Obama's VP Pick - Huge Mistake!

Obama chose his running mate for the 2008 Presidential run this weekend and it was a huge mistake. Everything was a mistake about this. From the pick to the way that they chose to announce it to the world.
Let's start with how the Obama campaign decided how to announce the momentous and much-anticipated running mate selection. Evidently, a text-message was the way they decided to break the news to the world in general (the media, voters and other interested parties). They tried to be slick and hip to appeal to the 'younger' crowd. Probably an attempt to set themselves apart from the 'traditional' way of how politicians and politics works. Not a terribly bad idea but it turns out that, after many 'supposed' leaks of who the VP pick was (Evan Bayh, Keane, etc...), it was leaked at about 12:17am EST to Foxnews's Major Garrett. At 3:31am EST (or somewhere around there) the Obama campaign sent out the text and confirmed that Joe Biden was the choice. This was crazy! Not only did they miss the major news cycles, they did it in the middle of the night and probably woke up thousands of potential voters with their cell phone vibrating or ringing away waking them out of a sound slumber. Imagine being one of these new 'young and hip' voters whose been up till the bar closes at 1 or 2am and just getting home to bed and getting sound asleep when your cell phone goes off and wakes you up. Sheesh! Why didn't they announce it at 4:00pm on a Friday? This way, everyone goes out to happy hour and dinner and talks about it all night. The major news outlets have some time to run the story during their dinner news hour also. I just don't get the reasoning behind announcing so late and waking people up.
Now on to Joe Biden. I've never really liked 'ol Joe. He always struck me as fake. He's got the reputation of a 'straight-shooter' and all that but he seems so full of himself. The comment he made about he having a higher I.Q. than a reporter was pretty clear of how he responds when challenged on things. This exerpt was pulled from the Betsy Newmark News Blog on the Fox Forum:

And then Mickey Kaus reminds us of this prize Biden moment from 1987 when he made five boasts about his academic record. And four of them were totally, disprovably false.
He then went on to say that he ”went to law school on a full academic scholarship - the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship,” Mr. Biden said. He also said that he ”ended up in the top half” of his class and won a prize in an international moot court competition. In college, Mr. Biden said in the appearance, he was ”the outstanding student in the political science department” and ”graduated with three degrees from college.”

The moot court thing seems to check out. The other boasts - not so much. He was 76th in a class of 85.

But the real kicker is what he told the guy who seemed to be asking a rather mild question:
The tape, which was made available by C-SPAN in response to a reporter’s request, showed a testy exchange in response to a question about his law school record from a man identified only as ”Frank.” Mr. Biden looked at his questioner and said: ”I think I have a much higher I.Q. than you do.”

Then there are these gems Biden said:

Biden, on a post-debate appearance on MSNBC, October 30, 2007: “The only guy on the other side who’s qualified is John McCain.”

Biden appearing on The Daily Show, August 2, 2005: “John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off, be well off no matter who…”

Also from that Observer interview: “But — and the ‘but’ was clearly inevitable — he doubts whether American voters are going to elect ‘a one-term, a guy who has served for four years in the Senate,’ and added: ‘I don’t recall hearing a word from Barack about a plan or a tactic.’”

September 26, 2007: Biden for President Campaign Manager Luis Navarro said, “Sen. Obama said he would do everything possible to end the war in Iraq and emphasized the need for a political solution yet he failed to show up to vote for Sen. Biden’s critical amendment to provide a political solution in Iraq.

Biden on “Meet the Press” in 2002, discussing Saddam Hussein: “He’s a long term threat and a short term threat to our national security… “We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world.”

Biden on Meet the Press in 2002: “Saddam must be dislodged from his weapons or dislodged from power.”

Biden on Meet the Press in 2007, on Hussein’s WMDs: “Well, the point is, it turned out they didn’t, but everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued — they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued.”

Biden to the Brookings Institution in 2005: “We can call it quits and withdraw from Iraq. I think that would be a gigantic mistake. Or we can set a deadline for pulling out, which I fear will only encourage our enemies to wait us out — equally a mistake.”

One of the ones I like the most is this:

At the Tuesday-morning meeting with committee staffers, Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: “I’m groping here.” Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we’re not bent on its destruction. “Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran,” Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a ‘How do ya like that?’ look on his face.
The staffers sit in silence. Finally somebody ventures a response: “I think they’d send it back.” Then another aide speaks up delicately: “The thing I would worry about is that it would almost look like a publicity stunt.” Still another reminds Biden that an Iranian delegation is in Moscow that very day to discuss a $300 million arms deal with Vladimir Putin that the United States has strongly condemned. But Joe Biden is barely listening anymore. He’s already moved on to something else.

Just like a Democrat. Let's just throw money at the problem and it will fix it!

Besides the ludicrousness of the idea of giving a couple of hundred million to Iran, who had never shown any inclination that they were favorably disposed to the United States, doesn’t this vaunted expert on foreign policy realize that the Iranians are not Arabs and so giving them money out of the blue wouldn’t do anything to make Arabs feel better about the U.S.?

Add to these Biden's comments about Obama: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man." and "I think he can be ready but right now I don't think he is. The Presidency is not something that lends itself to 'on-the-job-training.'"

Mark my words, this decision will sink Obama's Presidential run. Biden is a big mouth. Just put a camera in front of him and he'll say something stupid. He's done it over and over again.

Now, McCain has to pick Mitt Romney for his running mate. Either that or Condy Rice. Boy! Wouldn't that throw a new element into the campaign?!