Gaffe-tastic week for Biden fuels speculation of Hillary swap
Hot Air ^ | August 16,2012 | ED MORRISSEY
Posted on Thursday, August 16, 2012 11:09:03 AM
Jonathan Martin reports from the road that Joe Biden’s staff has begun imploring the pool reporters to edit Biden’s remarks:
His staff’s response is effectively to try to save Biden from himself. During the Virginia trip reporters were hustled out of retail campaign stops in diners and other intimate settings, aides tried to edit media pool reports for any potential landmines that could be seized on by Republicans and even hovered at close range to eavesdrop on journalists’ conversations with attendees at Biden rallies. …
What’s perhaps most striking about the Biden staff’s attempts at press management is its effort to influence what goes in the pool reports from his off-schedule stops. Because the entire press corps cannot easily jam in, say, a diner or private home, it is standard practice to have a single designated reporter take notes and share the material with colleagues from other news organizations.
I don’t think a switch is in the offing, because I think that Sarah Palin all but poisoned the option this week:
After that well-publicized challenge, Obama wouldn’t dare take her advice and dump Biden from the ticket. Even a medical reason would look like a panicked, defensive move at this point, especially after this week’s nonstop series of VP bungling on the campaign trail. We’re more likely to see a Biden apology than a withdrawal, and I don’t think that’s likely at all. The last convention purge of an incumbent VP from a ticket came in 1944, and only because Henry Wallace had become an open admirer of Joseph Stalin — and thankfully, we ended up with a President Truman r
Obama’s stuck with Biden. That’s actually bad news for everyone, but fortunately American voters can keep Biden from being one heartbeat away from the presidency in November
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