Oh, That Joe! (No. 19 in a Series) — Bluegrass Banter
Email"Let me get right to it," said Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., at the outset of his Tuesday evening rally.
The economic crisis? Nope.
Maybe the hard-fought presidential election? Nah.
How bout the debate about the debates? Not quite.
"I want to make something real clear to you," Biden told the crowd in Jeffersonville, Indiana, just across the Ohio River from Kentucky.
"I know we can look right across the river into Kentucky and I just want you to know the best thing that ever came out of Kentucky was my sister-in-law from Owensboro. How she puts up with my brother, I don’t know, but thank God, the whole family worships at her feet for that."
The Hoosier State crowd, with more than a few Bluegrass State supporters mixed in, laughed uproariously at Biden’s joke about his brother Jimmy’s wife Sara Jones Biden.
"But I tell ya what," the senator continued, "something else good came out of Kentucky the last couple days – we won back the Ryder Cup ‘cuz of two Kentucky boys!"
No sooner had Biden referenced Franklin’s Kenny Perry and Campbellsville’s J.B. Holmes then the Kentucky transplants in the audience were hooting and hollering like they were still at nearby Louisville’s Valhalla golf course celebrating the United States’ 16.5-11.5 upset victory Sunday over the favored Europeans.
"Let me ask ya a question. How many of you have ever played golf, raise your hand?" avid sports fan Biden asked. "How many of you dreamed about even hitting the ball 300 yards? Can you imagine a boy hits the ball 417 yards over a green?"
"Let me tell ya something," the loquacious Blue Hen told the Bluegrassers, "if I could do, if I could do what that boy J.B. Holmes can do, I wouldn’t be standing here talking to y’all, I’d be out doing something else!"
"My Lord, can those Kentucky boys hit a ball, I wanna tell ya!" said the Delaware senator.
From the roar of the crowd, one might have thought the U.S. team had broken the Euros’ three-match winning streak all over again.
But alas, there were some other national matters that the Democratic vice-presidential nominee needed to discuss.
"Look folks, the fact of the matter is that there’s some serious business, though…." Biden said.
And with that, Biden finally got right to it. But for the record, the biggest cheers of the evening were already behind him.
– Matt Jaffe and Jake Tapper
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Biden is a nice guy. I think he would be a good President. The Democrats had a chance to nominate him but the lefties took over the party. If we lose in a year when the Republicans had no real chance, it may be years before we recover. The stakes are really high and we should have nominated a better candidate.
Posted by: rose | September 24, 2008, 10:53 pm 10:53 pm
Jake-
Seriously! Where is the string of stories on the lies circling the McCain/Palin campaign? No issue gets more space from you than Biden and his eccentricities. Find a purpose for your blog or stop blogging.
Posted by: Lee | September 24, 2008, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
Gotta love that man.
This is a heart and soul American, alive and kicking.
Comnined with Obama’s cool jazz: WHAT a difference from that ulra-boring, secretive, stiff, teleprompter GOP ticket of two wacko’s reading from Bush’s scripts.
Posted by: herta | September 24, 2008, 10:59 pm 10:59 pm
The stakes are really high and we should have nominated a better candidate.
Posted by: rose | Sep 24, 2008 10:53
****************************************** I think we nominated the best candidate and I think he is the one that is capable and interested in really working hard to help us make our country work better for all of us.
I think he picked the best person for VP. Joe Biden will work his heart out for us too.
We are going to win. Even many Republicans want something better for the country.
Posted by: Truth Matters | September 24, 2008, 11:09 pm 11:09 pm
all nominees must be serious all the time!
Posted by: bhrandon | September 24, 2008, 11:18 pm 11:18 pm
think we nominated the best candidate and I think he is the one that is capable and interested in really working hard to help us make our country work better for all of us.
I think he picked the best person for VP. Joe Biden will work his heart out for us too.
We are going to win. Even many Republicans want something better for the country._________________________
(hystErical laughtEr)
Posted by: Samantha | September 24, 2008, 11:26 pm 11:26 pm
That’s Crazy Joe…at least no lapse of historic relevance this time
Posted by: Captain America | September 24, 2008, 11:27 pm 11:27 pm
Every ball has an energy – a life force if you will. The ball’s natural home is in the hole. Send it home Joe, send it home.
Joe Biden:
Feelin the flow. Workin it.
Posted by: Zen Golf | September 24, 2008, 11:28 pm 11:28 pm
Good ol’ Joe. The economy is melting down and he wants to talk sports. Makes your eyes misty don’t it.
Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | September 24, 2008, 11:37 pm 11:37 pm
With everything going on tonight all you report on is this silliness. Stop blogging…you’re unprofessional. I can’t believe you are actually part of ABC. This is my last time reading your blog.
Posted by: luceo | September 24, 2008, 11:38 pm 11:38 pm
Truth Matters
I think Truth left a long time ago Obama and Mccain are required to appear at the White House tomorrow to help fix the economic criss and congress is obligated to stay and vote on it till it is passed therefore if the debate is delayed so be it
Posted by: staniam | September 24, 2008, 11:39 pm 11:39 pm
Biden rocks. I had no clue what he was about, and tuning into his scene is like having free cable! Keep the updates coming, Jake.
It’s good to see someone out there having a roaring good time doing the red-blooded Old School politics. Palin is just seeming like a mannequin or a wind up toy.
Go, Joe, go!
Posted by: Tungsten | September 24, 2008, 11:40 pm 11:40 pm
How bout the debate about the debates? You Right forget about McCain grandstanding just keep the focus on Biden its like voters care more about Biden then Obama vs McCain right?
Posted by: Tim | September 24, 2008, 11:42 pm 11:42 pm
Joe B is trying to act as insame as possible so Obama will be forced to replace him with Hillary… Obama is too stubborn and thinks hes already president even to vett CLinton in the first place… he should not be at the top of the ticket but since he is … and considering the electoral college could go to the house and the House elects Obama but the senate elects Palin he better save face and have clinton as VP and it wont be close… this can happen look it up Obamabots
Posted by: staniam | September 24, 2008, 11:42 pm 11:42 pm
This election is funny (hysterical laughter). McCain is playing Obama like a puppet.
Posted by: Samantha | September 24, 2008, 11:43 pm 11:43 pm
Tim
if that was right just let Biden and Palin go out barnstorming around the country they are really comepteing for whos going to VP since the electoral college is likely to end up 269-269
Posted by: staniam | September 24, 2008, 11:44 pm 11:44 pm
Debra
yea the cigs are the least of all the smokescreens in the campaign no pun intended
Posted by: staniam | September 24, 2008, 11:45 pm 11:45 pm
eheheeeheee….he’s funny.
just saw the clip, the interview with palin and katie couric…wow…I thought she was supposed to be prepped already. she really can’t answer simple questions. watch it.
Posted by: mik | September 25, 2008, 12:02 am 12:02 am
so staniam
let me make sure i understand you correctly:
obama is the president cand.
hillary lost
biden was obama pick for vp
biden is suppose to act as crazy as possible get
obama kicks him off the ticket as vp
and then puts hillary on
and you think biden is the crazy one?
Posted by: j | September 25, 2008, 12:03 am 12:03 am
Thanks Senator Biden, your one VP candidate that is not afraid to speak…flub or no flub..at least your talking.
Posted by: lanawonders | September 25, 2008, 12:03 am 12:03 am
Jake-
Just watched your report on Nightline tonight and was extremely disappointed that you referred to Friday’s debate as a “show.” The debate isn’t an appearance on SNL or an off-Broadway performance. It’s an important element of the election cycle. Your reference to the debate as a show supports McCain’s contention that the debate is only a sideshow that should be postponed. You have a national audience. Is it too difficult to ask that you choose your words more wisely?
Posted by: Lee | September 25, 2008, 12:05 am 12:05 am
Blabber…..blabber……blabber…. o’l Joe just likes to hear himself talk.
Never has any substance.
Thinks that Pres. FDR commented regarding the 1929 Wall Street Crash on “televsion”.
O’l Joe lost his memory. TV hadn’t been invented yet.
Hope he drops out and lets Hillary in.
Posted by: abcblogger | September 25, 2008, 12:07 am 12:07 am
WOW! Did you see Palin in her interview on CBS tonight?
Palin is dumb as a rock!!! She can’t even answer simple questions. I think Katie Couric would make a much better Vice President. Or maybe my wife, she is a high school history teacher and way smarter and more coherent than Palin!!!!
McCain just better suspend his campaign until after the election. That way he will save himself and Palin a lot of embarrassment!!
Ha, ha, ha!!!
Posted by: Davis | September 25, 2008, 12:09 am 12:09 am
Almost forgot……hah!
Hoover was President, not FDR.
lol
Posted by: abcblogger | September 25, 2008, 12:12 am 12:12 am
jake said it right
the debates between mccain and obama will be a show
and a very boring one at that i have trouble sleeping so i am recording it to have something to play on those nights i cannot sleep.
i think listening to those two will help me sleep..YAWN… i’m getting sleeply just thinkin…zzzzzzz
Posted by: j | September 25, 2008, 12:12 am 12:12 am
Smantha sez:
This election is funny (hysterical laughter). McCain is playing Obama like a puppet.
—————————————–
Yes, McCains brilliant strategy of flying off the handle at every turn is causing the nation to play right into his hands.
Mmuuuuaahhhhahahhhh!!
Posted by: Leonard Peltier | September 25, 2008, 12:15 am 12:15 am
I really like it when conservatives correct the record and show what an gaffe machine Biden is by making sure that everyone knows it was HOOVER that got us into the depression and not FDR.
You are all playing into Joe’s hands!!!
MMhuuuahhhahhhahhh!
Posted by: Leonard Peltier | September 25, 2008, 12:17 am 12:17 am
where is all this talk of joe dropping out and hillary getting in coming from. i haven’t heard any mention of this before
Posted by: j | September 25, 2008, 12:21 am 12:21 am
j,
LOL
Posted by: Leonard Peltier | September 25, 2008, 12:27 am 12:27 am
um, leonard, i know this is going to be tough to take – but americans are blaming the republicans for this mess – for good reason. and mccain’s numbers are dropping day by day. and they’ve only let sarah speak twice. and both times she’s come off as a really, really, really uninformed candidate. wait till they take the muzzle off. and wait until the country sees sarah and the voodoo man.
Posted by: mara | September 25, 2008, 12:28 am 12:28 am
mara,
I think j is baiting them regarding the Hillary meme.
Posted by: Leonard Peltier | September 25, 2008, 12:30 am 12:30 am
I can identify with what Biden said. I do play miniature golf but my passion is basketball. If only I could have been like Mike like Michael Jordon. I would be on the basketball courts right now instead of reading this article and posting.
Now when it comes to miniature golf thats a hobby of mine and in a dream I did hit a drive over 400 yards in a miniature golf classic against Tiger Woods but then the morning alarm clock went off and I woke up.
I should be thinking politics instead of sports but this article distracted me. So just for the record Go Obama/Biden ’08
Posted by: Cooday | September 25, 2008, 12:39 am 12:39 am
Biden are starting to sound like Obama – lying everywhere he goes, from personal stories to campaign promises.
Posted by: young_voter | September 25, 2008, 12:46 am 12:46 am
If there was ever a time when the American People needed to connect to good old everyday American life…it would be now…way to go Joe…that’s how you walk a campaign along side the people.
Posted by: KenB, MI | September 25, 2008, 1:08 am 1:08 am
If your house is burning,and you are POTUS, you’d better d*mn well be able to Multi-Task, are you insane?
Also, why should Obama have done the McCain plan, he’s ahead?
Posted by: Leonard Peltier | September 25, 2008, 1:28 am 1:28 am
Gaffes from all Candidates are funny, but think goodness, it shows they are human.
Posted by: historyforgotten | September 25, 2008, 2:39 am 2:39 am
Of course Biden never said that FDR was President in 1929. He simply said FDR gave a speech after the collapse – which of course he did because he was Governor of New York, the state with the stock markets.
The only thing poor Joe got wrong was that it was done over radio and not television.
Posted by: johnTX | September 25, 2008, 3:00 am 3:00 am
How corupt are the Oil companies. Well with all the deregulations lobbied by them, in the 1980′s allowed a little oversight of the Exxon Valdez scandel. the deregulataions allowed many corupt and Capitolist Tycoons take short cuts, on saftey issues. Inside trading also began again, because of deregulations allowed so many loopholes to benifit Capitolists, who took advantage of the Middle Class. Purposful Greed, thinks it can find solace in religion. But a closer inspection of ANY religion, denounces ‘Greed’.
Posted by: historyforgotten | September 25, 2008, 3:07 am 3:07 am
johnTX,
Shhhh, I LOVE it when Republicans chant HOOVER!, HOOVER!, HOOVER!.
Posted by: Leonard Peltier | September 25, 2008, 3:09 am 3:09 am
PLEASE TELL ME WHERE SARAH PALIN IS!?!?!
SHE’S NOT A SENATOR… SHE CAN’T RUN THE CAMPAIGN WHILE YOU’RE IN WASHINGTON ?
You think she’s qualified to be V.P., but you can’t leave her in charge of your campaign for a couple days ????????
YOU ARE A JOKE JOHN MCCAIN!
Posted by: Chad | September 25, 2008, 3:26 am 3:26 am
Should I make one more revelation, about how some Extreme Capitolists, are money laundering and being Lobbied to help their other Capitolist buddies?
Posted by: historyforgotten | September 25, 2008, 3:35 am 3:35 am
Check out some of the authors, of those recent, failed books. Exspecial those coming out now. A Lobbiest will buy 100, copies of a book to Lobby for ones support. Exspecially if the book promotes, a particular company, or person. Old tactic, from histories forgotten.
Posted by: historyforgotten | September 25, 2008, 4:30 am 4:30 am
Jake,
I hope you read this one.
I have a question about a Fox Poll.
According to Fox, the number of Hillarys voters, will not vote for Obama. If this was true, then we also can conclude, that they are not voting for McCain. McCains numbers are actually dropping. While Obamas votes are rising. So does this mean those people talking to Fox’s Pollster are lying. Or is the Fox Station itself lying? Can ABC take a Poll, on this issue? :)
Posted by: historyforgotten | September 25, 2008, 4:52 am 4:52 am
I believe neither McCain nor Obama should help with the Bill. The Preidant does not interfere, in Congress. So McCain and Obama, must take on the Presidential roll and NOT INTERFERE.
Lets see how Both act as a Presdident RIGHT NOW.
Posted by: historyforgotten | September 25, 2008, 6:15 am 6:15 am
Maybe this is why McCain suspended his campaign – there is no good tone to take on the campaign trail right now.
Joe Biden certainly didn’t hit the right tone yesterday in Kentucky – getting the crowd all revved up by talking about local sports heroes and then abruptly switching gears.
Harry Reid certainly didn’t hit the right tone yesterday with his nasty, embarrassingly partisan response to McCain’s statement.
Obama certainly didn’t hit the right tone yesterday when he said, basically, that he was just going to keep campaigning until he’s needed for a vote.
*Jake – did the Obama campaign ever get back to you about his assertion that the CEOs of companies that get this bailout money shouldn’t receive one dime of it?
Posted by: Barb in MN | September 25, 2008, 6:18 am 6:18 am
I get a kick out of watching Joe Biden. It’s like going into a car dealership and watching exactly how the salesman is going to try and pressure you.You know it’s coming. Of the four people running, he’s the one with no personality. Just a typical political party hack. His speaking
would be about as exciting as watching paint dry except for the gaffe you know is coming. The only bad thing is it’ll be hard to top the wheelchair gaffe. That one is historic. It actually beat Obamas 57 states gaffe.I do enjoy watching how Obama and Biden aren’t even on the same page with their answers.
Posted by: Jack | September 25, 2008, 6:23 am 6:23 am
Joe Biden is a gaffee machine! Half the time when he’s on tv I wonder if he’s had a few drinks beforehand, by his manner and speech. If he wasn’t such a “nice” guy, he would seem like a big, dumb animal. He’s s mess, though, and if he is the VP, he would really embarrass our country. *and he’d be just a smokey puff away from being the President…
Posted by: David | September 25, 2008, 6:35 am 6:35 am
Those that think the tv debate on Friday will just be a show or the ones that don’t want to hear facts DIRECT from the candidates themselves. They would rather show their “political expertise” in unsubstantiated comments on an internet blog.
Folks, the best way to get the straight scoop is from the proverbial horses’ mouth — not from someone who has no idea what he/she is talking about on a blog.
By the way, this has been a bipartisan comment – for those of you that only watch shows and can’t comprehend real life- the debate will have BOTH parties (assuming chicken McCain shows up) so you can get both sides of the story.
Posted by: LOfromMO1 | September 25, 2008, 7:44 am 7:44 am
Joe’s the only one of the top four that I actually do like – gaffes and all.
Posted by: mhhunt | September 25, 2008, 7:52 am 7:52 am
Biden to Couric:
A good leader has to know what he is talking about.
During the Depression you saw FDR on TV…
Biden-a heartbeat away.
Posted by: sally | September 25, 2008, 8:53 am 8:53 am
I love Joe Biden. Glad to see a Dem getting some love in Southern Indiana. I used to live in Louisville and drove across the river to work in Clarksville (just past J’ville) – sometimes it felt like crossing into a different world. I’m so happy to see IN turning blue this election; just wish I could say the same for my native KY. At least my adopted home of North Carolina is going for Obama/Biden, though!
But come on, Kentucky! I know there’s still some blue in the Bluegrass State…
Posted by: thisniss | September 25, 2008, 1:35 pm 1:35 pm
I like Joe Biden; I don’t like his political positions and posturing. But out of all 4 candidates, he is the one that would be most fun to have a beer with.
But that doesn’t mean that I think he is a good choice to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. After all, he is the consumate career politician and Democratic insider beholden to trial lawyers (oh boy is he!), unions and minority groups.
Posted by: SlouchingtowardBoulder | September 25, 2008, 3:36 pm 3:36 pm