Being Joe Biden
by Patrick Ruffini :: January 31st, 2007 10:47 pmHere’s what I love about primary campaigns. And midterm elections. And political spectacles where the action isn’t focused on a single person.
You get all comers. You get to see virtually every type of political strategy and persona in action. Everyone gets their day in the sun. Including the kooks and whackjobs.
I am wondering whether Joe Biden doesn’t belong in that category with Dennis Kucinich.
Modern communications strategy tells us that brevity and clarity is everything. A number of people have questioned whether this model is outdated; whether new media gives political leaders the opportunity to engage in a more fulsome dialogue with voters. (There’s a lot of talk about conversation these days.) Don’t we want Presidential candidates who just talk and let the chips fall where they may?
I am certainly sympathetic to these calls … but Joe Biden gives the old school communicators about a century’s worth of ammo in defense of scripting and message discipline. Joe Biden is what happens when politicians just talk. Even in his apology he talks himself into a hole:
Obama, Biden said, “is probably the most exciting candidate the Democratic or Republican parties have produced since I’ve been around. He’s fresh, new, smart, insightful. Lightning in a jar.”
Exciting. Fresh. Smart. New. Insightful. Lightning in a jar. Six ways of saying the same thing. Excuse me Senator, but if Barack Obama is all these things, why don’t you get out of the race and endorse him now?
Joe Biden learned public speaking in the school of hard knocks, and his presence on the public stage is testament to his perseverence. But he has the same problem Kerry had: an inability to distill his thoughts clearly. Why say in six words what you can say in three hundred?
Incidentally, he has the same problem on his Web site. Why have one photo of the candidate in blue shirt and navy blazer when you can have three? All of them probably taken this morning:
Tagged: 2008 
joe biden strategy
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The only way Joe Biden has found to stay on message is to plagiarize someone else’s speech. Remember when he had to drop out of one presidential race when he was caught cribbing from a British labour party hack’s speech? Like John Kerry, we see a lot of him because he is always available when a TV producer or talk show host has some time to fill. That is when garrulity pays off.
Why did the media forget to mention another mainstream African-American who is seen as a presidential contender…..
namely Condoleezza Rice? Now the fact that she is not an elected offical trying to drum up interest in her campaign might be a factor, since she is busy setting up Middle East conferences and meeting with World Leaders on behalf of our president. Here we are almost an entire year ahead of any caucus or votes being cast and a person might think that if anyone wanted to run for president, they had better announce now. So why is Newt Gingrich included? Has he announced?
There have been many national polls showing clear and strong support for Secretary Rice as a possible presidential candidate. Perhaps that is why a few websites today and why a few reporters are trying to prevent readers from getting data about Condi Rice………..she takes TOO MUCH away from the other GOP contenders. They might be afraid of her and don’t like the competition. Does anyone want to say I am wrong? I welcome the debate.
www.thinkcondi.net is organizing in Iowa, N Hampshire, and S Carolina.
One Star Still Shines
This is the latest news about international interest in Secretary Rice being a contender.
From the Washington Post, Jan. 31, 2006
In the Loop by Al Kamen………..excerpt shows a Condi Buzz
Despite her central role in getting the country into that increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s star is scarcely diminished. In fact, even though she was President Bush’s national security adviser throughout Bush’s first term, she still ranks quite high in the national popularity polls — scoring twice Bush’s ratings.
That may be why people keep asking her if she’s going to be on the GOP ticket in 2008.
The question came up again last week in an interview on German television.
“Before we say goodbye,” the interviewer said, “the German public also is viewing with interest that the presidential race is starting pretty early this season, almost after the midterm elections. So — and they’re also fascinated by you as a person, so let me ask you this. Could you imagine any circumstances under which you would be on a Republican ticket?”
“Oh, I’m going back to Stanford,” Rice said.
“I want to generate some news here,” the interviewer explained.
“No, maybe the Germans will see me at Stanford in Berlin,” one of the university’s overseas centers.
“Going back to Stanford,” where she was provost? That’s what she says. Of course, that’s what she said at the end of Bush’s first term — and she’s still here.
I saw a video of Joe’s announcement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMG2SBwIcrM
Being Joe Biden…
Patrick Ruffini has an interesting take how Joe Biden’s communications style is undisciplined and antiquated. As Ruffini writes: “Joe Biden is what happens when politicians just talk.”…
[…] Giuliani’s eGuy, Patrick Ruffini, hit on something important today when he wrote to accompany this screenshot, “Why have one photo of the candidate in blue shirt and navy blazer when you can have three? All of them probably taken this morning.” Patrick is right. Every picture Biden uses on his homepage has him wearing a blue shirt and blazer on his homepage. same outfit in his video on his site (which are not on YouTube incidentally). And of course, you can find more of the blue shirt/blazer Senator is his flickr account. Clearly, his website is one big contrived production. There’s nothing real about it. […]