Biden hits rivals on Pakistan policy
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff
DES MOINES -- Misstatements about the crisis in Pakistan by Mike Huckabee, the leader in polls of Republicans heading into Thursday's Iowa caucuses, have been a major focus in the GOP race during the past week. Today Senator Joe Biden of Delaware tried to inject the same issue into the Democratic side of the campaign.
Making his closing arguments before a packed crowd at a downtown bar, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman argued that he, alone among the Democratic contenders, has the experience and knowledge "to know exactly what to do" from his first day in office about tough foreign policy issues.
To underscore his point, Biden took a swipe at rivals for recent statements which he said showed they aren't ready to deal with problems in Pakistan -- the nuclear-armed Muslim nation where last week's assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has unleashed chaos -- as well as he is.
"We have a number of candidates who are well-intended, but don't even understand Pakistan," Biden said.
Biden did not name his rivals, but made clear that his main focus was Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.
"One of the leading candidates said -- God love her," Biden began. The crowd laughed -- Clinton is the only woman in the race -- prompting Biden to say, "Good people are running!" before continuing:
"But to say Musharraf is up for election! Musharraf was elected --fairly or unfairly -- president six months ago. It's a parliamentary election" that is coming up in Pakistan, Biden said.
The Biden campaign later supplied two instances to the Globe in which it said Clinton mistakenly suggested that President Pervez Musharraf is on the ballot in upcoming elections in Pakistan.
On Dec. 28, during an interview on CNN, Clinton said, "If President Musharraf wishes to stand for election, then he should abide by the same rules that every other candidate will have to follow."
And on Dec. 30, during an interview on ABC's "This Week," Clinton responded to a question about whether Musharraf should step down by saying, "He could be the only person on the ballot. I don't think that's a real election."
Biden added yesterday: "To say there hasn't been a peaceful transfer of power and that it's always bloody -- not true! The last 19 years in Pakistan there has been a peaceful transition of power. How can you lead immediately if you don't know these basic facts?"
Clinton, who has repeatedly argued that her experience makes her "ready to lead from day one," stated that Pakistan is "not a country that has had a history of peaceful successions" during the Dec. 30 "This Week" appearance.
The Clinton campaign quickly fired back, arguing that in a Dec. 27 appearance on MSNBC Biden made a similar mistake. He said that "Bhutto, I'm convinced, would have won a significant majority" in the upcoming election, when he instead should have said "Bhutto's party."
Biden also attacked "another one of my colleagues, a good friend, a good man" for saying that the US should send Vice President Cheney to Pakistan to persuade Musharraf to step aside and let a coalition government take over.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Biden said, as the Democratic crowd laughed at the mere mention of Cheney's name. "The architect of the failed policy with Pakistan and we're going to send him to sit down with Musharraf to work this out?"
The suggestion that Bush should send Cheney as a high-level envoy to Pakistan was made last week by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has also touted his foreign policy experience. Richardson noted that Musharraf might listen to Cheney because they two "are buddies."
In the Des Moines Register poll published today, Biden was in fifth place, with the support of four percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers.
Wow. I guess Hillary doesnt think the details aren't important when dealing with matters of international importance.
The details ARE important. And to nit-pick Senator Biden's comment that Bhutto could have won a majority instead of saying "Bhutto's party" could have won, is simply a pathetic part on the Clinton campaign to blur the issue. Joe Biden knows what he is talking about - and obviously, Hillary Clinton doesn't. Makes you wonder about her statements concerning her relationship with Bhutto...
We need Biden now more than ever. Our national security is at stake, and so is the physical security of our children; the retirement security of our parents; the economic and health security of our families. Joe Biden will get us out of Iraq without leaving chaos behind. He'll fix health care now (by covering children and catastrophic) on the road to universal coverage. And perhaps most importantly, he'll end Bush’s assault on civil liberties. Caucus-goers have a unique opportunity and responsibility to help select a Democratic nominee capable of: beating Republicans in November; then leading this country through the difficult but promising decade ahead. He has my vote.
When it comes to what's going on today around the globe, because Joe Biden is touted as our best foreign policy mind in Washington, it is essential...it is CRITICAL that Joe Biden become our next President. We have men and women around the globe spilling their blood and giving up their lives. Armageddon in the Middle East, turmoil in Pakistan (a nuclear power), we have leaders of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Turkey, Korea, China and now Russia that MUST be dealt with. We have muslim extremists that want us dead. And if we DO NOT establish some type of resolution regarding our global affairs, we will not have a country ANYMORE. It is ridiculous to believe that we will be able to continue with a "normal American way of life", if we do not take care of our foreign difficulties. Then and ONLY then can we really concentrate on our domestic issues and address them properly. We are spending lives and spending ALL of our resources abroad and THIS MUST STOP.
Joe Biden is the only one that can mend our desperate, broken nation...this broken world. The importance of having a bright and experienced foreign policy mind in our Oval Office calling the shots cannot be overstated in these dire times. This should be the SOLE issue for this next Presidential election, but the people of this country are busy being enamored with sound bites and magazine covers, and constant media coverage of the so called "front runners" who don't have a tenth of experience of Joe Biden.
People of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, please, let's get it right this time. America needs your foresight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtGCaqOdIJ4
Maybe Sen. Clinton ought to consider replacing Celine Dion, her former campaign crooner, with The Pretenders.
Either you know this stuff, or you don't.
but but she has the experience to lead from day one.
Experience is not helping Hillary Clinton. The msm is but barely covering the Hillary gaffe on the Pakistan elections, which exposes the heart of her campaign themes of experience and international acumen as the wrong themes. This pratfall of hers is of unbelievable proportion given she has billed herself as so superior - the smartest woman in the world - but is the only candidate to cause an international scene with her naieve remarks on Bhutto's death, etc., where Pakistani officials ask her to shut up because her remarks are not helpful.
When this little story becomes unburied, Hillary will need to find some other virtue to inflate pertaining to her wonderfulness.
Sen. Biden offers the wisdom, intellect, and passion we need to lead our country and restore our standing in the world. He is the best candidate from either party and Democrats will have "buyer's remorse" after Iowa and the primaries if he is not the Democratic candidate for President. Get real - the Republicans will eat Sen. Obama up and they have been waiting for years to go after Hillary. Additionally, what is it that Sen. Obama wants to "change?" Who is gullible enough to believe that a former state senator with 2 years experience in the U.S. Senate, and no significant accomplishments to report, is going to change Washington? I think Joe Biden is the greatest leader for our troubled times.
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