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SUBJECT:
Re: Themal: JRB says BB doesn't want to run
PRI: NORMAL
FROM:
A
acdonilon@aol.com
DATE:
2010-01-24 16:12:37
MSG_ID:
<808B7F28-5F6D-4C5B-A211-506B6CBDC776@aol.com>
RECIPIENTS:
TO:
B
beaub@comcast.net
CC:
H
Hunter Biden
<hbiden@rosemontseneca.com>
S
Alex Snyder-Mackler
<smacklera@gmail.com>
T
Ted Kaufman
<tedkaufman@comcast.net>
CONTENT:
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I would say definitely not today. In my view, tomorrow would be better. Sent from my iPhone On Jan 24, 2010, at 10:58 AM, beaub@comcast.net wrote: > Sen k and I just talked and think this speaks clearly to moving with > email in am. Intend to call nj later this am. > > Question, does this speak to waiting until wed, as nj has requested, > so as not to appear to be reaction to this column? Don't think so > but.... Or even send it this afternoon, or also too much of a > reaction? My gut is tomorrow am. > From: Alexander Snyder-Mackler <smacklera@gmail.com> > Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2010 09:52:38 -0500 > To: BB<beaub@comcast.net>; Hunter Biden<hbiden@rosemontseneca.com>; > ted kaufman<tedkaufman@comcast.net>; Acdonilon<acdonilon@aol.com> > Subject: Themal: JRB says BB doesn't want to run > > This is in this morning's opinion section with a headline across the > top, "VP: Beau Doesn't Want to Run" > > Mike -- do you know who was with him for this interview? Was this > off the record? It's Themal, so you never know. Nothing we can do at > this point, anyway. > > Our conversation ended with a surprising request from the vice > president as he hurried off to a national security meeting. > Spontaneously, he turned to the possible Delaware senatorial > campaign of his son Beau. > > Biden: "If you run into Beau, talk him into running; he respects you." > > Me: "I don't think he wants to run, though." > > Biden: "I don't think he does either. I know he doesn't want to. ... > I'm so proud of the job he's done [as attorney general]." > > Me: "Would you campaign for him [against Republican Mike Castle]?" > > Biden: "Hell, yes. I told him I'd give him my sixth-born grandchild." > > I doubt Beau Biden "respects" me, but it was quite startling to hear > the vice president confirm what many Democrats fear -- that Beau > does not want to be the candidate. > > > > > January 24, 2010 > > VP Biden: Beau doesn't want to run > > By HARRY F. THEMAL > The News Journal > > In January 2009, when Joe Biden said goodbye to the Senate where he > had served for 36 years, he told his colleagues, "I will always be a > Senate man. Except for the title of 'father,' there is no title, > including 'vice president,' that I am more proud to wear than that > of United States senator." > > Now, one year later, he is dismayed by what has happened to the > Senate, and he is trying to convince a reluctant son to run for his > former seat. > > In a wide-ranging interview last week about his first year as vice > president, Biden said a "lamentable atmosphere" exists in the > Senate, a view he says is shared by some of his long-time Republican > friends. Sixty votes are needed to pass almost anything to forestall > a filibuster, because the Republicans are unanimously saying no. How > did a deliberative constitutional body lose the basic principle that > a majority -- in the Senate's case, 51 votes -- doesn't count? > > "I have never seen one party [standing] the rules on their head like > this," Biden says. "I can't think of a time when every single vote, > from an NLRB nomination to health care, required 60 votes. No > democracy can long be sustained where you can only rule by > supermajority." > > So Biden has constitutional scholars researching whether and how > such a stalemate can be broken. As vice president, he presides over > the Senate he so loves and where he can cast the tie-breaking vote. > "I never thought we would get a genuine bipartisanship on health > reform, but I also didn't think people would vote against funding > our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by directly voting against the > defense appropriation bill." > > Calling that Senate stalemate the greatest disappointment of his > first 12 months as the nation's second-highest elected official, > Biden said his two greatest surprises have been "institutional > constraints" and how he has become an "impact player." The > constraints he most chafes against are the security arrangements > required by his office, when "I got to have 28 Secret Service agents > when I take off," and when he cannot easily invite or circulate with > the Delawareans who have long been his friends. > > He is pleased with "how quickly I have been able to be an impact > player in the implementation of ideas and initiatives." > > We spoke after he had just had his weekly one-on-one meeting with > President Obama in a small dining room off the Oval Office. Over his > tomato soup and a cheeseburger, they discussed personal matters but > concentrated on foreign concerns and domestic issues that each > wanted to bring up. It's obvious Obama and he have created an > excellent working relationship. > > Biden has been the country's point man on Iraq, speaking frequently > to its leaders on the phone and inviting all parties to his > Washington office, and visiting the country now for the fourth time. > He is concerned that 500 candidates have been disqualified for the > coming election. As a New York Times Magazine profile headlined in > November, Biden "could be the second-most-powerful vice president in > history" as a "foreign policy sage, sounding board, senatorial arm- > twister, troubleshooter." > > According to his office, Biden is projected to be the most-traveled > vice president ever, already having visited 14 countries and having > met more than 120 foreign officials in their countries and in > Washington. The office also compiled some other achievements for > that first year: He oversaw the White House Middle Class Task Force > and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; raised funds for 33 > candidates from 19 states; "was instrumental in Sen. Arlen Specter's > switch to the Democratic Party"; hosted more than 5,000 people (with > wife Jill) at their official home at the Naval Observatory and has > made "fighting for veterans and military families a major priority." > > Biden's analysis of the Democrats' loss in Massachusetts was similar > to others'. The key problem for the Democrats may have been that the > Republicans campaigned against the health care bill in the only > state that already covers almost all of its citizens. He felt that > Democrat Martha Coakley "paid virtually no attention to the race, > always a disaster. ... I don't think the Republicans would have been > ahead had she hit the ground running." He also called the GOP > winner, Scott Brown, an "attractive personality, who came across as > confident, was a good campaigner." > > He didn't mention it, but Biden himself was a virtual unknown > quantity when he won his first term against the popular J. Caleb > Boggs in 1972 in perhaps as much of an upset. > > It certainly seems as if the president's coattails are very short > these days, since not only did Coakley lose in a strongly Democratic > state but Republican governors were recently elected in New Jersey > and Virginia. Obama campaigned for Democrats in all three states. > Biden does not draw a doomsday conclusion from that for the November > elections. > > "Initially you'll see great consternation, wringing of hands, 'Does > this mean our administration is dead?' " Biden said. He points out > that after the 2008 election when the Republicans got clobbered, > "people said the Republican Party is dead and buried and gone > forever," but it's bounced back. > > "As far as the Democrats may be down in the polls, the Republicans > are down further," he pointed out. Even though both congressional > parties are in the 20s or 30s percentage-wise, both the president > and the vice president continue to rate in the 50s and 60s. To win > in November, "we have to focus on what's on people's immediate > plate. If by November the president is able to stand up and say, 'I > kept my commitment,' and all combat troops are out of Iraq, and we > again have the beginnings of a functioning democracy there, we have > the support of the international community to deal with Iran, we > have halted the job loss and have created more than a million jobs," > chances are good for the Democrats. > > "That's in contrast with the Republicans, who have offered virtually > nothing." > > Biden cited Obama's forceful aid to Haiti as showing the level of > competency Delawareans always approved. > > In contrast, he thinks President George W. Bush's handling of the > devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and the Gulf > Coast was probably the "most single damaging thing that happened to > George Bush." > > Our conversation ended with a surprising request from the vice > president as he hurried off to a national security meeting. > Spontaneously, he turned to the possible Delaware senatorial > campaign of his son Beau. > > Biden: "If you run into Beau, talk him into running; he respects you." > > Me: "I don't think he wants to run, though." > > Biden: "I don't think he does either. I know he doesn't want to. ... > I'm so proud of the job he's done [as attorney general]." > > Me: "Would you campaign for him [against Republican Mike Castle]?" > > Biden: "Hell, yes. I told him I'd give him my sixth-born grandchild." > > I doubt Beau Biden "respects" me, but it was quite startling to hear > the vice president confirm what many Democrats fear -- that Beau > does not want to be the candidate. > > > > -- > > Alexander Snyder-Mackler > (302) 598-867
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