speculating on Romney being McCain's choice.

If so, then McCain is matching Obama's inanity, and well... we are back to status quo ante.  

Romney is ten times worse than Biden. I've watched this guy from not too far a distance, given this is part of the greater Boston area in terms of media coverage and saturation. I cannot think of someone I'd least like to see near the presidency.

My gosh, I'm living on the Bizarro world.  

nelle

&

llhaesa

are not Schlafly or Coulter; rather viable, strong candidates who do represent views we support, and who would have brought great enthusiasm and likely votes to the campaign.

Instead we get someone part of the same old machine, a 'machine' by the way that has lost 7 of the last 10 presidential elections.

Obama ran on a theme of change. I'm not seeing a whole lot of change with this choice. What I am seeing is the same old, with people telling me to accept it because 'they support choice and women's rights.'

Not good enough, not when 216 years of history tell me one woman has been nominated for the presidency or vice presidency; when one was thrown in jail on some made up pretext when she ran for the presidency; where Congress with 18% or so of the membership women, is at its highest level ever - flip that number... 82% men is the lowest ever... and 2 women have sat on the Supreme Court over the 216 years.

And so are justifying the selection with 'be happy, they support your rights' appropriate? Not to me.

I could not bring myself to vote for McCain; if he picks Romney, Obama will get my vote. If he is bold of choice that trumps Obama's choice, I'll write in someone.

nelle

&

llhaesa

policy as the candidate himself.

I'm a liberal/progressive, whatever such labels imply. Well left of centre. Biden is pretty much occupying the same space politically.

My concerns are... he is a long term player in the Democratic status quo, someone who has never been able to get people outside of Delaware to vote for him for national office.

He has been in the Senate for a long long time, and as such was there and culpable when Congress flipped with the Contract With America (leaving out the substitution of 'On' despite huge temptation.) He is yet another power insider who have failed to demonstrably change the direction of this nation, despite ample opportunity to get it done.

Obama is supposed to be about change. I like him in some ways... that is I really liked the early Obama, pre-contention with Hillary. Both did not cover themselves with glory through the time from January through early June, but he emerged the victor - and now apparently decides to play it safe with a move toward the past and the old machine.

Maybe I've been around too long, my first vote was cast in the state elections of 1974. I've watched liberals run to excess and piss people off such that the country shifted right into the hands of what we have now.

I was looking for different, for new ideas. New ideas where old ideas would receive consideration only to the extent they were vetted and deemed worthy. I was looking for someone who just didn't mouth the words 'support women's rights,' but who lived and breathed and experienced and sometimes went to bed pondering things like equal rights for women, or why someone did not get a job she desired because some less qualified guy was selected.

IMO, Biden will not appeal to undecideds; he might win a debate on technical grounds - points - against the Republican nominee, but will people identify with him? Will the greater body of Hillary supporters identify with him?

Sebelius would have been a very good choice; at once bold, with a potential to really bring forth and seal the gains made via the Clinton campaign - a permanent shift in our base politics.

Obama whiffed on this opportunity. The policies might be there, but politics is more than policy... it is people, a decidedly human element, with considerations on that level. And in this case, Obama, who had shown so much promise by what he was bringing to politics, has lost that vision in favour of the safety and comfort of Joe Biden. I'd guess Obama has looked up to Joe along the way, and that is good... but that is his personal motivation and feeling, in a situation where he needs millions of others to see and feel what he sees and feels.

In an election where women were energised and excited and really thinking we could get this done, we get this... a redirect backward to 1984 or 1988 - a time where I watched my boss be forced to attend a corporate meeting held at a men's club where the company president had membership. She had to use the back door, they would not let her in through the front.

I'm 53, headed for 54... and the time where I get to see a woman hold the presidency or even the vice presidency - for the first time - is running out. 

nelle

&

llhaesa

Sneak out of your cave again soon. During DNC? After McCain announces? When Biden performs his first "misspeak"?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

but humor first:

Biden: "I will count to ten before I speak...I will count to ten before I speak...I will...f#$k this! Now you listen to me, Barack!"

 I should add that there is NO politician in Washington who has a truly global view of foreign policy, nor a greater understanding of the Muslim culture and those regions. This may seem obvious given he is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. But seriously, he has an aide who literally has hung out in caves in Afghanistan. Biden truly does know his stuff.

Which begs the question: can the Senate, and all those credit card companies in Delaware, afford to lose a player of Biden's ilk?