I just have to point this out about Joe Biden....

[1corona4u]

Here's a man who was getting ready to undergo a major surgery, getting his head cut open, and yet, he still kept his sense of humor. This is from the NY Times article, but I didn't want this quote to go unnoticed. It's hysterical, and it also shows that Joe is able to laugh at himself, which is an admirable trait.



(somewhere towards the end of the article)

But in a debate at the Iowa State Fair that summer, at a time when Mr. Biden was seen as a Kennedy-esque hope in a desultory Democratic pack, he lifted large portions without attribution from an address by the British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. A top aide in the rival presidential campaign of Michael S. Dukakis circulated a video showing the similarities, and although Mr. Biden had credited Mr. Kinnock in earlier appearances, his failure to do so at the fair — he called it an oversight — created a media storm.

The furor began just as Mr. Biden, then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was about to preside over the explosive hearings of President Ronald Reagan’s choice for the Supreme Court, the conservative jurist Robert H. Bork.

Mr. Biden was opposed to Judge Bork and was determined to defeat him, although he was overcome with anxiety — and pounding headaches — as he faced the pressures of the hearings and his unraveling campaign. In late September, he gave up his bid for the White House.


“Aside from health, it was the most difficult decision I ever made, to get out of the race,” Mr. Biden said. He saw his choice as trying to save his candidacy or fulfilling what he saw as his responsibility to keep Judge Bork off the court. “I didn’t want it to be ‘Biden selfishly decides he’s going to save his own skin.’”

In October, the Senate rejected Judge Bork. Four months later, Mr. Biden collapsed in a hotel room in Rochester and was soon on an operating table in Washington undergoing surgery to remove an aneurysm. One risk was loss of speech. “I kind of wish that had happened last summer,” Mr. Biden said he told the surgeon.



LOL....it's so Joe...



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/us/politics/14biden.h...

[The Traveler]

1. This is a really good guy

I support Edwards ... a recent decision. Why? Because I think only Edwards and Kucinich have clearly diagnosed a critical root problem ... corporations and wealthy individuals have simply accrued too much power, and they must be taken down a notch. And because I think he knows how to accomplish that while building other capacities in America.

But Biden is clearly an exemplary person ... and I would not hesitate for a second to vote for him in the general election. Biden has long been a voice of sanity and reason in a world gone stark fucking mad. And something is happening now I wish had started a bit earlier. Like Edwards, Biden is suddenly "talking for free". Senators (and he is so skillful a Senator he is already almost a legend in that regard) must always couch their speech so as to facilitate future negotiation and compromise. That is their art, and Biden is a Grand Master, despite his deserved reputation for bluntness. But it seems to me in recent weeks we are hearing Joe speak unfettered from those considerations ... and I must confess I like what I am hearing.

We got some good people running ... an even better crowd than in 2004.

[Frustratedlady]

2. I get the feeling that Joe has a solid base of decency.

Some people are decent to your face, but try to get by with as much as possible when not being watched. I think Joe has his own personal standards he tries to live by and isn't easily swayed by riches and power. He could just as easily retire and enjoy the rest of his life in peace and quiet, but he seems willing to take on this administration and do what is necessary to clean up the mess. AND, I think he recognizes just how extensive that mess truly is. It won't be an easy job.

[1corona4u]

4. And you know what...

Joe is not a rich man, by any stretch. I think he could deal with the economy, and poverty issues as well, if not better, than some of these other candidates, who are so rich they may just be a bit too far gone. That's what I like about Joe. He's still one of us. He makes a bit more per year, than I do, and I can't imagine going through, and dealing with, what he does, on a daily basis, for that kind of money. No way would I ever do it. Too much stress.

Oh, and on edit; what he said today, in the debate about his New years resolution; "never forget where you came from".

[PatSeg]

5. He says he's running on his terms this time

Pundits say he's running like he has nothing to lose. As a result he is unfettered and often disarming.

It is refreshing for me as I don't see that desperation in Biden that I see in other politicians.

[gateley]

3. You're right -- it's so Joe. He's not above taking a poke -- or several -- at

himself.

[1corona4u]

6. Exactly.

[murbley40]

7. kick