DCRepublican.com

If you’re a news junkie like me, odds are you’ve seen a couple dozen stories discussing a rumor that Joe Biden is planning on stepping out of the race in a few days, citing “health reasons”.

The rumor as mentioned on AssociatedContent.com:

“On or about October 5, 2008, Joe Biden will announce his resignation from the race as Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate. He will cite health reasons and quietly withdraw. Hillary Clinton is poised to take his place as the Democratic vice presidential candidate. Or so this latest rumor goes.”

Obviously this isn’t the first time that rumors have been started about candidates that have turned out to be nothing, and I guarantee that this won’t be the last.

However, it’s not hard for someone to make an argument that would make this rumor seem like it could be a possibility.

While I am not completely confident in the rumor, here are five things that could lead people to believe that Joe Biden will be leaving the race:

1. - Joe Biden hasn’t been a staunch supporter of the activities of the campaign his name on. Here is Joe Biden commenting on an anti-McCain commercial recently run by his campaign (not a 527): ”

Asked about the negative tone of the campaign, and this ad in particular, during an interview broadcast Monday by the “CBS Evening News,” Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, said he disapproved of it. “I thought that was terrible, by the way,” Biden said.

2. - There is no doubt whatsoever that Joe Biden is a “family first” kind of guy. Even after his kids grew up, he still came back to Delaware every night to spend time with his  family and always did what he could to keep his family close. Now that he is running for Vice President, his family has been a prime target for the RNC, particularly his lobbyist son Hunter who according to the RNC:

was until recently a registered Washington lobbyist whose clients received earmarks from Obama, and Federico Pena, Obama’s campaign co-chairman who has close ties to big electricity.

Random commentary: Honestly, I’ve always thought that this was a pointless argument by the RNC, because I’m quite confident that I can connect Hunter Biden to some of the lobbyists working for McCain. This whole lobbyist argument is getting old anyway, so focus on the issues! 

3. - Even Joe Biden himself has said that he thinks Hillary Clinton might have been a better choice than him for the VP:

“Make no mistake about this,” said Biden. “Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified as I am … She’s qualified to be president of the United States of America and easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America. And quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me.”

While some might argue that this was just Joe Biden being humble, the tone of his voice really had me thinking that he believed what he was saying.

4. -  Joe Biden doesn’t agree with Barack Obama on a variety of core issues, and it’s starting to show:

Asked by NBC’s Meredith Vieira whether the Fed should bail out insurance giant AIG, the senator said no: “I don’t think they should be bailed out by the federal government.” Unfortunately, the remark had more in common with McCain’s initial position on the bailout (instinctive opposition) than Obama’s carefully cultivated claim that he would not “second-guess” the government. When the bailout went through, both Biden and McCain bowed to reality. But the shift left Obama in a tricky position–as Matt Lauer pointed out this morning on “Today.” Noting that Obama had been hitting McCain for flip-flopping on the AIG bailout, Lauer asked the Illinois senator how he could criticize his Republican rival when his own running mate had made the same mistake. His answer? “I think Joe should have waited, as well.” Awkward. 

Random commentary: Why does the media consider any deviation from talking-points as a gaffe? Is honesty or an individual point of view no longer allowed in the political arena? 

5. - One could argue that even the Obama campaign seems to be reluctant to put Biden’s name on key campaign materials:

In a controversial move sure to upset millions of people, Barack Obama’s campaign has decided to forgo the traditional time-wasting distribution of chum (yard signs, bumper stickers, etc.) to try and win the election.

Random commentary: As a former campaign staffer, I understand the argument for forgoing the campaign signs. They take up a lot of time, and if both sides are good at what they’re doing, those signs wont be in people’s yards anyway come election day ;) 

In conclusion, yes, I can see how over the past few weeks some might see Joe Biden’s departure as an inevitable event. However, Barack Obama is still beating John McCain in many polls, and it appears that Obama still may be gaining some momentum. While I don’t think that Biden is essential for Obama’s victory, I don’t necessarily see him doing much damage to the campaign either.

While there are a variety of things that make this rumor seem more legitimate, at present I have a hard time believing it. But as this post reflects, I can’t rule anything out.

Blogs covering the “Biden Rumor:”

• Progressive Californian 
• The Right Perspective
• Exposing Liberal Lies
• Frankly, My Dear
• Flopping Aces
• Texas to Oregon
• Sherryness
• Stix Blog

Is your blog covering this story? If so, mention it in the comments and include a direct link to your post!

I guess this is just my overly-analytic mind in action once again, but doesn’t it seem odd to release these two stories (1, 2) at the same time? (see image below)

digg story

Some good weekend viewing, from the folks at BarelyPolitical.com:

Obama ‘08 - taste the rainbow

lol.

Insert creative line here: ____________________________

(Image courtesy of: Wired.com)

Very rarely are there instances where I’ll feel compelled to write about the mistakes being made by conservative organizations. Primarily, I tend to only go after political figureheads when they deviate from the original principles of the Republican Party.

However, today there was an email sent out that absolutely appalled and infuriated me. This time it wasn’t something about a partisan hack, but instead was about an employee of the American Conservative Union, Lisa De Pasquale and her efforts to try and shut down a harmless facebook group, CPAC 2009.

Here is the text of the email:

Hey guys,

You won’t believe this facebook message I got from a “Lisa De Pasquele”! You can read it and my response below.

Thanks for being a part of the group.

-Beau

———–
Hi Beau,

The chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation has decided to pursue legal action with Facebook to get your CPAC 2009 group removed. Just wanted to let you know because I don’t know if they automatically disable groups during when legal complaints are brought.

Lisa
———-

Subj: Threat to sue over our Facebook group name

An Open Letter to “Lisa De Pasquale”

Dear Lisa,

I just received your message on Facebook. Needless to say, I am a tad shocked you or (so you say) the chairman of the ACU, David Keene, are threatening legal action over the fact that I started an unofficial Facebook named, “CPAC 2009.”

The group was created by a dedicated small government conservative (myself) and frequent attendee of past CPACs. My only intention was in providing an unofficial source for information and news for the ‘09 gathering.

It is with a genuine sense of concern that I ask whether you threatened the same against unofficial CPAC 2008, 2007, and 2006 groups? Perhaps the reason you are threatening me is because this group has had more members than yours for several months now.

I don’t know.

But what I do know is that I find it doubtful that ACU members and donors would be pleased that you and Mr. Keene are so quick to spend their well-meaning contributions on what would be an expensive DC lawyer for such a sue-happy endeavor.

Speaking of frivolity, your demands do illustrate a much larger point.

What are you doing when you are not threatening legal actions against fellow conservatives?

Certainly not spending that time in trying to get a real conservative as the Republican nominee for President of the United States. Perhaps if you had done more of that then there would be less of a chance we would be stuck with a nominee who led the Amnesty for Illegal Aliens effort on the floor of the United States Senate.

Lastly, you told me months ago (yes, you didn’t have anything more important to do back then either) that the ACU (American Conservative Union) does not even own the name “CPAC 2009.” Nor had they in previous years. So, I don’t think you are legally entitled to be the only user of the name either.

But alas, I do not have the time to continue to endure the yapping about the name of the group from an incessant whiner such as yourself. So, I will close it down.

You are Welcome,
Beau Correll

CC: 619 members

To sum it up, Lisa De Pasquale, an official representative of the American Conservative Union emailed Beau Correll, informing him that the American Conservative Union Foundation was going to pursue legal action over a Facebook group.

Beau, a Virginia Prosecutor, makes some great points in his response, especially in stating that the ACU should be using their donors money for more important battles.

Of course, the last thing you want to do is rile up dedicated conservatives who know how to use the internet. Very quickly this story made its way around the country and within an hour or two, Lisa De Pasquale had posted the following statement on the ACU’s CPAC 2009 Facebook group:

The complaint to Facebook (not LEGAL ACTION) was to remove the group because of confusion it might cause. As you might not know, CPAC is run by a 501c3 (non-profit) organization. The videos posted are political in nature and would constitute IRS violations of our non-profit status.

It looks like the creator of this group has finally added a disclaimer about the group, which is what we asked for in the first place. We have no problem with CPAC groups. As you can see, there are dozens of different CPAC groups.

Well she’s definitely changed her story. Here is her message to Beau again:

Hi Beau,

The chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation has decided to pursue legal action with Facebook to get your CPAC 2009 group removed. Just wanted to let you know because I don’t know if they automatically disable groups during when legal complaints are brought.

Lisa

However, trying to cover-up a lie that was sent to the masses wasn’t her only mistake.

In her latest statement she mentioned that CPAC is run by the American Conservative Union Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit educational organization, and the fact that Beau’s group had “political” videos on it, could jeopardize their tax status, implying that they can’t be affiliated with any political organizations, pursuant to IRS code.

What’s interesting is that in Beau’s group, he has classified it as “Just for Fun - Fan Clubs,” which is exactly what it is. However, the now “official” CPAC 2009 Facebook group, which is managed by Lisa, an employee of the American Conservative Union Foundation, is classified as “Organizations - Political Organizations,” I think that creates more problems than anything that Beau is doing.

Maybe they too should add a disclaimer to clarify (note: as of 6:30pm on 6/5/08, there is no disclaimer).

The fact of the matter is that Lisa got caught up in a scare tactic that has blown up in her face. Even if there would have been serious legal action brought against Beau’s group, the Facebook terms of service only prohibit such situations when applied to Facebook Pages. From the Terms of Service:

Facebook Pages are special profiles used solely for commercial, political, or charitable purposes. You may not set up a Facebook Page on behalf of another individual or entity unless you are authorized to do so.

Had they created a Facebook page first and then Beau tried to copy that, they might have had a case for it to be shut down. However, Beau wasn’t trying to scam them, his group isn’t spamming people and if anything, he is only helping the conservative movement.

As of 6:45pm on 6/5/2008, there isn’t a Facebook Page for CPAC 2009, or the American Conservative Union.

To many, this might not seem like a big deal. However, if you’re a conservative who believes that we need more like-minded people brought into the online world, or “joining the conversation” as a well known consultant says, you can see how this throws up huge roadblocks.

The American Conservative Union is suppose to serve as the umbrella organization for the conservative movement, not the Gestapo. Furthermore, they’re suppose to be for less government in our lives, not finding frivolous claims to bring it in more. It’s hard enough to convince conservative activists to take action online now, but when you throw in threats of legal action over such minor things, you basically set us back months in terms of catching up with the left.

I truly believe that this series of events isn’t representative of the American Conservative Union, however I think it shows how careful employees need to be when trying to use scare tactics on the internet.

Update: Beau’s group is no more. I guess there is no room for little guys.

Another great video from the folks at barelypolitical.com

Celebrity McCain supporters make their way to DC

I’m not normally one to get caught up in pop culture, but when Heidi Montag, feux-celebrity from MTV’s “The Hills” stated that she was supporting John McCain for President, I couldn’t help but keep an eye on this story.

As anyone in DC knows, a few days ago was the White House Correspondents dinner, which usually has a variety of celebrities representing various causes and/or political agendas.

This year was no different, Pamela Anderson was there promoting animal rights, as a guest of PETA and Jenny McCarthy was there promoting a march that she was organizing in June.

Then of course there are your random musicians, like the Jonas Brothers, who usually are just invited by their labels or agents to get some good PR.

But this year just got weirder when Heidi Montag and her weird boyfriend Spencer Pratt showed up as guests of Fortune Magazines editor, Andy Serwer. While Heidi and Spencer are definitely an odd couple, finding out that there is a connection between those two and Fortune Magazine is even more baffling.

Anyway, here are some shots of them being tourists in DC. If you live in DC, you probably find these pictures just as obnoxious as I do, but some of you might find it interesting.

Despite Heidi Montag’s support for Senator McCain, I somehow doubt she made any effort to swing by the Headquarters to make some phone calls.

(Images via celebrity-gossip.net)

Click here for more DC pictures