Transcript: Robert Gibbs on 'FOX News Sunday' (8-24-08)

Obama's top advisor appeared on FOX News Sunday:

WALLACE: I want to show you a recent poll, and it found that on the question, "Who offers hope for the future," Obama beats McCain 54 percent to 19 percent. But on the question, "Who would be a better commander in chief," McCain beats Obama 53 percent to 25 percent.

In that sense, was part of the calculation voters have a concern about Obama's experience, about the — the amount of time he has, and is he ready to be commander in chief, and Joe Biden helps you in that area?

GIBBS: Well, look. I think — I think Senator Biden, again, has unparalleled foreign policy experience. And I think if you look at not just what was said yesterday by Democrats about this pick, but look what was said by Republicans.

Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Chuck Hagel, an unparalleled expert on defense policy, Senator Arlen Specter, another Republican, this time from Pennsylvania all spoke very highly of the choice of Joe Biden.

Look, I think what you have together is two people that have the judgment to lead this country, the judgment and the experience. And I think it will make a big difference in the fall. We're very happy with our pick. We think — again, unparalleled foreign policy experience.

WALLACE: But what about change? Joe Biden has actually been in the halls of Congress 10 years longer than John McCain has. So this whole message about change, we're going to shake up the way things are done in Washington — doesn't that go out the window?

GIBBS: No, because again, as I said to you earlier, Joe Biden works in Washington but he doesn't live there. He goes — every night, he goes home on an Amtrak train, where he knows the names of the conductors, to his wife and family in Delaware.

I think he's somebody who never has forgotten where he's from. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He's never forgot that middle- class background. You know, he's — and, Chris, he knows how many houses he owns. So I think he's a down-to-earth kind of guy.

I think he — again, I think you've got a ticket that says a lot about change in this country because both of these candidates understand, and they've understood for a long time, we can't have four more years of the same George Bush, John McCain policies that have led this country into the direction that we're in now.

NYC Stab Victim's Cries Ignored for Half Hour

This is latest example of a society that has become indifferent. It is the latest case of shocking violence in New York in where neighbors did nothing to help. This poor lady was also failed by a criminal justice system that won't protect women from violent ex-lovers. When will we learn. When will we be outraged.

New York City investigators are wondering why neighbors waited more than a half hour to calling police after hearing the screams for help from a woman who was stabbed to death at a Queens apartment.

Police found Ebony Garcia, 21, lying in a pool of blood at about 2:10 a.m Saturday. She was stabbed about a dozen times and died two hours later at a local hospital.

Witnesses say neighbors ignored the woman's screams for more than 30 minutes before someone called the police. One neighbor said she ignored the cries because she thought the victim had been drinking.

The Clintons are Still Trying to Undermine Obama (8-25-08)

Now the excuse is that the Obama campaign did not "consult" Hillary when making his VP pick. It's been clear for some time that the Clintons are out to get the Illinois Senator defeated. Barack Obama should stop kissing Hillary's ring. The more he gives in to her the more she tries to undermine him. He should be firm without alienating her voters. But he shouldn't grovel before her. The press keeps talking about Hillary's angry voters. She has no voters. She lost. The voters should fall in line. The problem is a press that keeps perpetuating the "controversy." What should be Obama's argument? Her "voters" have a choice: Obama or McCain. Stop your whining and get to work to defeat the 2nd George W. Bush. The Obama campaign was smart not to give into selecting Hillary as their pick. That would've been a nightmare.

As Democrats arrived here Sunday for a convention intended to promote party unity, mistrust and resentments continued to boil among top associates of presumptive nominee Barack Obama and his defeated rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

One flashpoint is the assigned speech topic for former president Bill Clinton, who is scheduled to speak Wednesday night, when the convention theme is “Securing America’s Future.” The night’s speakers will argue that Obama would be a more effective commander in chief than his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

The former president is disappointed, associates said, because he is eager to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas — emphasizing the contrast between the Bush years and his own record in the 1990s.

This is an especially sore point for Bill Clinton, people close to him say, because among many grievances he has about the campaign Obama waged against his wife is a belief that the candidate poor-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms.

Some senior Democrats close to Obama, meanwhile, made clear in not-for-attribution comments that they were equally irked at the Clinton operation. Nearly three months after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the nomination contest, these Obama partisans complained, her team continues to act like she and Bill Clinton hold leverage.