Dick Harpootlian is the former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Last night, while appearing on Fox Report With Shepard Smith, Harpootlian went into Joe Biden Mode:

Here’s a partial transcript of Shep’s interview with Harpootlian:

Harpootlian: Well, she’s very apologetic about it. She sorta didn’t really mean to say to have an abortion, that she meant to say that she was against abortion but here’s the other thing: Who really cares what Carol Fowler says? I talked with the Obama campaign and they reject what she says. She rejects what she says. The key question is do you want a 72 year old man who’s been in Washington 30 years as the president of the United States?
Shep: Is that an age dig?
Harpootlian: who hasn’t brought about change, or Barack Obama, who has promised change, who has brought about change in a number of different ways. So those are your choices.
Shep: Is that an age dig?
Harpootlian: (crosstalk) …lipstick on a pig.
Shep: Well but now there’s this 72 year old age thing. Was that a dig?
Harpootlian: No. No. He’s a 72-year-old man with 30 years of the Washington experience.
Shep: Dick, help me out with this because it seems to be a pattern. But going back to last Friday. I don’t think that there’s a political analyst who wouldn’t have told you that the Democrats have the Big Mo. All of a sudden, there’s an announcement of Sarah Palin and ever since then, it seems to me one thing after another. So many political analysts on both sides of the aisle who say that Democrats are just not as disciplined as they could be. These kinds of landmines keep coming out, these types of windows keep coming up for Republicans to jump through. Is that accurate?
Harpootlian: Well, you know, I think the media makes more out of this than it really is.
Shep: Wanna see my email inbox?
Harpootlian: Sarah Palin’s gone back to Alaska. Hopefully she’ll go back there and give back the money she took for the per diem while she was living in her house. But she’s going back to Alaska…But this campaign is gonna focus on two people, John McCain and Barack Obama. Who do you want running the country? And who do you want a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States, Joe Biden or Sarah Palin? That’s the question. And what plans do these candidates have for moving the country forward.
Shep: Maybe we’ll get there some day.
Harpootlian: John McCain has had 30 years and he hasn’t gotten it done.
Shep: Right. I remember. He’s 72 years old.
Harpootlian: He’s 72.
Shep: Right. I got it.
Harpootlian: Did I say that he’s 72?

Talk about insulting. That’s one of the most condescending interviews I’ve ever forced myself to listen to. Harpootlian saying that John McCain’s been in Washington 30 years and hasn’t gotten it done is insulting to thinking people. First, I’ll nitpick a little: McCain’s been in Washington 26 years, not 30. What’s worse is that Harpootlian wants us to think that that’s a major strike against Sen. McCain but he doesn’t mention that Sen. Biden’s been in Washington a full decade longer than Sen. McCain.

I’m betting that Harpootlian wouldn’t say that Sen. Biden hadn’t “gotten it done” in his extra decade in Washington.

It’s insulting to hear Harpootlian say that John McCain hasn’t brought about change. It’s extremely insulting to hear Harpootlian say that Barack Obama “has promised change” and “who has brought about change in a number of different ways.” I’d defy Mr. Harpootlian to name the changes that Sen. Obama has brought about, either in Washington or in the Illinois state senate. I’ll reject the 130 times that Sen. Obama voted “present” as bringing “about change in a number of different ways.”

I’ll also reject his voting against the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act as bringing “about change in a number of different ways.”

Instead, I’ll point to things that Sen. McCain has done that have brought “about change in a number of different ways.” Let’s start with being the lone voice in the Senate who insisted on changing course in Iraq. Gen. Petraeus might’ve put the plan together and the in-theater generals were the people who implemented the plan but it was Sen. McCain’s insistence on adding troops that’s changed the Iraqi landscape, thereby giving the United States a great ally in the heart of the Middle East.

Sen. McCain fought for other things like the BCRA and immigration reform which were wayward ideas but he worked to bring about change. Sen. McCain put together the Gang of 14, which helped get judges confirmed for the federal bench. Not only didn’t Sen. Obama, who talks about bipartisanship, join the group. Instead, ‘bipartisan’ Sen. Obama voted against John Roberts and Samuel Alito as well as a nubmer of appellate court judges.

Mr. Harpootlian has a small amount of name recognition amongst political junkies, not unlike Joe Biden. What this interview proves is that he’s just as inept as Sen. Biden in winning over voters, though he isn’t as gaffe-prone as Sen. Biden. The arguments he makes in defending the Obama-Biden ticket are pretty lame.

I’d pity Democrats if that’s the best they can do.

Technorati Tags: YouTube, Dick Harpootlian, Carol Fowler, Abortion, Barack Obama, Bipartisanship, Born-Alive Infant Potection Act, Change, Age, Joe Biden, Shepard Smith, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Reform, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. remember a republican from virginia named warner and a statement which included the phrase “macaca”??? his apology was slapped aside and his political career was ended.
   so how is this any different???
   oh..yea…she’s a democrat and democrats are held to different, much lower, standards.

   Comment by cannon — September 11, 2008 @ 1:38 pm