Joe Biden in The Contenders
On Corporations:
OpEd: beholden to corporations because so many based in DE
Like all mainstream candidates, Biden is beholden to corporate interests who support his campaigns or dominate his state; in Biden’s case, he cast a noteworthy vote in favor of the controversial
2005 bankruptcy bill, which was a boon to credit card lenders, many of which are based in Delaware due to lax state regulations. Biden’s biggest single bloc of support is trial lawyers, who like his strong position against tort reform.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.180
Nov 11, 2007
On Crime:
Biden Law of 1994 created several new capital offenses
Biden is credited for authoring several significant pieces of legislation in the area of federal law enforcement, including The Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act of 1994, widely known as the Biden Law, which:- Banned the manufacture of 19
specific semiautomatic “assault weapons”
- Allocated more money to build prisons & set up bootcamps for delinquent minors
- Designated 50 new federal offenses, including gang membership, and created several new federal death penalty offenses, including
murders related to drug dealing, drive-by shooting murders, civil rights-related murders, murders of federal law enforcement officers, and death caused by acts of terrorism or weapons of mass destruction.
The law was passed shortly before the Oklahom
City bombing, and its provisions were applied to execute Timothy McVeigh. The legislation received bipartisan support, but was reviled by death penalty opponents and civil libertarians. Some believe it broke ground for the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.179
Nov 11, 2007
On Drugs:
Took lead on drug policy & narcotics control
Biden has sought to take the lead on drug policy, spearheading creation of a “Drug Czar” and
crafting laws to control narcotics--measures that are widely viewed as pretty much of a failure.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.180
Nov 11, 2007
On Energy & Oil:
Supports cap-and-trade for greenhouse gases
On climate change Biden occupies what has become the conventional liberal middle-ground, supporting “a ‘cap-and-trade’ approach to regulating emissions
and investment in technologies” to reduce greenhouse gasses.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.180
Nov 11, 2007
On Government Reform:
As Judiciary Chair, rejected Bork and supported Thomas
Biden became a nationally-recognized face while chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1987 to 1995, when presiding over televised hearings on controversial Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork--a lone triumphant moment from liberal
Democrats--and Clarence Thomas. Many women’s groups complained about what they felt was Biden’s harsh treatment of Anita Hill, and many progressives have never forgiven him for his vote to confirm Thomas.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.178-179
Nov 11, 2007
On Health Care:
Modernize, simplify & expand health insurance
His plan for dealing with the healthcare crisis is vague to nonexistent, with references to containing costs by “modernizing” and “simplifying” the system; “expanding” health insurance;
and looking at “innovative alternatives” pioneered by the states to “evaluate what works best in providing affordable access to healthcare for all.”
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.180
Nov 11, 2007
On Immigration:
Supported Bush plan: both border fence & path to citizenship
Biden supports the Bush immigration plan, with both its “amnesty” for existing undocumented residents and its big border fence to keep new ones out.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.180
Nov 11, 2007
On Principles & Values:
Insulted Indian-Americans in attempt to compliment vibrancy
Biden has made several campaign-killing statements since he declared his candidacy in January 2007. In an apparent effort to compliment Americans of Indian descent, “In Delaware, the largest growth in population is
Indian Americans--moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.” His office sought to explain the remarks, saying, ‘The point
Senator Biden was making is that there has been a vibrant Indian-American community in Delaware for decades.
It has primarily been made up of engineers, scientists and physicians, but more recently middle-class families are moving into Delaware and purchasing family-run small businesses.“
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.184
Nov 11, 2007
On War & Peace:
Strong US intervention in trouble spots around the world
What sets Biden apart from other candidates, more than anything, is his take on Iraq--and more generally, on the US role in a post-Cold War world. Repeatedly, over the past 2 decades, Biden has advocated for strong US intervention in trouble spots around
the world (including Iraq) in the name of democracy and human rights, a well-intentioned but highly risky stance that has won him devoted support as well as widespread opposition.On the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has been chair or ranking
minority member since the late 1990s. In recent decades, he has consistently taken an interventionist stance, promoting the idea that the US, as the lone remaining superpower, ought to step in--with the UN, with NATO, or on its own--to prevent genocide,
keep the peace, and promote democracy. Under Clinton, he pushed for intervention in Bosnia, and supported NATO’s intervention in Kosovo. More recently, he has argued for an immediate intercession in Darfur, with US troops if need be.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.178&181
Nov 11, 2007
On War & Peace:
Third way: federalize Iraq; troops home; no chaos behind
Biden favors a phased troop withdrawal down to a “residual” force, but made enemies by voting for the May 2007 supplemental war funding bill, insisting that a no-vote would constitute abandoning the troops. But he also favors a controversial plan that
differs from any of the other candidates--as he describes it, a “third way”:“President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq. His strategy is to prevent defeat and to hand the problem off to his successor. As a result, more and more
Americans understandably want a rapid withdrawal, even at the risk of trading a dictator for chaos and a civil war that could become a regional war. Both are bad alternatives.“
”There is a third way that can achieve the two objectives most
Americans share: to bring our troops home, without leaving chaos behind. The idea is to maintain a unified Iraq by federalizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis breathing room in their own region.“
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.181-182
Nov 11, 2007
On War & Peace:
Post-colonial countries like Iraq need federal system
Biden insists that we have to destroy Iraq in order to save it. He says the only way to solve the bloody mess the US has created is through what amounts to a partition, providing autonomous states for the main ethic and religious groups, with the whole
thing monitored by a UN-sponsored Iraq Oversight Group.A central government would sit atop of this regional setup, responsible for “common interests, like border security and the distribution of oil revenues.” Shared oil resources would most likely
restore Iraq to an earlier status: The country, after all, was once a colonial appendage of Britain before World War I, acquired solely for its oil.
Biden said in Feb. 2007, “Any country that comes into being as a consequence of the pen of a diplomat
has never been able to be stable except by (a) an imperial power dominating it, (b) a dictator or strongman, or (c) a federal system.” Biden clearly believes in the third of these options, but in practice his plan may well recreate the first.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.182-3
Nov 11, 2007