Nuanced Biden

Talking Points has an interview with Joseph Biden that's like a conversation with an intelligent, thoughtful, informed, patriotic, fair-minded leader. AN excerpt:

...they're pretty smart guys. These are not a bunch of Christian Coalition guys. These are serious, serious people. These are patriotic Americans. These are guys who really truly aren't looking to get Halliburton contracts --- that's an ancillary benefit --- but these guys really think --- Paul Wolfowitz is an idealist --- he really thinks you can impose democracy.

We all agree democracy --- if all the Middle East was a democratic institution then in fact our interests are greatly enhanced because democracies tend not to go to war with other democracies. But that's a far cry from being able to impose it.

The Kerry administration will understand, in my view --- I know this from a long --- I know John well --- is that there is a need for you to work a long time for you to establish the soil under which the seeds of liberal democratic institutions can take root. That means public diplomacy; that means [being] engaged in economic initiatives; that means political interchange; that means everything from student exchange programs to saying if you step across that line I'm going to blow you to kingdom-come.

There's is a mix of these things. These guys don't think that. They think all this soft power is useless.

And

You know the president always brags with me. And what he said to me not long ago was, “Joe, I don't do nuance” --- as if that was a real cool thing, right? I mean literally, that's a quote. When I said to him, “It's a nuanced situation, Mr. President.” He said, “I don't do nuance, Mr. Chairman.” Well you know --- and Kerry's accused of being only nuance. Well let me tell you something, a lot of this is not so simple and it requires the use of more than one tool in the toolbox.