Joe Biden update: No 'private meetings,' just meetings closed to the press
Possibly a very important policy change quietly emerged in the daily schedule of Vice President Joe Biden today.
Loyal Ticket readers know that, as a patriotic duty, we monitor the longtime senator's schedule with a close eye for detail because, after all, this man is only a heartbeat away from having to give a toast at a G-8 summit. We've especially noted Biden's innumerable "private meetings" that are closed to the press because, well, they're private.
And we've wondered aloud how this Democratic VP's private meetings with unnamed people on unnamed subjects differs from the private meetings with unnamed people that his evil predecessor had that got so many Democratic senators and representatives worried about nefarious secrets.
On one recent long weekend, the man who became a Delaware senator when his future boss, Barack Obama, was an inexperienced fundraiser of only 11, devoted an entire Monday to "private meetings" that are closed press in his Delaware home.
If that isn't dedication for the $208,000 salary.
Well, today's schedule, unlike many at the end of Biden's work weeks, contains no "private meetings." Not one.
Having spent Thursday traveling and successfully selling the nation on the so far hard-to-detect effects of the $787-billion Obama administration economic stimulus spending plan that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave them, Biden will show up for work around 11 today.
He'll join Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a roundtable to discuss only the rising costs of healthcare for people who own or work for small businesses. One suspects the absent president's ambitious plan to spend billions more to impose his healthcare reforms might also be mentioned.
OK, so figure an hour for the roundtable, maybe 75 minutes max. You can only talk about that stuff so long before requiring healthcare yourself. Fifteen minutes for handshaking, cellphone photos and congratulations on the excellent roundtable. The VP should be outta there by 12:30.
That leaves -- what? -- five, maybe six hours to make it a seven-hour workday.
According to the White House schedule, Biden will not spend the remainder of the workday in private meetings that are closed press.
Instead: "The Vice President will spend the remainder of the day in meetings that are closed press."
You get the difference, right?
(Friday UPDATE 7 p.m.: According to the VP's weekend schedule, if you need to reach him about the stimulus plan or something, both days he will be in Delaware where "There are no public events scheduled." No public mention of private meetings.)
-- Andrew Malcolm
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Photo: Getty Images
Serioulsy, would anyone leave him alone with their kids!
Posted by: amtr | July 10, 2009 at 06:28 AM
Obama's energy policy is being debated before congress. President Bush's energy policy was discussed in a private meeting and then implemented. That's the difference. Does anyone get any work accomplished if they have meetings all day? Why do you insinuate that the VP is working only 1 hour a day because he has one meeting? This article is full of not-so-very-subtle but not-very-well-thought-out cynicisms.
Posted by: kithara | July 10, 2009 at 06:36 AM
Democratic VP? *eeeiiihhh* you are the weakest link... "johnny tell him what he could have won* you could have won the opportunity to be smarter than a 5th grader if you had said 'Democrat' V.P..
'Democrat' means 'Communist' versus the political philosophy of Democracy. Also, the U.S. is a Republic which is a political philosophy distinguished from the Democratic political philosophy. While the two are similar, more so they are very distinguished from each other.
'Democrats' also have abandoned their once vaunted 'Liberal' title as well, as 'Liberal' suggested 'Libertarian' values. Instead, Democrats AND Republicrats have both decided that an authoritarian {Communist} government is where they wanna be. Which, I think, recent polls may have shown is the exact opposite of where the super majority of the American Citizen 'is'. I feel that this is why the Libertarian party may pwn the incumbent parties in the 2010 elections nation wide..
Posted by: Angel | July 10, 2009 at 06:38 AM
The OBAMAs are not good for the AMERICAN people........
Posted by: steve | July 10, 2009 at 06:40 AM
Joe Biden, doublespeak champion of the day!
Posted by: Jim | July 10, 2009 at 06:41 AM
Obama and Biden = Dumb and Dumber
Posted by: russ | July 10, 2009 at 06:45 AM
This is the result from the "goverment media" to make America a communist country. Everything the Democrats are doing is exactly the recepy from a communist country. The goverment media critized Mr. Chavez, well, the Democrats and the journalism are doing exactly the same.
Posted by: El rey | July 10, 2009 at 06:46 AM
This guy is Dan Qualye times 10, what an idiot!
Posted by: Charles Cain | July 10, 2009 at 06:46 AM
He shoots, he scores! Thank you, Andrew.
Posted by: drjohn | July 10, 2009 at 06:48 AM
Yeah thanks for clearing that up Joe...
Posted by: Mikey | July 10, 2009 at 06:50 AM
This is what you get when you vote for m.o.r.o.n.s.
Posted by: Ohio_Laughs_At_You | July 10, 2009 at 06:59 AM
Cheney was vilified for holding "secret meetings." With Biden it's a punchline. There is no press in America anymore. Just a bunch of fawning and fainting lemmings.
Posted by: eagle35 | July 10, 2009 at 07:02 AM
Wow, now aren't we glad we voted them in for the openess and transparency. Now that is change we can believe in!
Posted by: KMc | July 10, 2009 at 07:10 AM
His meetings are closed to the press because of how gaffe-prone he is. He is a treasure trove of verbal boondoggles.
Posted by: CousinEddie | July 10, 2009 at 07:13 AM
Of course he doesn't want the press in there, he'll just make another stupid comment to embarras the US!
Posted by: Cheryl | July 10, 2009 at 07:14 AM
Change you can believe in!
Posted by: Johnny Cash | July 10, 2009 at 07:16 AM
Its probably gaff control. He sticks his foot in his mouth more than anyone in history.
Posted by: Marco | July 10, 2009 at 07:20 AM
Great! We have Forrest Gump as our Vice President..
Posted by: distanceviewer | July 10, 2009 at 07:31 AM
"Having spent Thursday traveling and successfully selling the nation on the so far hard-to-detect effects of the $787 billion Obama administration economic stimulus spending plan that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave them"
False and false.
And shouldn't you be dead by now so you don't vote the wrong way? You disgusting hack.
Posted by: Concerned in OH | July 10, 2009 at 07:32 AM
This is because Joe Biden, simply, is an idiot. And for Barack Obama to choose Biden -- whose idiocy is no secret in DC -- as a running-mate, speaks volumes about the Chosen One's alleged intelligence.
Posted by: StephenRex | July 10, 2009 at 07:36 AM
You have to remember, it doesn't matter what they do, it only matters what they say they do. "I didn't have sex with that woman" (she had sex with me), "the minute I take the oath of office is the minute the troops start coming home", "we will watch every penny of the stimulus bill", "we don't want to own any car companies", "it's not a private meeting, it's just not public".
Hope there's something left 3 years from now.
Posted by: Oldgeez | July 10, 2009 at 07:45 AM
I don't think you can prove the existence of Joe Biden.
Posted by: KYinAZ | July 10, 2009 at 07:48 AM
Third paragraph... his "evil predecessor"
Really? Now there is some quality reporting. What's wrong with just calling him Cheney? Everyone knows who he is and what he did, no need to stoop to those levels. Andrew Malcolm, you are a weak and irresponsible writer.
Posted by: flanman | July 10, 2009 at 07:48 AM
Sure... "Closed to press but not private" means every participant is now FREE to spin the meeting to fit their personal desires! ...go to it self agrandizers!
You won't read about this meeting because it was closed to the press, but the VP asked me yesterday to please, please help him to learn how to read. It has been a secret he's been hiding for years (and explains why so many politicians don't bother to read the bills they vote on). Now that he is in the executive branch, he has to spend hours being read to by aids.... it consumes MOST of his day, every day. The really slow part is when the aids have to explain the meaning of difficult words like "truth", "honor", "free press" and for that matter, "freedom" in general.
Of course, he'll deny he has a problem, but without allowing the press in, HOW CAN WE BELIEVE HIM?
....oh, that was a spoof. He actually was meeting with the oil execs to see how best to raise the profits of the oil companies and stomp out the "green revolution" before it begins to hurt his rich friends.
What? You don't believe me? Why not? The meeting was closed to the press!!!!
Posted by: Karl Quick | July 10, 2009 at 07:50 AM
Biden can keep meetings secret but he can't keep the emergency bunker secret? ?
Posted by: billbrady | July 10, 2009 at 07:53 AM