Joseph Biden | The New York Observer

Economic Crisis: Where Can President Find an Adviser Who Gives Good Television?

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:00:00 -0400

Not long ago, President Barack Obama finally got around to filling three of the top jobs at the Treasury Department that had been vacant since his inauguration.

But even afterward, one top financial job was left conspicuously unfilled—namely, the role of Economic Surrogate in Chief.

A good economic statesman—somebody who can crunch budget projections by day and give good TV by night—can be hard to find. It’s a lesson that’s been driven home in Washington in...

Just Words? Tell It to Biden

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:52:51 -0500

Understandably, Joe Biden’s campaign-ending bout with plagiarism two decades ago has been getting its share of attention over the past 24 hours, with the Clinton campaign drawing a parallel with Barack Obama’s lift of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s words.

Certainly, Mr. Obama’s delivery of the passage in question was pretty much identical, as the video evidence now available on YouTube clearly shows. So why isn’t it being treated with the same gravity?

...

Also-Ran Biden Shows the Way at Debates

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:27:14 -0400

It’s a shame Joe Biden’s campaign hasn’t gone anywhere.

The Delaware Senator, who was first elected when M*A*S*H was a brand new series, actually announced his plans to run ahead of everyone else—in June 2005—but the head start has done him no good: He can’t raise money, can’t move his poll numbers, and can’t break his way into the Hillary-Barack-and-John storylines that define the media’s coverage of the Democratic race.

But every time the Democratic eight...

Biden Campaign to Edwards: Enough With the Dean Routine

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:31:49 -0400

Before the last presidential election, John Edwards voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq, then spent most of the actual campaign parrying attacks from antiwar outsider Howard Dean. This time around, Mr. Edwards has slipped into the role of perpetually incensed antiwar crusader, questioning the commitment of his competitors to the liberal ideals he has so unapologetically embraced.

Joe Biden’s campaign, for one, has taken...

A Candidate For Secretary Of State

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:47:20 -0400

Officially, Joe Biden is running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. And if, as expected, his underfunded and overlooked candidacy tanks in the early primary and caucus states next January, he’ll probably end up seeking—and winning—a seventh term in the United States Senate in the fall of 2008.

But the job Mr. Biden may really be eyeing is that of Secretary of State.

It’s...

The Tragic Death of Enlightened Interventionism

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Consider it a sign of the times: A senior Democrat calls for committing American troops to a new theater of conflict, and the news causes only the gentlest of ripples.

The Democrat in question was Senator Joe Biden, and the benighted land was Darfur.

“I think it’s time to put force on the table and use it, and use it now,” Mr. Biden said at a hearing...

The Morning Read: Thursday, April 12, 2007

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:38:42 -0400

Andrew Cuomo got the nation's largest student loan company to curb its business practices and pay $2 million to educate the public about the industry.

Unlike George Pataki, Eliot Spitzer based his federal PAC in New York.

Joe Bruno promised to a problem with the Saratoga Springs.

Christine Quinn is getting members in line to override the mayor veto of a cap on pedicabs.

The city comptroller wants to know if Wal-Mart spied on its shareholders.

46 percent of...

Dems Answer to Anti-War Listeners

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 06:00:00 -0400

A day after they ditched a planned FOX debate, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards will participate in a "virtual town hall" discussion this evening in the (presumably) more ideologically friendly confines of Air America radio. The Big Three, along with Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Dennis Kucinich, will engage in a conversation entirely dedicated to the subject of Iraq and co-hosted by MoveOn.Org. Air America will be streaming it live...

Elsewhere: Hillary, Spitzer

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:45:00 -0500

Hillary Clinton spoke privately to a gay political organization today. Hillary is ahead in Joe Biden's home state. Michael Cooper has more details about Eliot Spitzer's fight over health care spending and notes 1199 consultant Jennifer Cunningham's response: "We're not crybabies." There's a small residency question about Eliot Spitzer's upstate economic czar. Henry Stern liked Spitzer's presentation this morning, and thinks Spitzer has the potential for excellence. The federal government will pay 75 percent of the cost to...

Letters

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Biden on Iraq To the Editor: Jason Horowitz’s article—about a man that I like in general and have a difficult time liking re specifics—was a bit disturbing [“Biden Unbound: Lays Into Clinton, Obama, Edwards,” Feb. 5]. On balance, I agree about the need to partition the ethnic communities, as the Balfour Agreement made by the English after World War I was a disaster from the get-go. In general, I believe the war must be...

Letters

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Letters

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Biden Unbound: Lays Into Clinton, Obama, Edwards

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Senator Joseph Biden doesn’t think highly of the Iraq policies of some of the other Democrats who are running for President.

To hear him tell it, Hillary Clinton’s position is calibrated, confusing and “a very bad idea.” John Edwards doesn’t know what he’s talking about and is pushing a recipe for Armageddon in the Middle East. Barack Obama is offering charming but insubstantial fluff. And all of them are playing politics.

“Let me put it this...

Biden Talks To Sharpton

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:44:23 -0500

I went to Al Sharpton's radio studio yesterday to watch him chat with Joe Biden, who phoned in to assauge Sharpton by expressing regret over his remark's describing Barack Obama as "clean" in yesterday's Observer. Sharpton welcomed Biden to the program and then praised him for not trying to backtrack or wiggle out of his remarks. "You have stood straight up on this," said Sharpton. Sharpton, aformer presidential candidate, nonetheless took issue with the notion...

Elsewhere: Biden, Rudy, Molly Ivins

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:19:35 -0500

Is Joe Biden a brilliant tactician? Time wonders is Barack Obama is black enough. Hillary Clinton likes bloggers so much, she granted an interview to one. Eliot Spitzer is spending his own money to promote the budget he proposed. Rudy Giuliani's alleged ex-girlfriend is throwing him a fund-raiser. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom admitted to having an affair with his former campaign manager's wife. Empire Zone explains why David Paterson should not teach. Moe Razvi is getting a lot of money...

The Morning Read: Thursday, February 1, 2007

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:58:23 -0500

Senator Joe Biden's presidential kickoff didn't go as originally planned. In a speech in New York yesterday, President Bush said that Congress doesn't need to change the Sarbanes-Oxley law on corporate accountability, but that "we need to change the way the law is implemented." [subscription] A transcript of Bush's chat with the Wall Street editorial board is here. [subscription] Eliot Spitzer's budget increases spending at twice the rate of inflation, but cuts $1.2 billion from health care....

The Biden Tapes

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:54:05 -0500

So there's been a lot of interest in Jason Horowitz's piece on Joe Biden in this week's Observer, and we've gotten a number of requests from readers who want to listen to the interview. As is often the case when Biden speaks his mind, there's no shortage of material. In the story, we led with the fact that he savaged the Iraq plans of fellow Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards,...

In Today's Observer

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:15:00 -0500

Jason Horowitz has an interview with Joe Biden that's going to shift the debate among Democrats over America's options in Iraq. Biden -- one of the party's most prominent voices on foreign policy -- tells Horowitz that Hillary Clinton's plan would be a disaster, that Barack Obama hasn't offered anything of substance and that John Edwards doesn't know what he's talking about at all. Biden, who's running for president, also wonders why Hillary Clinton isn't...

Hillary Clamps Down

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Hassan Nemazee is a very powerful Democratic fund-raiser. As one of the premiere money people in a pivotal check-writing town, Mr. Nemazee’s apartment has been the site of visit after visit by prospective 2008 candidates hoping for a taste of his homemade Chinese food and considerable financial influence. Practically since the day the 2004 race ended, he has obliged, arranging small audiences of key...

Nadler: New Iraq Bill, "Stubborn Jerk" in White House

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:59:52 -0500

Following up on this story today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler just called in to say that he will be introducing his own bill within the next few days to try to force a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq by limiting funding for the war. "You have got to use funding -- it's the only real enforcement congress has," he said. Nadler said he recognized that slashing funds is politically problematic in that any restrictions on...

The Life and Death of an Iraq Plan

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 05:15:00 -0500

The idea of dividing Iraq into a Federalist system with three autonomous regions once had some currency amongst Democrats seeking alternative approaches in Iraq. Now it is all but abandoned. The idea, associated most closely with Leslie Gelb, the President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, gained traction when it was endorsed by Joseph Biden, the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a possible presidential candidate. The two coauthored a widely...

Nadler: Obama is a Novice

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 08:00:00 -0500

At an appearance last night by Senator (and prospective presidential candidate) Joe Biden at a meeting of the Israel Policy Forum at the Times Square Marriot last night, I caught up with Congressman Jerry Nadler to talk about the storyline of the day. He told me that Hillary Clinton had called him earlier yesterday to tell him that she was leaning towards running for president, and that he said he would support her. His choice,...

Schumer's Iraq Muse

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 09:53:37 -0500

Even Leslie Gelb, the intellectual godfather of the plan to separate Iraq into three autonomous and ethnically homogenous regions, was taken aback by Sen. Chuck Schumer's recent expression of support for the idea. "It surprised me too," said Gelb, who is the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. "It's a conversion, because he told me that he thought I was full of it." Gelb first tried to bring Schumer around to his...

Another Democratic Romp

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:04:43 -0500

It took every last ballot they could scrounge up in Virginia last week to lift Democrats, by the slimmest margin possible, to control of the Senate for the first time in four years. Swelling their ranks in 2008, though, shouldn't require nearly as much nervous perspiration and nail-biting. The reason is rooted in math: In the '08 round of Senate elections, Republicans will have 21 seats to defend, compared to the Democrats' 12. That means...

Biden at New School

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 12:16:11 -0400

After the New School's announcement that Sen. John McCain would be giving next month's commencement speech caused an angry backlash, Bob Kerrey will tonight play host to a politician (and presidential candidate) more amenable to the left of center school. Delaware's Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will speak at the school tonight, though he is expected to steer clear of presidential politics. The topic for discussion, economic issues concerning India and China, is not...