McCain camp touts Biden praise ahead of speech

The campaign of John McCain is highlighting positive comments Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) has made about the Arizona senator during the Democratic presidential primary and in previous years in an attempt to pre-emptively undermine his attacks.

With Biden set to deliver his first major speech as Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) running mate Wednesday night, Republicans are sharpening their criticism of the veteran Delaware senator both publicly and privately.

{mosads}They also are pointing out the numerous times Biden has expressed great admiration for McCain, calling him “one of my heroes” on the Senate floor nearly a year ago and, at another point, telling Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” that he would be honored to run for president on the same ticket as McCain.

Biden also has praised McCain’s willingness to challenge the Bush administration on foreign policy and his support for sending more troops into Iraq at the outset of the war. In contrast, Biden opposed last year’s troop surge, which McCain pushed.

Obama chose Biden for his foreign policy experience, and the ticket gained more than 30 years of service in the Senate and on the Foreign Affairs Committee, which Biden chairs.

Republicans point out that Biden has no military service and received an F in ROTC at the University of Delaware, a subject of furious discussion in the conservative blogosphere since Obama selected him to be his No. 2 late last week. No successful presidential ticket since 1940 has lacked military service; either the candidate for president or vice president has served in the military in some capacity.

Two conservative blogs, newsbusters.org and bizzyblog.com, have run items about changes made to Biden’s Wikipedia entry Friday night as news of his veep selection was leaking out.

The blogs point out that someone wiped out the year 2004 from the presidential campaigns section of the bio. That heading contained a reference to an MSNBC article about Biden urging then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry to pick McCain over himself for the No. 2 spot on the ticket.

MSNBC’s story, dated May 16, 2004, reported that Biden told the late NBC “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert that Kerry should select McCain as a way to help heal the “vicious rift” dividing the U.S.

Newsbusters.org reported that the details of Biden's undergraduate grades (generally C's and D's, with two A's in phys-ed and an F in ROTC) as well as other details about the plagiarism allegations that caused him to drop out of the 1988 Democratic presidential primary "strangely" disappeared from his Wikipedia entry between Friday and Saturday.

Opponents on both sides of the aisle often alter Wikipedia entries of political figures, but the timing of the changes raises questions about whether anyone at the Obama campaign or the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had anything to do with it.

Obama’s campaign and the DNC did not return several calls seeking comment about the changes to the Wikipedia entry as well as the positive comments Biden has made about McCain over the years.

McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said Biden has been far more critical of Obama’s credentials to be president during the primary than he has been of McCain’s.

“Joe Biden has only been clear on one issue during this election — that Barack Obama is not ready to be commander in chief,” Porritt said in a written response to an inquiry. “Voters are still awaiting many answers, including how their plans to raise taxes will grow the economy, how they plan to combat soaring energy prices, and apparently college transcripts.”    

Biden’s garrulous nature has landed him in hot water on numerous occasions during his long Senate tenure. It also provides the McCain camp with volumes of material to mine.

During last year’s debate on the defense authorization bill, Biden extolled McCain’s virtues before going on to defend Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) concerns about the troop surge.

“Let me just say that one of my heroes is the senator from Arizona,” Biden said at the time. “I mean this sincerely. We use the phrase around here ‘my friend.’ I consider him my friend. I believe if neither he nor I were senators and I picked up a phone and called him and said, ‘I need you to show up at such-and-such a place, I can't tell you why,' he would be there.”

Nearly three years ago, during an appearance on Comedy Central, Biden even told host Jon Stewart that he would be honored to run for president on a McCain-Biden ticket.

“You may end up going against a Senate colleague, perhaps McCain, perhaps [then-Senate Majority Leader Bill] Frist [R-Tenn.],” Stewart said in the interview.

“John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off — be well off no matter who …”

Stewart was incredulous in his follow-up:

“Did I hear, did I hear 'with'?” he sputtered.

“You know, John McCain and I think —,” Biden attempted before Stewart directed him to speak plainly.

“Don’t become cottage cheese, my friend. Say it,” Stewart warned.

“The answer is yes,” Biden said.