IS JOE BIDEN A DEMOCRAT? DOES ANYONE KNOW?

This week I had dinner (at the fantastic Jade Cafe in Silverlake) with my old friend Kevin. Although we went to the really funny anniversary performance of the live show of "WHAT'S MY LINE?" the ostensible reason for the get-together was because Kevin, a DWT reader, didn't understand why I'm so negative towards Democratic Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. I explained how corporately-oriented Biden is and how, although he is a member of the Democratic Party, his voting record is all-too-often indistinguishable from that of a Republican. His support, for example, of the credit card company-written Republican bankruptcy bill was a disgrace. And, of course, he is considerably to the right of the Democratic Party (and more than a few Republicans!) on his utterly reactionary (stay the course) thoughts on Iraq.

Today Hope Yee reports for AP that Biden is discouraging progressives from trying to derail BushCo's attempt to politicize the Supreme Court further with the addition of right wing extremist Sammy Alito. On ABC-TV's "This Week," Biden was parroting thoroughly discredited right wing talking points about "up or down votes" and playing down the chances of a filibuster (the only actual hope to stop this hideous nominee).