Seriously?
But of all the charges Gates levels, the only one the White House has seemed upset about is his claim that Vice President Joe Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
Really? That is what has them most up in arms?
Seriously. This is how you manufacture a proper scandal. One that doesn't touch the president. But one that leaves a supposed friend of the president with an imprint of the bus manufacturer's logo on the underbussed's backside.
This is how a professional throws somebody under the bus. Loudly scream about the vice president's awesome brain power--how dare you imply he's a moron!--and hope that the right starts hauling out calipers to measure skull volume. Come on, people! The White House is talking about the issue they care the least about in order to avoid talking about what is most important!
The issue should be that a president who came into office when the nation was at war just didn't think it was his war. I wouldn't say that the president spends more time on his college basketball brackets choices than in war policy. But the president certainly brings more passion and interest to the former. That's the damning charge--not whether the vice president--whose main duties are funeral related--has a clue on foreign policy.
One wonders if Vice President Biden will go along with trying to make him the center of controversy.
If I was on his staff, I'd be angling for sending Biden to Iraq. Although to be honest, at that point I didn't see the professional underbussing angle. It was early--plus I honestly suggested it before the Gates quotes came out as a solution to an actual foreign policy problem--when it was not clear that this was the only thing the White House would address (as opposed to letting surrogates attack the integrity of Gates).
What better way to deflect Republicans and the president's strategists who even in this incident show that they care more about politics (throwing Biden under the bus) than war (nothing to see on Gates' charges, move along--to Biden!).
