A Brief Debriefing: Joe Biden

A mini-bio of Obama's VP pick...

ESSENTIAL FACTS:

• Senior U.S. senator from Delaware
  
• Law degree from Syracuse Law School
• Ran unsuccessful bids for the presidency in 1988 and 2008
  

STRENGTHS:

• Experience, experience, experience. He's served as a U.S. senator for the past 35 years and is the Chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.
• Attack Dog. He's at his best when he's taking down opponents. One of my (many) favorite lines of his was in reference to Rudy Giuliani: "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11."

LIABILITIES:

• The guy is a gaffe machine. See yesterday's post for examples.
  
• He's said some pretty damaging things about Obama. See yesterday's post for examples.
• He had a plagiarism scandal in his first run for president in 1988 involving his uncredited use of a portion of one of Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock's speeches.
  
• He voted for the war in Iraq.
• His strength as a six-term senator is also a liability in that it offers Republicans a long voting record to criticize.
  

POSITIONS:

• In his presidential run this year, he stated that "energy security" was his number one issue. He is opposed to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and is in favor of cap-and-trade. He has also co-sponsored or supported several pieces of environmental protection legislation.
  
• The NRA gave him an 'F' rating, meaning that he has consistently voted in favor of gun-control.
• He has a moderate stance on civil liberties. The ACLU gave him a 60% rating. He supported the Patriot Act but voted to limit wiretapping and in favor of preserving habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees.
• He is in favor of universal health care.
• He has a mixed/moderate record on free trade, but also received a 100% rating from the AFL-CIO for his pro-union stances. He voted in favor of NAFTA in 1993
  
• He is opposed to the Bush tax cuts. He supports a balanced budget amendment.
• He voted in favor of the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq but has since said the Iraq war was a mistake and has been poorly handled. He supports the federalization of the Iraqi state (granting more autonomy to the various factions within their respective regions) in order to ease sectarian violence.
• Favors troop deployment to Sudan.
• Pro-Israel; favors two-state solution to Palestinian conflict.
  
• Favors direct diplomacy with Iran, but also strategic sanctions.
  
• Consistently pro-choice.
• Mixed/moderate views on LBGT issues: voted for the Defense of Marriage Act; against the Federal Marriage Amendment; for inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected hate crime group.

MISCELLANEOUS FACTOIDS:

• In 1972, shortly after being elected to his first term as U.S. senator, his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car crash. He was sworn in from the bedside of his two young sons who survived the same accident with serious injuries.
  
• While chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he presided over the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork in 1987 and Clarence Thomas in 1991.
• Adjunct constitutional law professor at Widener School of Law since 1991.