Biden scores with debate zinger
Even if Joe Biden fails to overcome the long, long odds he faces in his bid for the presidency, his legacy may live on with the crack he delivered about Rudy Giuliani at tonight's debate among the Democratic White House contenders.
Asked about his experience compared to Hillary Clinton's, Biden short-circuited the effort by MSNBC's two questioners, Brian Williams and Tim Russert, to make the debate's first hour-plus all about her.
"I'm not running against Hillary Clinton," he began. "I'm running to lead the free world. I'm running to lead this country."
That, in itself, was a refreshing change of pace from what had been the relentless focus on Clinton. Then Biden turned his sights on Giuliani -- a shift probably welcomed by Democrats who had been watching the bickering among their candidates.
First, he termed Giuliani "probably the most under-qualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency." That garnered some laughter and applause, but Biden was merely setting up the sound bite of the night.
"Rudy Giuliani," he went on. "I mean, think about it. Rudy Giuliani. There's -- there's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11."
That sparked a huge response from an otherwise restrained audience. And if Giuliani emerges as the GOP nominee, it's likely to be a line Democrats reprise among themselves again and again.
-- Don Frederick
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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I think Mayor Giuliani is better qualified to be President than Senator Biden is.Mayor Giuliani has stated that if elected President,he would nominate strict constructionist justices like John Roberts and Antonin Scalia.Senator Biden did not even have the good judgement to vote for the confirmation of John Roberts or Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.Senator Clinton lacked the same good sense.If Rudy Giuliani wins the GOP nomination and runs against Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton in the general election,I will proudly vote for Mayor Giuliani.
Posted by: Shawn M. Hussey | November 01, 2007 at 10:06 AM
"I think Mayor Giuliani is better qualified to be President than Senator Biden is.Mayor Giuliani has stated that if elected President,he would nominate strict constructionist justices like John Roberts and Antonin Scalia."
Seriously you think loading our supreme court with idealistic biased judges is a good idea? thanks for being a communist i guess? anti american neo conservative scumbag. by the way shawn the country cares what you think about as much as they care what i think, so shut up already.
Posted by: Charles Kushner | December 17, 2007 at 03:06 PM
With all due respect, I'd rather have the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee (Biden) running this country that the former mayor of a city who accused Biden of having no experience with foreign relations. You can like Rudy more, if you like, but Biden is easily more qualified to be president.
Posted by: Pete | December 17, 2007 at 04:08 PM
Yeah, no kidding...Rudy? Qualified? I guess if you like people who are corrupt he's more qualified.
No matter, Rudy's tanking by the second. But that post shows just how genuinely ignorant people in this country are.
As far as the judge issue goes, the repubs have always been akin to nazi's, trying to control everyone's, every move. Of course they want to force their will on the rest of us.
Posted by: Lynne | December 19, 2007 at 06:19 AM