Sen Biden Calls Bush Incompetent on National Security

On NBC's Meet the Press today, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) eloquently expressed Democratic frustration with the Bush Administration on US port security and on national security priorities:

"MR. RUSSERT: Senator Biden, what has the port controversy done to the Bush presidency?

SEN. BIDEN: It’s sort of stripped away the curtain that there was any competence on, on homeland security.

I heard you on another show with Katie Couric, Tim, saying something in effect that Congress hadn’t done much, either. Back in 2001, we introduced legislation for port security and rail security; 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. It’s been repeatedly spurned by the administration. Virtually nothing’s been done. Their priorities are backwards, Tim.

Tim, if, in fact, they spent as much money on homeland security as they do one year on Star Wars, we could fund another 13,000 police locally, another 1,000 FBI agents. We could have every container at every port inspected with gamma rays as well as with radiation. We could, in fact, secure our railroads.

These guys have priorities that are backwards and they’re dangerously, dangerously incompetent. And this is going to be the next place you’re going to see that incompetence show."
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On June 19, 2005, Senator Biden became the first Democrat to declare his/her intention to seek the 2008 Democratic nomination for the presidency.

Biden, a member of the Senate since 1972, is a gifted negotiator who has played a major role in shaping US security and foreign relations policies. He's a moderate Democrat who often bridges the bipartisan gap, and is an ebullient campaigner with loads of charm.

About the Democratic race for the 2008 presidential nomination, Biden told Tim Russert , "...my intention now is to see if I can garner enough support to get the Democratic nomination. If I can I stay in the race until the end of this. If it turns out that I can’t raise the money or I can’t get any support, then you know, then I make a decision about my Senate career." The senator would be up for reelection in 2008 for a 7th term in the US Senate.

Biden has attracted little Democratic support, thusfar, in his race for the White House, in part due to liberal blogosphere anger over Biden's 2005 vote for the Republican-supported, credit card industry-friendly Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. The bill diluted the law's ability to protect consumers from predatory lending practices, and strengthened corporations' ability to collect from consumers already suffering from extreme financial and medical hardships.

Senator Biden was one of only four Democrats to vote for the bill, which was seen as highly favorable to credit card giant MBNA, the largest single contributor to the Republican party. Turns out that MBNA is also the single largest contributor to Senator Joseph Biden, with $147,700 in contributions from 1999 to 2004.

Also, per blogger Attytood in 2005, "Hunter Biden joined MBNA as a management trainee after graduating from Yale Law School and rose to be an executive vice president. Now a partner in Oldaker, Biden & Belair, a lobbying and law firm, he receives a $100,000 annual retainer from MBNA...." Hunter Biden is son of Senator Joe Biden.

Given this political messiness, I doubt that Senator Biden will be a serious contender for the 2008 Democratic nomination for the presidency. I believe, though, that Joe Biden would make an excellent, well-qualified and effective vice-presidential candidate for the right presidential running mate.
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-- Profile of Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
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