Is Joe Biden the anti-Cheney?

It's the soundbite heard 'round the (political) world. Democrat Joe Biden suggested that his young running mate Barack Obama would be tested by international foes within the first six months of his administration, much as a young John Kennedy was tested by the Soviets in the Cuban missile crisis.

Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. ..We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we are going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.

Biden, who has a reputation for shooting off his mouth, didn't stop there.

He's gonna need you -- not financially to help him -- we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right.

Republicans were quick to exploit the gaffe. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, colleague and traveling sidekick to John McCain, thanked Biden at a rally in Bensalem, Pa., this morning. "Thank you for reminding us the way the world is," he said, and for reminding voters that "there's never been a candidate for president of the United States more tested than John McCain." Even the first-term governor of Alaska Sarah Palin weighed in, saying the White House is no place for "on-the-job training."

All of this suggests that Biden would be a far different vice president than Dick Cheney. In some sense, Biden is the anti-Cheney -- all talk, no stealth.

Cheney, known in some quarters as Darth Vader, specialized in influence from within. Using a team of legal talents, he steered President Bush to approve domestic wiretapping, keep documents and witnesses out of congressional hearings and authorize torture techniques for terrorist suspects.

Will Biden, like Cheney, keep his counsel to the president confidential? Or will his verbal excesses sour President Obama on even listening to him?

Obama might take a few pointers from Bush, who told Cheney not to talk so much in meetings where both of them were in attendance. Or at least that's what Oliver Stone says in his new movie "W."

We asked Barton Gellman, a Washington Post reporter whose just-released book "Angler" offers a vivid portrayal of Cheney's style, to compare the two politicians. His take:

Cheney has been the West Wing equivalent of a black hole, emitting nothing. Joe Biden emits, emotes, speculates, hypothecates. If he's the next vice president, we're in for some fun.

-- Johanna Neuman

Comments

[Frank]

"We have diverted all that money to address the least likely threat, whil the real threat comes to this country in the hold of ship, the belly of a plane, or smuggled into a city in the middle of the night in a vial in a backpack."

Joe Biden - National Press Conference 09/10/01 (Yes that is the day before 9/11)

[Marshame]

Excuse me? Did I read this correctly? Oliver Stone (that great historian) has George Bush telling Dick Cheney not to talk so much, and this is cited as if it's evidence of truth????

Thank you for giving me my laugh of the day.

If you Google "Biden challenge six months" you will see, as I did, that NONE of the major news outlets other than FOX carried this story. It is simply more evidence that the media is in the tank for Obama. What a shame this is. We are treated to every pimple and wart that can be found about Sarah Palin, but it's hands off when Biden makes a fool of himself, yet again!

At least this LA Times columnist, whoever he is, addresses the issue. Maybe he didn't get the memo about not touching it with a 10-foot pole like the rest of his media collegues.

[BitterBierce]

Marshame, that's pure balderdash - Biden's comment .. and reactions across the board .. has been on virtually every major news outlet and discussed endlessly on the political discussion shows on TV.

Try a News Google on biden obama tested - NO quotes.

[gmichaels]

All new presidents must expect "to be tested." With McCain it wouldn't be difficult to make him fly off the handle and run around like the proverbial headless chicken..... bombing and sending troops everywhere .... simply because someone baited him.

That's the REAL SCARRRRY scene.... a Bush-Clone-Bimbo with a sort fuse....what could the world need more?

[for parity]

Dick Cheney as Darth Vader? He steered to wiretap inernational calls to screen for potential terrorist connections. Cool - polls showed that more than 75% of Americans supported just that.

Let's see, for comparison, VP Gore convinced Bill Clinton to order up the CIA to establish the US program of extroadinary rendition - in the mid -90's. We did about as many of them before 9/11 as we did after. Eventually, Bush ended the practice -as we ended up with a place to take them - Git-mo. Even Charlie Rose was forced to admit., that was more palitable. What was it that Gore said to Clinton in convincing him?

Gore laughed and said, "That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass." From Clarke's book.

[Russ]

These aren't gaffes, these are things Biden actually thinks. A gaffe is when you say something but mean something else, it may come out wrong etc. What Biden says are actual things he believes, at least before Obama.
Biden also said in 2007 he would be honored to run with McCain and he said in 2007 that Obama was not ready to be President.

[Sonia Kermaz]

The crisis is already upon us, world wide meltdown of the financial markets. Asian markets plunging. Since the rest of world overwhelmingly favors Obama, his election should have a calming effect. Should McCain win, the markets (confidence) may not recover.