About four days out of the week I feel like a fan of the Delaware senator, who’s not exactly well-loved in the liberal blogosphere. I like his intelligence and I like his cheerful blowhardiness.
Indeed. I imagine most of us at times have been seduced by one of his surprisingly good rants and while I'm not sure he's all that intelligent he certainly usually comes across as brighter than your average pol.
The problem with Joe Biden is that he is currently taken very seriously on the issue Iraq, despite the fact that the only strategy he has to offer is just another version of the Tinkerbell Gambit - instead of "clap louder" it's "pray louder!" We hear quite often that genuine critics of the war in Iraq don't have a plan, but people like Biden, who are critics of the details but still defend the overall rightness of the endeavor, aren't held to this standard. Biden has no plan other than "put your faith in George Bush," the guy who messed it up in the first place. As he said on Meet the Press:
What I am hoping for, along with Republicans members of the Senate, as well, Hagel and Lugar and others, has been that there be a secure nation within its borders that's basically a representative government where everybody thinks they've got a piece of the action that is federated in part where there is more autonomy given to the regions than ordinarily would be assumed in a united democracy, and the institutions in place where there is enough ability for that government, whatever is elected, to secure the physical safety of its people and not be a threat to its neighbors. That is as good as it is going to get and pray God that that's what happens.
Or, shorter Joe Biden:
Hope IS a plan!