You go, Joe! From the Huffington Post (sorry):
WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden went on a Costco shopping spree Thursday and called for Congress to extend middle-class tax cuts as part of a deal to avoid the looming “fiscal cliff.”
Biden, who flashed a store membership card as he entered the city’s first Costco on its opening day, said consumer confidence is growing – as demonstrated by the huge crowd at the gleaming new store in Northeast Washington….
“We have a lot we have to settle, but there’s one thing we should all agree on and that’s the middle-class tax cut should be made permanent. I think it’s important Congress acts now, I mean right now,” Biden said at an impromptu news conference at the store, where he was surrounded by shoppers and employees eager to shake hands, take photos and even hug the vice president.
“I’m looking for pies,” Biden announced as he began shopping, helped by Costco employee Ivey Stewart, who was steering his shopping cart around the store.
Biden bought an apple pie, along with a stack of children’s books, a 32-inch Panasonic TV, fire logs and other items. He said the books were intended for a Delaware charity supported by his wife, Jill.
Biden said he was optimistic about reaching a deal to avoid the fiscal crisis and said, “all these folks in this store, man, it’s going to make a difference. Take $2,200 out of their pockets next year, you have a big problem.”
Biden was joined at the store by Costco CEO Craig Jelinek and co-founder Jim Sinegal, who were at the grand opening ceremony earlier in the day…
At the end of his 45-minute visit, Biden thanked reporters for shopping with him. Then, looking down at his overstuffed cart, he joked, “now you know why my wife doesn’t let me shop alone.”
As Kay pointed out this morning, Costco very deliberately treats its staff as a key component in its success. And good for Joe Biden calling the Costco workers ‘middle class’ — leftists and straightedge econs will bristle, but “working class” has been irreparably tainted by decades of GOP propaganda, while “working poor” is considered an oxymoron. In modern America, tragically, “poor” is not considered a financial status, it’s a mindset, and a deplorable one. “Poor” is shiftless ghetto trailer-park trash, content to live in filth and ignorance while demanding a steady stream of oversized HFC snacks and free cell phones. “Middle class” may live next door to those people, but we still have our self-respect / know the meaning of a dollar / have big dreams, for our kids if not ourselves. Nobody wants to be The Poor, and trying to protect decent wages and ‘entitlements’ as a necessary gift from ‘real Americans’ to The Poor is very bad marketing.
dmsilev
Is this Real Joe Biden or Onion Joe Biden? It’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference.
Zifnab25
@dmsilev: Pro-tip, totally the same guy. I’m pretty sure the Onion just calls him up and asks Joe to write his own material.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Beat me to it.
General Stuck
Wish we had a Costco heer in the last place on earth New Mexico.
Baud
As a loyal Costco customer, I’m getting a little concerned about their increasing popularity. Stores are crowded enough, thank you very much.
TheMightyTrowel
@dmsilev: I like that Onion/Real Joe Biden pie filters himself when necessary.
red dog
Thanks Joe for not going to Walmart or Sam’s Club. I know everything you bought was made in the USA…Right?
Hill Dweller
Biden loves being VP.
arguingwithsignposts
Was Joe Biden wearing a ZZ-Top concert T and driving a 78 Camaro? Then it must have been Real Joe Biden.
SenyorDave
I love Joe Biden ever since the Biker Babe incident. Is there really any other American national politician around today who could get away with this picture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzSUWDkcW_4
By the way, I’ve always thought Biden’s performance in the deabtes in both campaigns was very underrated. His malarky comment with Ryan was pitch-perfect – he basically called Ryan a lying sack of crap w/o using that term. And in 2008 he could have walked into a real trap with Palin, but he realized he had to act like a gentleman, and he played that role to a T.
trollhattan
Did Joe stop off at the filling station with the Trans Am? My Costo undercuts Chevron by about thirty cents, but you kain’t wash no winders dere, nohow.
Hoping Joe washes the Trans Am in the WH driveway when Willard comes callin’.
Mnemosyne
@red dog:
Good luck finding any TVs made in the US anymore — they’ve all moved overseas. But Costco makes the apple pies on site, if that makes you feel better.
ETA: It looks as though there is one (1) brand of television that will be made in the US, but I can’t quite tell from the article if the factory has even opened yet.
eric
@Mnemosyne: I think Joe was using a euphemism.
aimai
The picture of Biden calling someone on a worker’s cel phone is priceless. He looks like he is really yukking it up “No, really, its me, the vice president!”
aimai
ranchandsyrup
How dare costco show insufficient fealty to their shareholders by treating employees well? The wingnuts would boycott but they’d have to give up riding their hoverounds to the free samples. It’s a dilemma. A real dilly of a pickle.
ETA: Want the Smokin’ Joe coffee cup pictured at the bottom of this post: http://wonkette.com/491177/please-read-this-joe-biden-story-so-we-can-sell-you-things#more-491177
dubo
But… the middle class tax cuts should absolutely NOT be made permanent. I can see an argument for a temporary middle class tax cut for another couple of years because of the recession, but we were doing great before we had the Bush tax cuts and in the long term we need our social programs restored and that means more revenue.
Brachiator
So, Obama and Romney had lunch today. It lasted around an hour.
Photographers were not allowed inside. There is no truth to the rumors that Obama said to Romney, “let me show you the Oval Office. You can stand next to my desk, biatch.”
He did, however, show him a recently add-on. Next to the Lincoln Bedroom there is now a new “47 Per Center Drawing Room.”
Obama had a beer with lunch, and a coffee with dessert. Romney passed on a slice of humble pie.
jharp
I love shopping at the Club’s. Packaging is awesome. Even though I still have some real Hersheys Cocoa powder that expired in August of 2008. Overbought on that one but I think it’s still fine.
Too bad all I have is Sam’s as a choice.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
How did he fit all that stuff into the back of the Camaro, I wonder?
superluminar, esq
I think we may have found Tacos real identity, folks.
Litlebritdifrnt
Oh so funny, Ms. Flossie just spent five minutes barking at her dinner bowl because it dared to make a noise when she hit it with her foot. She is right now terrorizing a clothes pin.
I love puppies.
BGinCHI
I wish we were more like North Korea in that we could really use a VP For Life like Biden.
He’s like the Walter Brennan or Dub Taylor of politicians: the perfect sidekick.
? Martin
@Mnemosyne: Vizio is at least a US company, even if the product is made in China. That returns at least some (a not insignificant amount) of our revenue home.
Elizabelle
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Picture, please, of Ms. Flossie.
trollhattan
@ranchandsyrup:
Smokin’ Joe coffee cup–bestest thing evah!
Forum Transmitted Disease
“I’m looking for pies”
That’s code, Juicers. He posts here.
MeDrewNotYou
Since Jill Biden came up (“Now you know why my wife doesn’t let me shop alone”), I’ve got a very shallow question. I’m not the only younger guy that thinks she’s kinda hot, right? She’s twice my age, but yowza.
What with Dr. Biden and the biker chick, Joe Biden certainly has a way with the ladies*.
*-My favorite description of him is that he’s the really nice guy your widowed mother/grandmother dates, falls in love with, and marries.
? Martin
Oh, and Seura TVs are made in the US. I didn’t realize that. We have a friend with 2 of them – one outside (fully weatherproof) and a large vanishing one (turns into a mirror when it’s off). They’ve VERY nice. Not cheap. $5K-$10K each, I’d guess.
Mike in NC
Where is the new Costco in NE Washington? We used to shop at the one in Pentagon City.
Did they serve Rmoney a healthy portion of crow with his WH lunch?
Jay in Oregon
@Brachiator:
It’s even better: the lunch included white turkey chili.
WHITE TURKEY CHILI.
http://times247.com/articles/obama-romney-chat-over-turkey-chili
To quote our very own Zandar: http://twitter.com/ZandarVTS/statuses/274246819884720128
MikeJ
@Baud:
Bellinghamtonians (Bellinghamites? Bellinghammers?) are complaining they can’t get in because of all the canucks.
Mister Harvest
Damn, it’s good to see someone who enjoys his job.
Brachiator
@dubo:
This is negociating room. You could easily yield on making these cuts permanent. And I have argued big time that these cuts should be retained, especially the ones that help the working poor, but I also think that many of them are crudely crafted and should be re-visited.
@SenyorDave:
Some reporters picked up on the SNL parody of the Biden/Ryan debate, I suppose. But when they thought about it, they realized that Ryan was totally forgetable, and did nothing to burnish his reputation as The Serious Mr Ryan Who Knows Something About Budgets. He was instead a brainless stooge with crazy eyes.
Agree with you that Biden done good in both debates.
Elizabelle
More on the Costco visit from the Washington Post’s Rachel Weiner:
On the matter of Costco and its enlightened corporate ethos and employment practices:
So Costco’s Democrats, with Republicans as part of their customer base (you twig that, looking at the hardback book selections).
1badbaba3
Uncle Joe rocks in a very real and large manner. Now all we need is the Big Dog bursting into the scene asking “Did someone say pie?!”
burnspbesq
@red dog:
Good luck finding a TV that’s less than 30 years old that was made in USA.
Elizabelle
@Mike in NC:
New Costco’s in Fort Lincoln, near the Maryland border, per the WaPost.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@red dog:
Try reading A Year Without “Made in China”: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni. Amazon Link
Then tell us all how easy it is to do.
OzarkHillbilly
No Joe. All the Bush tax cuts need to expire. Maybe not now, but sooner or later the piper has to be paid.
WereBear
Best Veep EVAH.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Damn. I was intrigued by that disappearing thing.
Southern Beale
Well, well:
Am thinking this will go nowhere but it’s certainly a robust idea. I like the permanent end to Congressional hissy fits over debt ceiling stuff.
burnspbesq
2441 Market St., N.E. Near the corner of New York and South Dakota.
Dee Loralei
I love me some Joey The B. I second the nomination of making Biden Veep for Life!
burnspbesq
I’d like to see Biden as Rachel’s permanent co-host beginning in February 2017.
An Occasional Commenter
I’m sure I’m not the only one that notices the differences between the way Obama and Biden appear in these types of events versus Romney and Ryan. Even though there’s definitely an ulterior motive to score political points, the setup and the attitude that Obama/Biden show is really stark compared to the pathetically opportunistic photo-ops that Romney and Ryan did, especially in the name of “helping others”.
burnspbesq
Only in Texas.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8691846/student-sent-home-haircut-depicting-texas-johnny-manziel
lucslawyer
The pumpkin pie, Joe…
Smiling Mortician
@MikeJ: This is true. A Washington license plate in the parking lot is rare these days. And WTF is wrong with Canadian milk? Why must each of our northern neighbors buy 10-12 gallons (seriously) per visit?
SatanicPanic
@? Martin: Must live in a nice neighborhood if he can leave $5K TVs sitting outside
Brachiator
@OzarkHillbilly:
What does this mean, with respect to middle class tax cuts?
Which cuts, specifically, do you think should expire?
Feel free to include the deductions and credits, some of which go back to the Clinton presidency.
Also, which small business tax cuts need to go, and when?
And what piper is it that you are so hot to pay off?
22over7
@General Stuck:
We have two in Albuquerque. Of course, if you don’t live in ABQ, it’s a long way from anywhere else in the state.
I’m using Costco Italian sausage tonight in my spaghetti. It’s much better sausage than the dreck at my local supermarket.
Baud
@MikeJ:
Damn Canadians. Always invading other peoples’ countries.
Mnemosyne
One other thing to like about Costco — at least here in the Los Angeles area, they have local vendors come in to sell things on a limited basis. So, for example, there will be a table there selling frozen potstickers or bread from a local factory at a great price. It gives local vendors good exposure (and sales!) and makes local items available when they usually are only sold to restaurants and food service.
YellowJournalism
@Smiling Mortician: Canadian milk is really damn expensive. Especially good chocolate milk.
Now how could Biden go to Costco and not get a couple packs of really big muffins? Or at least their awesome cookies.
On the topic of how well workers are treated, a friend of my husband’s worked there for years as he went to school. He was always quite happy with the job, so much so that two years after working in hi chosen field (forgot what), he went back to work there. Pay, benefits, and hours were better, if I recall correctly.
1badbaba3
@burnspbesq: I guess posters are so last century.
hoodie
Biden is just about the perfect VP. Doesn’t take himself too seriously, so being the VP doesn’t affect his ego. However, you know he could turn on a dime and be as serious as necessary if circumstances demand it. Obama seems to have a knack for picking the right person for the right job.
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Open thread?
My latest project just went up at Make Magazine. They put far more work into this than I did and deserve the bulk of the credit. The video, which I had nothing to do with, is wonderful. Thanks to the great people at O’Reilly Publishing for letting me do this.
http://makeprojects.com/Project/MonoBox+Powered+Speaker/2396/1
Brachiator
Since this is an Open Thread:
Anyone use an e-reader or tablet to read comix? What has your experience been?
Do you use Comixology or other apps?
Anyone read anime on these devices?
Jay in Oregon
@Brachiator:
My favorite iPad comic reader is Comics Zeal; its UI is designed around collections and you can have comics as part of multiple collections (which handy for the annoying crossover storylines DC and Marvel comics like to do).
However, you can’t read comics from Comixology on it; Comixology is wedded to their Comics app. For a while you could screen scrape the comics to package for offline reading but they got wise to that.
BGinCHI
@RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Ross, I would like one of these for Christmas.
I have not been naughty, except when someone deserved it.
Which, now that I think about it, was pretty often.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Elizabelle:
Here ya go
http://crittersbybritty.com/2012/11/29/the-tale-of-ms-flossie/
BGinCHI
@Litlebritdifrnt: OMG, stop the cuteness!
That’s an adorable puppy you got there. Though I bet the legs of all your chairs and tables are chewed to shit.
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@BGinCHI:
I’ll get Santa’s toymaker elves right on it.
Thanks!
ranchandsyrup
Apparently, George Romney had a “Free McDonalds for life” card. Good for him. http://gawker.com/5964412/seven-ways-of-looking-at-the-news-that-mitt-romneys-dad-got-free-mcdonalds-for-life
gogol's wife
@SenyorDave:
He’s an incredible pro.
j
@Zifnab25: Biden was always the poorest member of congress. When he became the VP his net worth was ~ $250,000. Now it’s ~ $500,000, mainly because he finally paid off his house in Delaware.
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/democrats/joe-biden-net-worth/
And, yes, he really does have a gold card from Costco. I’ll bet he has a “membership since” date on that card to prove it.
Ted & Hellen
I was a BJ’s Discount Warehouse Club Member for two years, until last year when I switched to Costco because I had heard such good things about their employee benefits/etc. and it being a progressive company.
But I’m thinking of returning to BJ’s because I find the brand selection at Costco to be EXTREMELY limited in comparison to BJ’s and they are forever pushing their in-house brand (the name of which escapes me at the moment)in everything from ice cream to paper towels to you name it.
And…in so many departments the products are packaged in huge amounts. The smallest flour bag is twenty freaking pounds. The ice cream is two gallons. The spreadable cream cheese and soft margarine are half gallons. Can’t buy soda in two liter containers; only single serving cans. WTF? I’m a two person household and don’t have a humongous deep freeze or huge pantry, so it’s impractical. And I miss the brand selection of BJ’s.
My rant over, does anyone else find this to be a problem at Costco?
PLUS…Brian Williams obviously has a contract with Costco and is pushing their wares as part of his “I’m just a regular lower middle class guy like you” schtick. Enough reason right there to go BJ’s.
sacrablue
Instead of Romney having lunch at the White House today, Joe should have taken him to Costco and treated him to one of their famous hot dogs or a slice of pizza. Mitt could’ve picked up some more shirts also, too.
Bob In Portland
A word of advice: Stay away from Costco pumpkin pies. They are big and look good, but they’re bland, underspiced.
TaMara (BHF)
@Litlebritdifrnt: Cutie-pie. Love that look while she chews that strap, “this is ok, right? right?”
Turgidson
@WereBear:
Remember how Evan bleepin Bayh was a finalist for the gig?
Boy, we dodged a bullet there. Bayh would have been harmless enough as VP, but certainly would have run for POTUS and been a mediocre to bad Democratic president if his boring corporate sellout ass actually got elected, which would have been a longshot.
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
A wingnut near-Libertarian friend of mine makes a very good living working at Costco. I’d like to ask him why he’s wrking for a liberal Dem and not working for an honest Republican free trade company like Wal-Mart but I’m not that much of a dick. Yet. OTOH, I haven’t heard from him in about 3 weeks so maybe he unfriended me after the election.
slag
@RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Cool! I’m almost afraid to show this to the s.o. who would, most likely, be all over it. The dude’s busy. He has no time for another project. But he just might need to see it anyway, because it’s just that cool.
TooManyJens
@burnspbesq:
This just shorted out my brain. In a good way.
PurpleGirl
My problem with Costco is the size of its packaging. I’m a single person who lives in an apartment. I don’t have a lot of storage space, and I can’t always finish a large package of something before I either tire of it or it goes bad. Also too, the first store in Queens was inconvenient to get home from with a packages if you didn’t have a car. The latest one may be better but I haven’t gone there yet. I had a membership for 1 or 2 years back in the late 1980s.
PurpleGirl
@Mnemosyne: No TV has been made in the US since 1970. Even the “American” companies either do the manufacturing offshore or they buy from foreign manufactures and put their name on it.
Just Some Fuckhead
@PurpleGirl:
Umm. You know this is the whole point of Costco, right? Sell volume, discount heavily? If they sold small packages, they’d be Food Lion.
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@slag:
Thanks! If it helps, it’s actually a useful thing. Sounds good enough to want to listen to music on, and it’s compact. I was frustrated with the quality of powered ‘computer’ speakers and wanted to make something a few notches up in fidelity.
I have one of the prototypes on my night stand and I play MP3s of ocean waves or rain through it while I sleep.
Uncle Cosmo
@burnspbesq:
But New York and South Dakota don’t share a common bor–
…oh.
PurpleGirl
@Litlebritdifrnt: Squeeee. She is so cute and I love her eyes.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@arguingwithsignposts: Not quite. Here’s the Real Joe Biden:
From a Car and Driver interview. Gotta love the guy.
PurpleGirl
@Just Some Fuckhead: Yes, I know that. And that’s why I’m not a member any more — it was a waste of money for me.
RedKitten
I think the big difference is that Joe Biden and Barack Obama actually LIKE people, as a general rule. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan simply slot people into categories: people to suck up to, people who they can use, and people who are completely invisible.
Uncle Cosmo
@Ted & Hellen: Interesting. I’ve been an on&off BJ’s member for awhile & got a year’s discounted membership through my former employer just before they eliminated my position last February. I’m kinda PO’d with them because it seems that every fucking time I find something there I really like, it gets discontinued within the next couple of months, & I was considering switching to Costco only in part due to politics. (FTR, “In 2011, BJ’s was acquired by two private equity firms, Leonard Green & Partners and CVC Capital Partners.” Hard to tell what their politics are but at first glance they look somewhat more benign than the boys of Bain.)
FWIW humongous sizes seem to go with warehouse-club territory, but you should try contacting Costco & expressing your dismay, it might actually work. The two BJs I shop at near Bawlmer recently switched their non-fat-free half&half stock from half-gallons back to quart size–presumably I wasn’t the only customer who couldn’t use more than a quart before it went bad in my fridge, & sales suffered as a result.
Elizabelle
@Litlebritdifrnt:
What a beautiful dog.
Is she going to be a brindle?
So glad you have a puppy in your life. Keep us posted.
mai naem
I didn’t know much about Biden when Obama selected him, beyond that he was a Senator and vaguely the plagiarism deal with that Brit pol whose name escapes me. Anyhow, once Obama introduced him and stuff, I just liked him. He just comes across an an everyman kind of guy and at the same time, he doesn’t come across as ignorant or stupid.
danielx
Alan Simpson is a prick, but he has his moments….
http://www.first-draft.com/2012/11/quote-of-the-day-crazy-old-coot-edition.html
Joel
@Ted & Hellen: the in-house brand is Kirkland, named after the town where the company was founded. I, for one, have no problem with generic stuff. I gave up name-brand food sometime after I had to start paying for myself (college). And I don’t miss it.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
@mai naem:
Joe Biden was my man in ’88. I wanted him because he was instrumental in keeping that lunatic Bork off the Supreme Court. Then he forgot to credit Neil Kinnock for that quote one out of the 2000 times he used it, and the RWNM screams: “Plagiarism!” (Can you fucking spell plagiarism, you assholes?)
To say I was angry would be a drastic understatement.
TooManyJens
@mai naem: I was pretty annoyed with Biden after that whole “articulate, bright and clean” quote, but then I decided that if Obama didn’t have a problem with it, who was I to? Clearly Obama knew something about Biden that I didn’t. I love him now. He says dumb shit sometimes, but I think he’s a genuinely goodhearted man.
opie_jeanne
@Ted & Hellen: @Ted & Hellen: Kirkland is their house brand.
Ted & Hellen
@Joel:
I don’t mind SOME generic brands; have actually bought the Kirkland meats, cheeses, and other items depending on what it is.
But there are SOME products where to me at least the national brands are superior and I’d like the option even if it’s in a large size which is fine. But only TWO kinds of Ice Cream? And the Kirkland in the oil barrel size? wtf? :D
Paper towels are another where I find the store brands woefully inferior. I want my VIVA! And why no two liter soda?
Anne Laurie
@TooManyJens:
There’s a certain kind of blue-collar sarcasm that works for, say, George Carlin — but not for politicians. Remember Daniel Moynihan telling Nixon to call his (non-existent) poverty plan “benign neglect”? Liberals never forgave Moynihan for that one, even though it stampeded the Nixon admin into throwing some funds at programs they’d hoped to destroy while nobody was paying attention. Obama used the ‘clean & articulate’ line on Biden, after chosing him for Veep, so either his days as a community organizer gave him an ear for this kind of double-reverse sniping, or he figured he’d been called worse names for less reason.
Hannah
Re Costco: what I can’t get there (and I buy quite a bit) because the sizes are too big or not the right brand, or I can’t find it: I go to the grocery store!!! Costco can’t be everything to everyone so it’s not the right fit for everyone.
Bob h
Remember that Convention speech by the Costco President.
Glenn
@MikeJ: As a hometown kid, we use Bellinghamsters when necessary
Adam C
@Smiling Mortician:
Canadian milk is low in growth hormones and antibiotics, which drives up the price.
dcdl
Remember Costco is a warehouse that sells bulk products. If you don’t need a lot of something probably not the store for you. If you know someone who has a Costco membership, go with them when they go to Costco. That may be a way for you to buy certain products or check out what Costco has at the moment without paying for the membership. Costco also doesn’t sell tons of the same product from different vendors. Normally, one or two name brands and their generic brand. Also, be aware of the coupons when they come out. You can get some really good deals. I know. I coupon at a variety of stores.
redoubt
@sacrablue: This. I mean, an all-beef hot dog and a drink for $1.50 (at least here in Atlanta metro)? That’s half what that would cost anywhere else, and it wouldn’t be as good.
@dcdl: Thanks for reminding me to go through my coupons. (We let the last batch expire.)
xian
@TooManyJens: articulate of course is a stop word, and at first I thought clean was very odd (meaning either hygeine, or more likely “clean cut,” or oddly even “clean” in the bebop sense of a snappy dresser) till I realized that I think he meant ethically clean (as opposed, perhaps, to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton as predecessors).