want to ask you about a statement you made a couple of days ago. Of the next president, you said: “Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. And he’s gonna have to make some really tough” decisions.“ You went on to say, “He’s gonna need help.“ Senator Obama was asked about that comment today and said it was one of your “rhetorical flourishes.“ Is he right?
BIDEN: That’s not all what he said. No. He ended by saying that. He said what I was saying. The next president of the United States is going to be tested, whether it’s John McCain or Barack Obama. The point I was making is that Barack Obama is absolutely ready to meet those challenges and John McCain is not.
WARREN: If you believe we are going to have a crisis, how has Obama been tested in the past to deal with it? I’m looking for specific examples of his experience to deal with a national security crisis?
BIDEN: Let’s start off, John McCain has never been tested either. And when they’ve both been tested and state their opinion as senator, John McCain has been wrong. Barack Obama has been right. Barack Obama warned about the mistake in Iraq. He was right. John McCain said we’d be greeted as liberators. He was wrong.
BIDEN: John’s been wrong about every major crisis we have had. His judgment has been wrong. Barack’s has been right.
WARREN: He was right about the surge, though. Sen. Obama voted against the surge. Was he wrong on that vote?
BIDEN: No, he wasn’t wrong on that vote. What was it was as John McCain pointed as, just like all the military and Petreaus pointed out, the surge is a consequence… The success is as much a consequence of not only the bravery of our soldiers, but I have been pushing the military to do under the Biden proposal is to give local control.
BIDEN: Part of the reason why this surge has worked is not merely the added numbers but is the fundamental change in the philosophy of how to deal with Iraq and that has been a credit to Petreaus, but also consistent with what Barack and I have been talking about.
WARREN: Sen. Biden, who paid for your suit?
BIDEN: I pay for my suits. I pay for all of my own clothing.
WARREN: I’m sure you’ve heard that the RNC has spent 150-thousand dollars on Governor Palin’s wardrobe. Have the national news outlets asked who paid for your suits?
BIDEN: yeah they have. I’ve been doing these satellite interviews just like you just asked you. I pay for it.
WARREN: At the end of the day do you think you get the same scrutiny, the same critical eye that Gov. Palin gets from the media?
BIDEN: Absolutely. I have had 36 years for you to scrutinize me.
BIDEN: I’d argue that there is not any fundamental difference in the way that any of the four of us have been scrutinized.
WARREN: There’s a new Mason Dixon poll out that has your team ahead in Virginia by three points. Is this race going to come down to the wire in Virginia?
BIDEN: I think it is. It is going to be very close. We can take nothing for granted. The biggest thing going for us is the ground operation we have there. We have over 40 offices in the state and will compete for every vote in every part of your state. I’m going to be in Danville and Martinsville on Friday at the Patrick Henry Community College. We’re competing in your state and believe it will be very close.
WARREN: I think you just made news. We did not yet know that you’d be in the area on Friday. Thanks for the time and we look forward to seeing you. Thank you very much.
Reader Reactions
How about a 1 on 1 with Barney Frank?
Again no confusion her I know that people are not going to get a no or yes to a question. It’s definetly will be a drawn answer. I am just saying that he turned things around and said exactly the opposite. He just always has to turn it around and say something neg. about McCain in everything he does. I still think he was a little with Warren with the whole interview . He was just all attitude . I just don’t like that in a person !!!! Can I also ask You who you are voting for ???
Okay slouise, I have no confusion here!!!! Warren didn’t ask him as a president he asked him if Obama had been tested and he came back with NO! Then turned it around and said Yes he had.
Yet another example of black and white thinking, so common on the right. And you clearly do have confusion here. Why does it baffle you to have Biden say that in some ways, neither has been tested, yet in other ways they have both been tested?
I think many things must baffle you. To think that Biden MUST answer either Yes or No to that kind of question simply displays a lack of knowledge on your part. Most answers like that aren’t accurately answered with a simple Yes or No. IF Biden had chosen to answer Yes, or No, then THAT action, giving a simple answer to an intricate question, would be reason to have concern. Him giving a detailed answer to that question, and saying that, in some ways, neither candidate has been tested, but in other ways, Obama beats McCain in the ways that they have been tested, is a wholly appropriate answer. Again, it’s your argument that is lacking here.
WARREN: If you believe we are going to have a crisis, how has Obama been tested in the past to deal with it? I’m looking for specific examples of his experience to deal with a national security crisis?
Neither has been tested as President. Neither has specific examples of how to deal with a national security crisis because neither has been President yet, but if you look at other judgments they have both made that relate to National Security, then Biden says that Obama is better.
I am sorry that your partisanship denies you the ability to see his comments for what they are, and instead you look to baselessly mock him for a very reasonable comment!
It’s not rocket science, nor is it brain surgery. All you had to do was look above the comments and read what he ACTUALLY said.
BIDEN: Let’s start off, John McCain has never been tested either. And when they’ve both been tested and state their opinion as senator, John McCain has been wrong. Barack Obama has been right. Barack Obama warned about the mistake in Iraq. He was right. John McCain said we’d be greeted as liberators. He was wrong.
So, Biden said that neither one has been tested as President, and that BOTH have been tested as Senators, and that Obama looks better based upon that criteria. Geez louise!
Okay slouise , I have no confusion here !!!! Warren didn’t ask him as a president he asked him if Obama had been tested and he came back with NO ! Then turned it around and said Yes he had . Seems like you don’t know much about rocket science either huh! Wonder who you are for !!!
McCain ‘08
Really, it’s not rocket science. Neither one has been President before, tasked with all the responsibilites that come with being President, so no one has been challenged and tested as President yet. However, they BOTH have been challenged and tested as Senators! How can you NOT have figured this out? Can you PLEASE explain where your confusion came from here?
If you ask me I thought Biden was a little bit of a Smartilic & Rude to Warren w/ his replys. I don’t want a VP like that !!! I thought it was funny that Biden answered Warrens ? about Obama being tested and he said that neither candidates had been tested. Then he turned right around and said that they had been tested and that McCain has been wrong. Come on Biden make up your mind ??? He is always turning things around like and making him sound good. He will never admit that MCCAIN has been right and that OBAMA has been wrong on things!!!!!
McCain for ‘08
Warren’s question: “how has Obama been tested in the past to deal with it”? Biden goes off on some tangent as usual and never comes close to answering the question. Why not a come-back from Warren? As usual the Obama/Biden team is allowed to evade the question asked. Warren is of the same mold as Gibson and Couric when asking questions. Proof of what I post is documented; I didn’t make it up - read for yourself.
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