The Blue State

(Video) Jackie and Dunlap bash Joe Biden in parody music video

Jackie and Dunlap, who became famous overnight on Youtube for their portrayal of red state America, released a music video that targets Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The beef started after a question that Jackie and Dunlap asked about Al Gore was featured during the Youtube debate last month.  Responding to the comedians, who speak in a heavy southern accent, Biden joked, "I think the people of Tennessee just had their feelings hurt."

So this music video is intended as payback for Biden.  It's called "fightin' Joe Biden":

Weird?  Yes.  Good Friday humor?  Of course.

Dodd and Biden join Hillary in slamming Obama

The hits against Obama just keep on coming.  Almost two weeks since Hillary Clinton called Barack Obama naive for wanting to talk directly with US foes, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden are joining the hit parade.

In response to Obama's foreign policy speech yesterday, in which he said as president he would put more pressure on Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden, Dodd and Biden went on the offensive.

Let's start with Dodd, who called Obama "unwise":

"Over the past several days, Sen. Obama's assertions about foreignand military affairs have been, frankly, confusing and confused,'' Doddsaid in a statement released by his campaign. "He has made threats heshould not make and made unwise categorical statements about militaryoptions.

"We are facing a dangerous and complicated world,'' Dodd said. "Thenext president will require a level of understanding and judgmentunprecedented in American history to address these challenges."

What Dodd choose not to address was whether it was unwise for him in 2002 to vote in support of Bush's war.  Nonetheless, he is definitely cozying up to Hillary's camp.

Biden also took aim at Obama, calling him "naive":

“In order to look tough, he’s undermined his ability to be tough, werehe President. Because if you’re going to go into Pakistan -- which isalready our policy by the way, if there’s actionable intelligence-- youneed actionable intelligence from moderates within Pakistan workingwith you. Now if you’re already going to say I’m going to disregardwhatever the country thinks and going to invade, the likelihood you’regetting the cooperation you need evaporates. It’s a well intendednotion he has, but it’s a very naïve way of figuring out how you’regoing to conduct foreign policy.”

Actually, Obama never said he wanted to invade Pakistan.  He said we have to take the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- bringing in a new emphasis of what the war is about instead of focusing on Iraq.  That could mean stepping up diplomacy to get Musharraf to send his troops into the border region.  It could mean conducting air-strikes on places where we think Osama is hiding.  We're not invading Pakistan.

With all the foreign policy experience Biden and Dodd have, it is surprising that they don't know the difference between ground wars and intelligence-sharing operations with other countries.

Obama wins straw poll at Take Back America conference

Here are the results of the straw poll, sponsored by Politico.com and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, and taken by 727 attendees at the Take Back America conference:

TAKE BACK AMERICA STRAW POLL
Barack Obama - 29%
John Edwards - 26%
Hillary Clinton - 17%
Bill Richardson  - 9%
Al Gore - 8% (Write-In)
Dennis Kucinich - 5%
Chris Dodd - 1%
Mike Gravel - 1%
Joe Biden - 1%

SC-2008: Obama and Thompson lead in polls

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there.  We're lite on posts today, but we'll be back up to full speed at midnight eastern tonight with the nightowl clips.

Meanwhile, new NBC poll numbers are in from South Carolina, which are great news for Obama and Thompson.  Obama, within the last month, has vaulted ahead of Clinton.  Here are the numbers.  First, the Democrats:

South Carolina Democrats
Barack Obama - 35%
Hillary Clinton - 24%
John Edwards - 12%
Joe Biden - 2%
Undecided - 24%

Now to the Republicans.  Thompson, who is scheduled to announce his run for the White House in July, leads Giuliani, Romney and McCain:

South Carolina Republicans
Fred Thompson - 25%
Rudolph Giuliani - 21%
Mitt Romney - 11%
John McCain - 7%
Mike Huckabee - 5%
Undecided - 28%

Maybe it's not some coincidence that the two candidates on top, Obama and Thompson, are thought of as Washington-outsiders.  People on both sides of the spectrum are sick of business as usual in Washington and want change.

Opinion: Richardson wins New Hampshire debate

For those of you whose eyes were glued to the television for two hours, you witnessed a much more aggressive, combative and up-front debate than the first one two months ago.  In our live chat during the debate, our visitors had a wide variety of views about who won.  But we did reach a consensus about a few things.

• Chris Dodd did not help himself out at all.
• Dennis Kucinich was predictable, but did not tell us anything new.
• Hillary was Hillary.
• Mike Gravel thought outside the box, but didn't establish himself as presidential material.
• Wolf Blitzer's questions were much more entertaining than Chris Dodd's answers.

Overall, even though some of you may disagree, we thought that the upper second-tier candidates stood out -- particularly Bill Richardson and Joe Biden.

Biden, the U.S. Senator from Delaware, explained his unpopular decision to support the President's Iraq funding bill that did not include a timetable.  He did it by stating that practically speaking, the Senate needs 67 votes.  Until we get those 67 votes, when non-legislators like John Edwards tell you that the Senate isn't doing its job, they are spinning the truth.  Agree with what Biden said or not, he did come across as extremely practical on foreign policy issues.  That will give his campaign more life as we head into the summer months.

Richardson started off very slow.  But as the Brody File agrees, he grew stronger as the debate went on.  He took a principled stance on the Darfur issue -- saying that we should boycott the Summer Olympics in 2008 if China refused to get involved and pressure the Sudanese government.  He was strong on energy and all other foreign policy-related matters.  By the end of the debate, it was clear that Richardson was the most experienced.  The fact that Clinton kept applauding Richardson's work in her husband's administration really added legitimacy to his excellent resume.  On paper, he is clearly the most qualified to be president.  Tonight, he told us why.  He was very effective.  He won the debate.

John Edwards came in a close third.  On the issue of Iraq, he held Clinton and Obama's feet to the fire:

"Others were quiet. They went quietly to the floor of the Senate, castthe right vote. But there is a difference between leadership andlegislating," Edwards said.

Both Clinton and Obama voted against the bill - which passed - but without making a strong case against the legislation.

"I think it's obvious who I'm talking about," Edwards said.

That was one of the many excerpts where Edwards blamed people like Clinton and Biden for not condemning their own war vote in 2002.

As this column is being written immediately after the debate, this is less thorough.  Expect more columns about the debate in the coming days.

Our editorial board has put together rankings for how each candidate did tonight:

1. Bill Richardson
2. Joe Biden
3. John Edwards
4. Barack Obama
5. Hillary Clinton
6. Dennis Kucinich
7. Mike Gravel
8. Chris Dodd

Feel free to put in your ten cents in the comment box.

Biden tries to rebound after supporting Bush Iraq bill

Just one week after voting for President Bush's Iraq war funding bill, Joe Biden is back-tracking a bit.  His campaign issued a press release intended to calm all the frustration that has been headed in the Democratic presidential candidate's direction:

After misleading the American peoplethat the troop surge would be temporary and limited, the BushAdministration is finally acknowledging that the ‘surge’ is really anescalation with no end in sight.  Given the many years of failed Bushpolicies in Iraq, the American people want and deserve to knowPresidential candidates’ plans for getting us out of Iraq.

Biden wants to hold a Democratic presidential debate that solely covers the issue of Iraq.  No other candidate has yet to accept the invitation.

By voting to the way he did one week ago, Biden showed us that his plan for getting out of Iraq is to simply wait until January of 2009 before doing anything.  Some in the Senate, such as Barack Obama and Chris Dodd, wanted to put their foot down and force Bush to follow a timeline for withdrawal.  Joe Biden did not.  He voted alongside the 79 other Senators to defy a majority of the country that does not favor an open-ended policy.  It will be awfully difficult for Senator Biden to wipe his hands clean of that vote.

Joe Biden's MySpace friends revolt over war vote

One week after Democrats such as Joe Biden supported the President's Iraq spending bill without a timetable, progressives are still livid.  All you have to do is visit the Senator Biden's MySpace page to get a glimpse of how angry people are.  Even his supporters are revolting.

Here is a sample:

"Based on your vote for the war spending, I think I'm officiallyundecided once again. Pathetic cowardly move! I'm sadened by the lackof conviction by the democratic party. Do the right thing and end thiswar now!" - Shad

"I bid you found farewell as a myspace friend and my potential candidate for president.Your consistency and candor attracted me to you but your vote tocontinue George Bush's war funding and your agreement to appear on theFox Noise Debate have excluded you from being a serious candidate forPresident." - Matt

"I'm angry at you..." - Tyler

Again, this is just a sample.  Not every message was negative.  But ever since his war vote, most messages have had a negative tone.

The Blue State Opinion: John Edwards wins first debate

After a very intense discussion between members of our team, The Blue State will declare John Edwards as the winner of the first Democratic presidential debate.  He was clearly more prepared than anyone else, appeared the most sincere and positive as well.  Here are our rankings, from best to worst:

1. John Edwards - Most straight-forward in his answers.  Clearly came off the best.  He had a lot riding on this debate, and came up big.
2. Barack Obama - Being attacked by Kucinich and Gravel made him look more mainstream and more electable.  Strongest on foreign policy -- really shined on that issue.
3. Hillary Clinton - Very sharp answers, especially around the end.  Saying that she was from New York twice, while speaking in a non-New York accent, may have hurt her sincerity.  But overall she was surprisingly analytical.
4. Joe Biden - His infamous one-word answer contradicted criticism for his typically long-winded rhetoric.  Strongest tonight on the issue of non-Iraq foreign policy.
5. Bill Richardson - Stumbled a bit on the Gonzales question, but rebounded when he talked about North Korea and Iran -- since foreign policy is clearly his strength.
6. Chris Dodd - Exactly what we expected out of him.
7. Dennis Kucinich - Picking a fight with Obama just to pick a fight didn't help him at all.  Obama should have ignored him.  He actually should have spent more time talking about Cheney impeachment.
8. Mike Gravel - The "potted plant" comment was the most thoughtful insight he said all night.

We would love your comments.

(Video) Biden: Money will limit diversity in 2008 race

New fundraising results for the first quarter of 2006 show Hillary Clinton has raised a record $26 million, which does not include the other $11 million that she has left from her 2006 Senate campaign bank account.

With a surge of states scheduling their primaries for February 5th, money will play an even larger factor in this presidential primary race.  More states in play means more spending on micro-targeting and grassroots outreach.  If you are not bringing in at least $10 million per month starting this fall, then it will be difficult to compete in California, Florida and New Jersey -- just some of the many states that will cast ballots on February 5th.

So what does this do to the power of ideas?  Will second tier candidates like Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and Dennis Kucinich even last through this summer?  On Fox News Sunday, Joe Biden admitted that if this is a money game, then pretty soon only a few candidates will be left standing:

BIDEN: But Chris, if this comes down to just straight money, then there's only going to be one, maybe two candidates, in the race.

Do we need real campaign finance reform?  Or does that limit free speech?  Or, better yet, is money completely different than free speech?

Details on the Dem's plan to rescind Bush's war authorization

Less than 24 hours after it was reported that Joe Lieberman renewed his threat to leave the Democratic Party, word leaked that Democrats will rescind President Bush's war authorization.  Maybe they made Lieberman's decision easier!  The resolution would include the following:

• Restricting Bush's mission in Iraq to combating al-Qaeda in the western part of the country, therefore no longer making the mission about babysitting a civil war.
• Training Iraqi military and police forces.
• Withdrawing combat forces.
• Securing the border regions.

The problem is that this report was leaked before rank-and-file Democrats were briefed about it.  Hopefully it does not create animosity between the sponsors of this bill and the lawmakers that were left out of the loop.  Either way, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) is excited about the resolution:

"I've had enough of 'nonbinding,' " said Sen. John Kerry  (D-Mass.), who is helping to draft the new Democratic proposal. The 2002 war resolution, he said, is an obvious target.

"Theauthorization that we gave the president back in 2002 is completely,completely outdated, inappropriate to what we're engaged in today," hesaid.

Although Kerry is definitely one of the key players, it is not his resolution.  For now on, it looks like Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Joe Biden (D-DE) will be the go-to guys on the Iraq issue.  This is their resolution.  It will be introduced on Tuesday when the Senate reconvenes.

There appears to be a new "war council" forming in the Democratic Party.  Only a small group of lawmakers are involved -- and that does not include Murtha.  Each of the key players are from the Senate.  Pelosi's House is left out.  Meet the new Democratic war council:

• Carl Levin (D-MI)
• Joe Biden (D-DE)
• John Kerry (D-MA)
• Russ Feingold (D-WI)
• Jack Reed (D-RI)
• Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
• Harry Reid (D-NV)

No Hillary Clinton.  No Barack Obama.  No Chris Dodd.  The Democrats want to make this as little about the '08 election as possible.  Biden, however, is the only presidential candidate on the list.  But he has to be included because he chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Even though it was leaked, the resolution has not been finished yet, according to the New York Times:

Officials said lawmakers and senior aides were still refining the exactlanguage that would be used and were uncertain whether the new proposalwould explicitly repeal the initial Iraq war resolution, amend it ortake another avenue. “We haven’t crossed that bridge yet,” one officialsaid.

I probably speak for all Democrats when I say that the resolution needs to completely repeal, not just amend, the 2002 war resolution.  No more baby steps.  It's time for action.  It's time to stop refereeing a civil war.  And it's time to stop letting ourselves be pushed around by the Republican Party.  Voters spoke last November.  They want new leadership, not pretender-ship.