Not surprisingly, Joe Biden was the first of the four candidates to appear on MTP post conventions. What was also not surprising is how Senator Biden schooled Tom Brokaw in the interview. As it has been made known, this column is not Mr. Brokaw's biggest fan. Mr. Brokaw's initial questions to Senator Biden were only a more dignified type of 'gotcha' questions, but 'gotcha' questions nonetheless. "Who did you call after Sarah Palin's speech?" What kind of question is that? "Is it tougher to debate Sarah Palin because she is a woman? Is it a problem for your campaign that women feel familiar with her and call her Sarah?" Talk about elitist positions... Meet the Press is a serious program to deal with serious issues and thankfully, Senator Joe Biden has more experience on the show than Mr. Brokaw.
The senator kept bringing it back to discussing issues and what Sarah Palin didn't say about so many things troubling the country - from healthcare to job losses to foreign policy. Topics, which this column frankly feels, are above her pay grade. Joe Biden washed the off-color paint that Mr. Brokaw was slinging... with turpentine.
With regard to the 'surge' in Iraq, it was perfectly clear that Senator Biden had a much better grasp of all the dynamics between Iraqi Sunnis and Shia respectively. In fact, Senator Biden continually corrected Mr. Brokaw. See below transcript.
MR. BROKAW: ...But it's a process, and it's beginning, and the surge made that possible, did it not?
SEN. BIDEN: No. The surge helped make that--what made is possible in Anbar province is they did what I'd suggested two and a half years ago: gave local control. They turned over and they said to the Sunnis in Anbar province, "We promise you, don't worry, you're not going to have any Shia in here. There's going to be no national forces in here. We're going to train your forces to help you fight al-Qaeda." And that you--what you had was the awakening. The awakening was not an awakening by us, it was an awakening of the Sunnis in Anbar province willing to fight.
MR. BROKAW: Cooperating with the Shia.
SEN. BIDEN: Willing to fight. Cooperating with--no, they weren't cooperating with Shiite. They didn't cooperate with the Shiites.
MR. BROKAW: Once the awakening got under way.
SEN. BIDEN: No, no, no. No, they didn't cooperate with the Shiites. It's still--it's a big problem, Tom. You got--we're paying 300 bucks a month to each of those guys. Now the problem has been and the, and the promise was made by Maliki that they would be integrated into the overall military. That's a process that is beginning in fits and starts now, but it's far from over. Far from--look, the bottom line here is that it's--let's--the surge is over. Here's the real point. Whether or not the surge worked is almost irrelevant now. We're in a new deal. What is the administration doing? They're doing what Barack Obama has suggested over 14 months ago, turn responsibility over and draw down our troops.
And what is also clear is that Mr. Brokaw's rudimentary knowledge about the occupation in Iraq is also Senator McCain's view. Let's also not forget that the current administration is now signing an agreement to set a timetable for troop withdrawals as Senator Obama has already called for. It almost seemed like lecturing but Mr. Brokaw needed it. He misrepresented what Mr. Biden understood and had to be corrected.
Then, yet again, Mr. Brokaw disappointed with his questions about faith and actually saying that Senator Biden frequently talked about his faith. First, Senator Biden instantly corrected him, stating he rarely talked about his faith and with his answer to the abortion question, he outlined exactly how the American Government should function - as a separation of church and state. Being Catholic, Sen. Biden feels that life starts at conception, but that belief is based on his faith, to which he said he would not introduce and advocate legislation based on a religious belief. As he accurately stated, we are a pluralistic society.
And when there is real straight talk, it is more likely to come from Joe Biden, and Barack Obama, for that matter than John McCain.
In the second segment with Tom Friedman, NYTimes columnist and author, talked about his new book entitled "Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America," With that, he is the most important quote by Mr. Friedman on today's program.
MR. FRIEDMAN: No, there's no question this has been a bipartisan effort to get us into this alley, dead end, that we're in right now, Tom. But when I hear, drill, drill, drill, or drill, baby, drill, I try to imagine--Tom, you were at the convention, I wasn't, what would happen if the Saudi, Venezuelan, Russian and Nigeria observers were up in a sky box in that Xcel Center listening to the crowd chant, "drill, drill, drill"? What would they be doing? They'd be up there leading the chant. They'd be saying this is great. America isn't sitting there saying, "Invent, invent, invent new, renewable energy," they're saying, "drill, drill, drill." And you know, for me, yes, we do need to exploit our domestic resource. I'm actually not against drilling. What I'm against is making that the center of our focus, because we are on the eve of a new revolution, the energy technology revolution. It would be, Tom, as if on the eve of the IT revolution, the revolution of PCs and the Internet, someone was up there standing and demanding, "IBM Selectric typewriters, IBM Selectric typewriters." That's what drill, drill, drill, is the equivalent of today.
And what Mr. Friedman advocates is that it is America who leads the E.T. (energy technology revolution as he calls it) in the world. From the above excerpt, it is clear that Mr. Friedman does not believe that this agenda is coming from the Republican party. And the American people know this! Even most Republicans...
Lastly, this week, [as a small tidbit that is worthy of knowing] Senator McCain's top campaign strategist said that this election is not going to be about issues, but about the personalities running for office. This type of cynicism is never beneficial to the American people, period.
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