Biden goes to strong suit

Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, gave what was billed as a major foreign policy speech this morning.

And the timing couldn't be better for him to be on what is his strength, after a string of gaffes.

The Republican National Committee, which earlier had a clock keeping track of the time in between mistakes, announced this morning, "Joe Biden’s gaffes have become so excessive that we’ve now dedicated an entire site, which includes an interactive timeline, map, and videos to track Biden’s most noteworthy fumbles and missteps since becoming Barack Obama’s running mate."

In his speech in Cincinnati, Biden talked up running mate Barack Obama's foreign policy bona fides and judgment, in advance of the first presidential debate Friday focused on foreign affairs.

But Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spent far more time bashing the principles and judgment of Republican nominee John McCain.

The Delaware senator said McCain is mistaken that Iraq is the central front on the war on terror, when it is really the tribal badlands of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where al Qaeda lives and is plotting the next attack on the United States.

"On this John McCain is more than wrong, he is dangerously wrong," Biden delcared.

"On a question so basic, so fundamental, so critical to our nation’s security, we can’t afford a commander-in-chief so divorced from reality and from America’s most basic national interests.”

Biden repeatedly accused McCain of "bluster" rather than judgment and wisdom.

In response, McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt told the Associated Press, "Joe Biden, the senator turned salesman, has gone through so many disjointed transformations on Iraq that he no longer represents credible leadership on the issue. ... He has abandoned his criticisms of Senator Obama, and his own firmly held beliefs in order to reflect Barack Obama's record of trying to legislate failure in Iraq and ambition-first style of leadership."

Some other highlights of Biden's speech, according to prepared remarks:

"This week, John talked about the judgment required to be Commander in Chief. He’s right: nothing is more important than judgment. But time and again, on the most critical national security issues of our time, John McCain’s judgment was wrong. Right after the terrorists attacked us on 9-11, John responded by urging that we consider attacking countries other than Afghanistan, including Iraq, Iran and Syria. In the run up to the war in Iraq, John insisted that we would be greeted as liberators… that we didn’t need a lot of troops… that victory was imminent. Then, he said he wasn’t worried about Afghanistan… that we would “muddle through”… and he declared Afghanistan to be “a remarkable success. In John’s judgment, there is nothing to talk about with Tehran. And he has one idea for dealing with Russia: kick it out of the Group of Eight nations.”

“In John’s judgment, it is not the federal government’s responsibility to protect us here at home. He voted again and again against fully funding cops and firefighters… against interoperable communications so that our first responders can talk to each other… against screening more cargo on planes and ships… against better security for our tunnels, trains, ports and chemical plants. It is John’s judgment that six years into the war in Iraq, we should keep spending $10 billion a month… indefinitely… at a time Iraq is running an $80 billion surplus.”

“Time and again, Barack Obama has demonstrated the judgment we need in our next president… and the vision to see over the horizon.”

“Barack Obama understands what John McCain does not: the next President must be more than the Commander-in-Chief for Iraq. He must be Commander-in-Chief for America’s security around the world.”

“Mark my words: if, God forbid, there is another major attack on America, it will not come from Iraq. It will almost certainly come from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border – where the Bush/McCain approach let down our guard and let our enemies off the hook.”

And unlike John McCain – who opposed Barack Obama’s call to take out the high-level terrorist targets in Pakistan and called it “bombing our ally” – we will not tolerate a terrorist sanctuary in Pakistan. If Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like bin Laden if we have them in our sights.”

“Barack Obama has been clear: no country poses a greater security challenge to the United States, Israel and our allies than Iran. Under the policies George Bush has pursued and John McCain would continue, Iran, not freedom, has been on the march. Iran is much closer to the bomb; its influence in Iraq is expanding; its terrorist proxy Hezbollah is ascendant in Lebanon; its ally, Hamas controls Gaza and launches rockets at Israel. Beyond bluster, what would John McCain actually do about these dangers? He doesn’t say.”

“The worst nightmare for a regime that thrives on isolation and tension is an America ready, willing and able to engage. Since when has talking removed the word “no” from our vocabulary? It’s amazing how little faith John McCain has in himself and in America.”

“So ask yourself: based on the judgments they have made and the policies they have proposed, which candidate is more likely as president to end the war in Iraq responsibly… to focus America’s full might on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan… to unite our allies in dealing effectively with Iran and Russia…to renew the promise of America in the world? The answer is clear.”