(D) J. Biden/What Me Worry

[White_Male_Canada]

Still the dumbest man in the Senate:

WASHINGTON - Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record) says he can hold his own in a 2008 presidential primary against Democratic contenders from the South, noting that his home state of Delaware was a "slave state."

Biden dismissed the notion that he was a "Northeastern liberal" who would have a poor showing in the South against other likely contenders such as Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

"Better than anybody else," Biden said, when asked on "Fox News Sunday" to rate his chances of winning Southern states.

"You don't know my state," he said. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_el_pr/biden_politics;_ylt=Aqhd7cZgzkabt_4B8MusAZFp24cA;_ ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

Watch the idiot,it`s better when seen live on tape :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFduMuP7v-k

[Ben]

Joe Biden's Son Is Now On The Board Of One Of Ukraine's Biggest Gas Conglomerates:

http://www.businessinsider.com/hunter-biden-joes-son-ukraine-gas-company-burisma-holdings-2014-5

[Stavros]

Not sure where you want to go with this. The children and grand-children of Presidents are on a hiding to nothing -if they get prestigious jobs it is -allegedly- because of their famous family, as if their own educational and professional achievements count for nothing. It often happens that political families merge through marriage, it often happens in Hollywood and the world of Sport.
Camp David is named after the son and grandson of President Eisenhower, whose grandson David married the daughter of Richard Nixon (Julie Nixon Eisenhower) -hmm, I wonder where they first met -the White House?
If Hunter Biden can be part of a gas company that develops the gas resources Ukraine needs to reduce its dependency on Russia, while also improving that company's transparent accounting and accountability to the public -would not that be a good thing? Also on the Burisma board is Devon Archer, who with Hunter Biden is on the management team of Rosemont Seneca, a technology oriented 'technology growth equity firm' part-owned by Rosemont Capital, a company set up by Christopher Heinz, the step-son of John Kerry...
Hunter Biden is also on the Board of the Truman National Security Project-
http://trumanproject.org/

I am more concerned at the fact that a substantial number of Members of Parliament in the UK employ a relative as a research assistant. The proposal that hiring relatives should be banned was not supported by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority in 2010.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/07da9a86-3b2c-11df-a1e7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3DIpEhJKY

Members of the US Congress are not allowed to hire their relatives for Congressional work -they can hire them on their election campaigns.

[broncofan]

Hunter Biden has much stronger academic credentials than his father. He seems to be fairly accomplished in his own right. You can get into undergraduate programs based on family pull; there's some indication you can in business school as well. With law school, it happens (I've heard from people on admission's boards about one or two per class of 300; often children of wealthy donors) but it is much more rare. He went to the US News number one ranked law school and worked for 7 years at the thirteenth ranked vault law firm. I personally don't care about all these rankings but if he has only succeeded because of his family connections, then it has been an elaborate ruse. He has succeeded in an environment characterized by tremendous intellectual elitism. My sense is he is probably a bright man.

So if he did not get the position because of his father's influence, then I hardly see how it could qualify as a conflict. What he does as a grown man is no reflection on his father. Edit: Actually, it could hypothetically be a reflection on his father, but it's not a reflection on his father's professionalism.

[broncofan]

Actually it would be obtuse to claim that his father's name has not affected the milieu he has found himself in and consequently some of his employment opportunities. However, it would also be a huge mistake to argue that he owes his career to nepotism. He seems to have had an extremely active career in law and government.

Anyhow, I don't see how it is ethical to place restrictions on what jobs someone can take simply because their father occupies a policy-making position. If Hunter Biden were a dupe who was hired because he could exert influence over his father, I would understand the paranoia.

But he is his own man...he grew up in a prestigious family but has apparently worked hard and had a career of his own. This is the part of the left-wing I despise...I think pointing out the incestuous relations of the upper class is helpful in understanding broader patterns of abuse, but when it is done simply to foster paranoia or to attack one person, it comes across as mean-spirited and unhelpful.