Biden's Syracuse grad speech: 'Not the usual malarkey,' the H-word, Obama's dumb dog

[JonLP24]

Source: LA Times

Biden was in a reminiscent mood, talking about watching Floyd Little play football there and getting his own degree and the Vietnam war and assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy and being fortunate enough to live at a time when you can make a difference in history. Biden recalls how he and the Foreign Relations Committee told President Ford to end the Vietnam war and a few weeks later he did.

The VP also makes an unusual apparent bipartisan criticism of the last two administrations -- fellow Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush -- by saying the windows of opportunity have been slammed shut during the last 15 years.

<snip>
Perhaps the real Biden news of the day, however, comes this morning from Jimmy Orr over at the Vote blog. He tells us that after his commencement address, Biden stopped by the old neighborhood where he lived and visited with about 100 schoolchildren, who must have been thrilled to be called in on a Sunday for a political photo op.

One of them asked if the VP had ever pet a dog. And Biden took the occasion to praise his new dog Champ, and to insult Obama's new dog, Bo, as being far less intelligent than Champ. Biden quickly added that Bo was "a beautiful dog too." But the damage had been done. Add that one to the gaffe book.


Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/05/joe-biden-syracuse-speech.html

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Full text and video of Biden's speech at link. Good speech imo.

[livvy]

1. On the dog "gaffe"...

Per usual, the media chooses to make more of what Biden says, than what he actually says, and to take his comments out of context. What he said in this "gaffe" was..."I kid the President that my dog is smarter than his dog." He was talking to a bunch of elementary school kids, and he knows what makes them giggle.

Here's a video:

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/biden_the_place_he_once_called.html

[JonLP24]

2. I know

I originally posted in LBN because I thought the speech was great. However I alerted the mods once I realized the story was over a day old and so they moved it here.

[No Elephants]

3. WTH? The LA Times seems to get more neocon by the hour.

[JonLP24]

4. Read the speech

I didn't post it for the headline, had to per LBN rules.

[No Elephants]

5. Huh? I did read the speech. But what do Biden's words have to do with my comment about LAT?