WP: Biden to Make Own Journey to Georgia

[highplainsdem]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/16/biden_to_make_own_journey_to_g.html

By Paul Kane

As speculation increases that he's a finalist for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) is heading overseas for a series of meetings with Georgian leaders who are trying to implement the latest cease-fire agreement with Russia.

Biden's office announced this afternoon that the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee would spend the weekend in Georgia meeting with President Mikheil Saakashvili. He also intends to meet with Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John Tefft while surveying the damage in the more than weeklong border war between Georgia and Russia.

"I am going to Georgia this weekend to get the facts first-hand and to show my support for Georgia's people and its democratically-elected government," Biden said in a statement. "I look forward to reporting to my colleagues in the Senate and on the Foreign Relations Committee, as well as the Administration, about what I learn."

Biden's whirlwind trip to Georgia comes as Democratic insiders say he is on a short list of potential vice-presidential nominees for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the presumptive nominee who is expected to make his so-called "veep" selection before the Democratic National Convention convenes a week from Monday,

-snip-

[redstate_democrat]

1. Interesting. nt

[blm]

2. Aside from the VO speculation, I'm glad Biden isn't TRUSTING what he hears from BushInc and going on

his own to determine the facts on the ground. After buying into Bush's Iraq lies, I doubt Biden will ever again swallow the crap the WH puts out. I recall that Wilkinson revealed how Bush's WH deliberately lied to Powell to get him to repeat the lies to his friend, Joe Biden.

[gateley]

8. When the Kyl-Lieberman bill came up,

Biden said "how could anybody trust this administration again?" I think he learned his lesson.

[Muttocracy]

17. I noticed when Biden's senate site was redesigned, Powell's picture was taken off

There had been a nice older picture of the two of them together.

[MarjorieG]

3. We show support for Georgia, but discussion needed for how we create and compromise these nations.

McCain, in particular. With those daily calls, couldn't he have persuaded Georgia not to start the inevitable bad outcome.

[monmouth]

4. I also see this as Biden putting McLame and his minions in their place...

He's the Foreign Relations Committee, McLame et al are posers....

[Muttocracy]

who was McCain talking about sending? Was it JoeLie or Linsday? nt

[PatSeg]

21. Both of them!

I don't know how he'll live without them though. They're always hovering over his shoulder.

[Muttocracy]

24. I'm just watching the Countdown clips from last night

where Rachel talks about Pretend President McCain, Pretend Secretary of State Lieberman, and Pretend Secretary of Defense Graham. :)

[PatSeg]

25. Oh yes

That was priceless!

[jillan]

5. Well - Biden is the chair of the SFRC, so he probably would have gone there even if there wasn't an

election coming up.

On the other hand...he could provide Obama with some good talking points to help shut up McCain, who is trying to make this conflict a political gain.

[blm]

10. I'm with you - he would've gone anyway because he learned some time ago not to believe WH

on these matters.

[jillan]

11. That is for certain.

And he has said that often.

He was lied to by bush himself on the IWR. When Biden talks about that vote, you can see the steam coming out of his ears. It's been hard to sit here and watch him get bashed for that vote.
As chair of the sfrc his situation was different, he was called into meetings with this administration. And I'm sure the info he received trickled down to other members of the sfrc.

And, he put up an amendment to put the reigns on this administration, which was stiffled by Daschle.

Alot of games went on at that time.

[blm]

19. In fairness to Daschle he was being sold the war by Bill Clinton, as were all the Dems in leadership

positions at the time. Hell, Tony Blair was listening to Clinton.

[jillan]

26. What I read about this is that Daschle's wife is a lobbyist for defense

contractors, and made alot of money off of this war.

http://www.correntewire.com/from_the_department_of_credit_where_credit_is_due

[blm]

33. That would have to assume something VERY UNLIKELY - that the last Dem president w/access to intel

that no senator had who was urging support for Bush on this, was somehow a lesser influence on Dem leadership. Was Gephardt's wife a lobbyist? Did a wife make a convincing case for war more than the last Dem president?

I think it's a stretch to believe an airline industry lobbyist convinced her husband to support a resolution to use force more than a last Dem president.

[DogPoundPup]

6. Silly WaPo rumoring of "VP finalist" from fact *the* chrmn of Sen. Foreign Relations committee

Biden is traveling to Georgia to get a clear picture of what the McSameMcBushMcCainiac team is up to. :crazy:

[gateley]

7. From the WaPo piece:

The chairman's statement did not mention Obama, noting that his trip came at the request of Saakashvili.

Biden has been speaking about this potential problem area for months - and it's likely he's been speaking with Saakashvili.

I think he's going in his role as Chair of SFRC. That's valid. McCain's minions' trip is not.

[gateley]

9. Saakashvili ASKED Biden to come -- From the WaPo piece:

[jillan]

12. Biden warned us of this conflict in a debate 11/15/07---

".... Who among us understands what to do about Pakistan? Who among us is going to pick up the phone and immediately interface with Putin and tell him to lay off Georgia because Saakashvili is in real trouble?"

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/16/america/15debatetranscript.php?page=4

That was 9 months ago.
Maybe someone in this administration should have listened to him.

[Muttocracy]

13. ooops - replied wrong place. nt

[nsd]

15. Both.

[Muttocracy]

16. thanks - you replied just as I moved my reply where it belonged!

:crazy:

so Lindsay and JoeLie. Ugh, the sound clips alone would be unbearable!

[Muttocracy]

14. Good thing Biden can actually look OK in a photo opp in a war zone

http://biden.senate.gov/press/gallery/

[TahitiNut]

22. It's be nice if he wore a helmet that was fitted properly. (Sheesh!)

FWIW, I don't give a shit about the cosmetics. This is a matter of safety and protection.

[Muttocracy]

23. yeah, I was mostly thinking compared to the "turtle" one

someone posted the other day of Lieberman. That does look like it's not fitting right.

[otohara]

18. Excellent - On The Job Training

go kick some McCain ass Sen. Biden.

[DCBob]

20. Good. Someone from the our side needs to access the situation first hand.

This is a critical situation that could set the tone of Russian/US relations for years to come. Plus it could spiral out of control with the warmongers in the WH calling the shots and with the Russians who could care less what they have to say. The Russians are more bold now that they have money and oil. They know they could strangle Europe and the US without firing a shot.

[Barack_America]

27. Why do they assume Obama is sending him?

He could just be going because he heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But if Obama has asked him to go, I see it as a sign he's on the shortlist for Secretary of State.

[TwilightGardener]

28. Does anyone else find it odd that our leaders feel perfectly safe

entering a supposedly "out of control" war zone (Michael Ware's reporting) that we're not even a part of, militarily? Like, maybe it's being overblown? I mean, this "war" is only a fucking week old--did we send members of Congress and the SoS to Baghdad to watch the opening week of Shock and Awe?

[nsd]

29. Yes, I've been wondering about that too.

[TwilightGardener]

30. Why do they have such faith that the situation is under control and safe

enough to visit, security-wise, when just last week Saakashvili was being hustled away from a supposed bomb, being covered with flak vests while lying on the ground? Why would we trust the Russians, or the Georgians, for that matter, with our leaders' security? When they go to Afghanistan and Iraq, they are escorted and protected by American forces at American or NATO bases--because we are actually fighting those wars. I can't make sense of this.

[nsd]

31. Maybe they think the Russians wouldn't dare kill a U.S. envoy or official ...

... for fear of really drawing the U.S. into the conflict? If not, I don't get it either.

[DU GrovelBot]

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