>>>>>Or so Barack's email states...
>>>>
>>>>I am very disappointed by this choice. IMO it's a step backward for the campaign, not a boost. Joe Biden has been angling to be President in his own right for 20 years now and has never drawn interest outside the state of Delaware. He is prone to pomposity and is an epic windbag even by the colorful standards of the Senate. He is not very diplomatic and will be a loose cannon on what has been a tight ship. I would have been fine with any of the other people who were on the shortlist; Biden was the only one who had me sticking pins in a voodoo doll. Crap. The charges of inexperience must be hitting home because Obama went out and got an old goat just because he's been around a long time.
>>>
>>>I think it's a solid choice. Biden has strong foreign policy credentials, and the background to appeal to blue-collar voters.
>>>
>>>As for the loose cannon aspect, I think people may appreciate his candor.
>>>
>>
>>With your academic background I would think at least the plagiarism thing would bother you.
>>
>>The light bulb finally clicked on for me yesterday. At least I think it did. They want him to be the hatchet man. Terrific. This candidacy seems to be becoming less different all the time.
>
>I have to assume that the Obama people checked out the plagiarism issues. What I read in Wikipedia is that the law school issue had to do with not knowing correct citation practice. As to the Kinnock thing, apparently, he usually gave credit to Kinnock when he spoke, but failed to do so every time, and happened to be filmed one of those times. Neither seems all that big a deal to me, since I see no sign of intent to plagiarize.
>

You are letting him off awfully easy IMO. Not sure about his claim that the Neil Kinnock speech he gave as his own was properly attributed at other times. That sounds eerily similar to what Hillary said when she finally 'fessed up to her whopper about being under sniper fire in Bosnia -- she regretted misspeaking about something she had spoken accurately about on other occasions. (Oh really?)

I would really have to be convinced about the law school paper. He was given an F in the class for copying it. That sounds like more than a technicality.

I don't know that this issue is going to go away. It won't shock me if Obama winds up having to drop Biden and choose someone else. Which would be a disaster, of course. He has already given the Republicans an incredible gift.