Of course it doesn't matter now. He got elected, and she didn't. And people will still harp on about Biden being better in the debate than her when he wasn't.

I'll leave it at that.

The way I see it, if you don’t have a healthy sense of humor these days, you’re up the proverbial creek without a paddle. In other words, you have to be able to laugh - at yourself and the circumstances that surround us - if only to prevent completely wallowing in the other emotional extreme.

And, speaking of awards...there ought to be one for most intelligent and enlightening discourse on politics that is firmly rooted in reality and is, in the words of a very wise man, “an island of sanity in the moronic universe of on-line political commentary”. And, http://www.ChrisWeigant.com is, quite simply and without a doubt, the best-in-class, bar none.

The winning combination of brilliant and astute political analysis from our chief political commentator and the informative and provocative debate amongst fellow commenters like Michale, David, Blaws - and others that I haven’t quite had the pleasure to get to know yet - all infused with a great sense of humor (self-deprecating and otherwise) is precisely what keeps me here!

Of course, any self-respecting Biden fan would love and appreciate the happy tendency toward verbosity around here - and I mean that in a GOOD way!

Cheers, everybody...and happy debate watching!

If you haven't been formally presented with the award yet, I truly think you qualify as "Biden Fan #1" on the entire web. Your steadfast loyalty is to be admired, and your name is becoming widely known (see comments above) as his most ardent supporter on the internet... number one... and number two... OK, that bit was hilarious. The thing I like best about you is your sense of humor.

Others may not know this, but a long time ago when I just knew her as LizM over at HuffPost, I commented something to some other commenter about how Biden had a great fan out there named "LizK"...

Whoops! I got a hilarious comment to that from Elizabeth which began with the salutation "To Kris..."

That's when I knew I was dealing with quality.

My always taking Biden seriously is what drew her in to this site, but I know it's really the lack of a word limit that keeps her here...

Heh heh.

But, more seriously, your steadfast support has been vindicated by anyone who saw his debate. I saw a poll where an astronomical 93% of ALL people polled (Dems, Ind, or GOP) said that Biden was up to the job of being president.

That is simply astounding. Talk about being respected!

Anyway, don't worry Elizabeth, there'll never be word limits here...

:-)

-CW

Kudos to you my friend for keeping up with all of those blogs. I hope you put this one at the top of your list!

I have one that you may be interested in - VetVoice.com, a blog and off-shoot of VoteVets.org

Here you will find a very interesting and informative assortment of views, commentary, and analyses of veterans and troops in the field with a definte emphasis on all issues of concern to them, particularly with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan.

You can engage in some pretty good discussion and debate - just like here - and even produce your own "diaries" which, if recommended, get 'promoted' to the front page of the blog.

It's definitely a unique perspective and one that is not often heard from or listened to nearly enough.

Is that why my ears were ringing during the debate!? Actually, I was surprisingly calm, cool and collected during the whole affair. Perhaps Senator Obama is having some influence in that regard. The screaming and shouting didn't start until AFTER the debate, when the media and their silly pundits began spewing their incoherent analyses...present site and proprietor excepted, of course.

By the way...have I said lately how impressed I am with Senator Obama and his obviously sound and superior judgement, his early primary musings about the Iraq war resolution notwithstanding? Well, impressed I am, beyond my wildest imaginations. And, I mean that sincerely!

You may call me anything you want, just don't call me late for dinner...and keep those Bidenesque blogs coming 'cause no one does it better!

As for the Bosnian Muslims...all I can say about that is thank God for Biden fans, eh?...or else you may have had to issue a mea culpa, like a certain New York Times columnist was persuaded to do, to his credit. :-)

The moral of that story is that you should never, ever doubt what Senator Biden says - about anything, number one...and, number two...Biden doesn’t have a habit of making “gaffes”, don’tcha know. Seriously!

You remember...the ‘gaffe’ charge is just one of many media-conceived and driven national myths of epic proportions about Joe Biden which may now be on the verge of beginning to engender some serious blowback , so to speak. And, truth be known, I’m lovin’ it! But, not as much as I’m gonna love your poll-watch column on Wednesday.

"Man, I bet Elizabeth from CW.com is alternating between cheering and shouting at the TV based on who is speaking at the time."

I would suggest two others. The "War Room" column at Salon.com is a pretty good place to get an overview of what's going on, up-to-the-minute. It's a true blog, with lots of posts per day (various writers), and short little blurbs of all the major political news of the day. It does what it does very well -- kind of a clearinghouse to catch up on a lot of things very fast. With links, so if you're interested you can go and read the full story if you like.

Salon also used to have a column called "Blog Report" that I found very useful, and miss. It was a quick look at bloggers from both the left and right, in one easy to see place.

The other one is specific to the White House, and is one of the most critical places in the mainstream media that I know of -- examines Bush under a microscope. It's called "White House Watch" at WashingtonPost.com and is written by Dan Froomkin. Almost nothing gets by him. He'll be doing the same favor for the next president as well, but for now it's an excellent place to keep an eye on the Bush folks.

Both of these have links on the left side of my site (my links aren't organized all that well, so forgive me if you have to search for them). Both are good additions to a daily reading list.

And I don't want to step on the Top Ten List Of Idiots (every Monday morning, funniest thing on the web), since I kind of patterned this column after his in the first place! This is also in my links list for anyone interested, I highly recommend it for a laugh on Mondays.

Elizabeth -

Somehow I thought you'd like this one!

I thought Biden made a gaffe about "Bosniacs," but a Biden fan pointed out that he was actually using the correct term "Bosniaks" which they call themselves. I should have figured Biden would know what he was talking about.

akadjian -

I had forgotten "noun, verb, 9/11" but thanks for reminding me!

Elizabeth II -

[OK, I couldn't resist labeling you that way. Heh. Sorry.]

Me? Institute a word limit? Never! Then I'd have to write shorter columns myself... heh heh. Or be a giant hypocrite...

Wednesday's poll-watch column is going to be happy news, so tune in for that...

-CW

I can count on one hand - with four digits left over - the number of political leaders in whom I have placed my faith and who have never let me down.

Now, I'm not saying that I agree with Senator Biden on every single policy position. I'm not even saying that I know how he stands on every foreign policy issue (my personal area of interest). What I am saying is that I have never had occasion to doubt the veracity of what he has said or question his motivations or wonder if he has tried to tell the American people and citizens of the world everything they needed to know as opposed to what he thought they wanted to hear.

I could go on...and on...but I may force CW to institute a word limit around here, God forbid. So, I'll just say that I am very happy that you are beginning to know who Joe Biden is and what he has always been all about. And, if Senator Biden first came to your attention during the presidential primaries, then you have a lot of catching up to do, my friend! I can guarantee you one thing...the effort will be well worth your time and you will not be disappointed by what you learn.

I guess the next big event to look forward to are the state polls that may be released later this week. I am hoping that they will show a continuing trend of Independent and moderate Republican support streaming toward Obama/Biden.

I have to hand it to you for your belief in Joe Biden. He first came to my attention when he almost single-handedly destroyed the Giuliani campaign with his "noun, a verb, and 9/11" comment.

His performance this week really reinforced Obama's selection in my mind. Biden changed up and dealt with a format that was more fitting for Palin and overall I thought he did a great job of connecting.

Biden gave me yet another reason to be passionate about the ticket.

- David

Well, if this 50th edition of FTP isn’t a sight for sore - very sore - eyes, then I am damn sure I don’t know what is! More about the particulars later but, for now, I’m just going to savor the moment and take my good ole time digesting every word.

Admittedly, it has been a long and tough slog, as they say, from the fiasco in Iowa to the selection of Joe Biden as the Democratic vice presidential nominee. And, along the way, I have gained great respect for Barack Obama and for the sound and superior judgement that he obviously has - demonstrated by his choice of, and fight for, Joe Biden to be his partner in restoring honor to the promise of America, at home and abroad.

I have finally concluded that the Obama/Biden ticket is proof positive that the cream really does rise to the top, in every sense of the phrase, and that timing and circumstance has delivered to us an unprecedented opportunity to really “make hope and history rhyme”.

I just answered an astonishingly similar comment over on HuffPost, but unfortunately their comment server promptly ate it. Sigh.

So I'm going to answer it here this time, and then cut and paste.

(1) You're right about the Spain thing. I think the McCain campaign is terrified that he will appear senile, and so have defended his remark. Which is why it was brilliant for Biden to bring it up. They can either defend it on its face, or admit that he had a "senior moment" -- neither one a good choice. (2) I don't know, I still give her the benefit of the doubt. They both seemed like they thought their mikes were cold to me. But I have heard your viewpoint a lot today, so I could be wrong. (3) Al Gore's sighs! Boy, doesn't that take you back... ahem. Tiny Fey is absolutely going to NAIL this one tomorrow night on SNL, just you watch. (4) The BTNW line was definitely the funniest line of the night! (5) My wife agrees with you, and lit into me for suggesting that it might appear "fake" to some. But then I remember how Howard Dean's campaign blew up in one scream, so I'm extra-cautious I guess...

The most interesting thing from the CBS "dial group" line (they showed it after the debate) was when Biden was talking about Iraq, the line went slowly up, and then when Palin came out with "white flag of surrender" it fell off a cliff -- lost 35 points in like two seconds.

And I, too, have been waiting for someone to call McCain on the "maverick" label, and was glad Biden did so.

Thanks for writing!

-CW

But that's just MHO..