Audition Tape

This Barbara West lady put together quite the comedy show with Joe Biden, hasn't she? Apparently she gets all her questions from email forwards and Free Republic comment threads. I mean, this is unbelievable.



What bothers me, from the standpoint of Joe Biden's judgment, is that it's clear he went on this crackpot's show TWICE. Joe, no subset of the electorate is worth it!

As for the "Marxism" comments, which I dealt with earlier, I think Jon Chait's headline says it best:

McCain: Obama Wants to Have a GOVERNMENT in WASHINGTON!

If you want to espouse the hardcore libertarian argument that roads aren't worth building and cops aren't worth paying and there is nothing that ought to be created for common purpose in America, well go ahead. It'd sure be a lot more honest than this deceptive "the poor luckie duckies are taking your hard-earned money from your wallet" nonsense.

And if you want to ask Barack Obama what his policies are, he'll tell you.

Look - we've tried it John McCain's way. We've tried it George Bush's way. Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that "if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose." That's why he's spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book. Because that's how you play the game in Washington. If you can't beat your opponent's ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.

Ohio, we are here to say "Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake." Senator McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I'm worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. I can take one more week of John McCain's attacks, but this country can't take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It's time for something new [...]

Now, I don't believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. I know you don't either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who's willing to work. That's how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That's how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services. That's how we've always grown the American economy - from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.

Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. We don't need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government - a more competent government - a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.

Strong closing argument speech from Barack Obama.