Republicans denounce Obama's 'historic' veep selection
By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter
McCain State Chair Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer): Politicker file photo
DENVER - New Jersey Republicans jeered Barack Obama’s choice for vice president in a Saturday afternoon conference call today, with state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) describing as "historic," presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Il.) decision to name Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) as his running mate.
"Yesterday, Sen. Obama picked someone who does not believe his own running mate is ready to be president of the United States," said Baroni, chair of the McCain campaign in New Jersey.
Citing a Democratic Primary debate exchange between ABC moderator George Stephanopoulos and then-presidential candidate Biden in which the latter said he does not believe the presidency is the proper venue for on-the-job training, Baroni focused on the freshman Senator Obama’s lack of experience.
"That’s not me saying it, it’s Joe Biden," said Baroni, echoing a McCain television ad that is now up and running in South Jersey.
Joining Baroni on the call were McCain campaign spokesman Peter Feldman, state Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex), Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), and Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R-Franklin).
Each picked a different piece of the Biden record to respectively diminish, slamming the veteran Democratic senator especially hard on his tax record.
The Republicans also complained about what they see as a lack of consistency in the Obama message, and tried to depict the Illinois senator’s choice as a reconfirmation of his essential weakness as a presidential candidate.
Mroz said the new look Obama was forced to pick someone with foreign affairs credentials because he lacks experience on the subject. Yet the ultimate Washington, D.C. insider Biden simultaneously undermines Obama profession to be a change agent.
"This myth of change has been dampened," agreed Bramnick, who noted that Biden’s son is a Washington, D.C. lobbyist.
If Obama has counter-punched at the inexperience tag by using his opposition to the Iraq War to demonstrate his good judgement, the Republicans also seized on that supposed strong point in the context of the Biden pick.
"Barack Obama has demonstrated exceptionally poor judgment," he said.
They never said the word "liberal," but they repeatedly invoked the senator’s record in support of tax hikes.
In his turn on the call, O’Toole stayed on top of the issue.
"It’s terrible news for the taxpayers of New Jersey," said the McCain campaign’s vice chair of Biden’s presence in the race. "The only interesting note is that Obama’s tax and spend record is overshadowed by Biden’s."
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Syndicate
please God, have McCain pick Romney
Please God, have McCain pick Romney so we can all whip out Romney's quotes against McCain. Better yet, how bout McCain's quotes against Romney -- the real candidate of change. But I'm sure McC and his NJ pals will flip-flop in a New York second. It's a shame you Foxnews guys don't have anything else to talk about. Say, instead of continuing to polarize this nation as Karl Rove taught you guys, why don't you just stick to the issues???
Or you could listen to these Republicans
"Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century. An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden's selection is good news for Obama and America." [Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)] or "No one on the Democratic side knows more about foreign policy than Sen. Biden. He's been an articulate spokesman on the subject. He also knows about domestic policy. He's been a leader on crime control." [Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA)] or "I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate. I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy." [Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IA) ]
Issues?
Hamilton, I'd love to discuss issues, but Obama says they are above his pay grade!
"I figure people drift toward liberalism at a young age, and I always hope that they change when they see how the world really is.”
- Johnny Ramone
Biden
Issues, hmm lets see.
He tried to dress down General Petrauis last spring when he was before the Foriegn relations Committee, what a wind bag he was that day. The general ate him for lunch with out even raising his voice.
Well it turns out Biden was wrong on the surge too like Obabama was. He also grand standed last year on funding the troops, pulling out of Iraq, etc etc.
If you want to go back even further, he voted no for the first Iraq war, led the partisan lynching of Clarence Thomas, and the discraceful episode he tag teamed Robert Bork with Teddy. This guy is a partisan hack pure and simple. How can the lefty's yell change now when they have a premier 30 year Washington insider with a voting record like Teddy Kennedy. Yea middle America will vote for these two.
Biden
McCain's ad is devastating, regardless of what partisan Dems think. The average person watching the ad will be taken aback by the frankness of Biden's (i) criticism of Obama, and (ii) (let's not forget this part of the ad, fellas - especially the clown above, HamiltonJunkie, who is comparing this to Mitt Romney) his statement that he would be "honored to run WITH (my emphasis) or against John McCain" in a presidential election (sadly for your 'analogy,' Romney never said he'd be honored to run with Obama). Ouch! Will be very tough to lie/spin out of between now and November...
Definitely, NJ is in play now.
Obama just demonstrated significant lack of executive decision-making in this the most important decision in his presidential campaign. However, since he was a presumptive nominee there was one mistake after another; Obama has become flat and boring on the stump. Biden nomination essentially ended Obama's claim for a change. A 36-year-Washington insider does not represent change that we can believe in. Although, Obama was not expected to nominate Hillary, omitting a woman is a huge disappointment. This ticket is not about change but about business as usual in Washington. This is good news for McCain in NJ. The voters here are tired of business as usual.
Biden is a bookmark
He no longer has any chance for higher office. Other choices probably saw the disaster coming and said no. Biden has nothing to lose.
Biden
Just what the Donkeys needed. Another white, male, lawyer.
On behalf of President McCain, thanks guys!
Hack Attack
Shame on Bill Baroni and the rest of the N.J. McCain Republican team (McHose? Seriously?) for merely parroting campaign talking points instead of adding anything remotely substantive to the political debate. O'Toole also is better than this hack-attack tripe that he is spouting about taxes and Biden. And then Bramnick makes the amazingly selective amnesia comment about Biden's son when McCain's inner circle is almost all lobbyists (Anyone need an advisor to Georgia? Anyone?), and special interest groups, particularly oil companies, are bankrolling McCain's campaign. Baroni and O'Toole, at times, have added something to the discussion of reform in the state; now they're scraping the bottom of the barrel on behalf of McCain.
Of course the Republicans denounce Biden
Of course the Republicans denounce Biden. Sen. Joe Biden is an outstanding candidate who can hand the Republicans a trouncing. He's got all the right stuff to assure a Democratic victory in November, so what else would the inept NJ Republicans do?