Joe Biden reporting for duty in Green Bay... God's truth.
Joe Biden has a bad habit.
JOE BIDEN: For real, this is God's truth...
Whenever a politician uses a line like that, it sends up a red flag. It makes me think that he's about to tell a lie or that his other statements have been untrue.
Anyway, Joe Biden held a town hall meeting in Green Bay this morning. He used that line.
From the Green Bay Press-Gazette:
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden this morning promised that an Obama-Biden administration will restore the middle class by keeping jobs in the country and cutting taxes.
Touching on the news that workers at the Kimberly NewPage paper mill will work their final shift today, Biden said the government should help those who lose their jobs to "get up but not get in the way."
He criticized Republican candidates John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin for calling the economy "fundamentally strong."
Investing in infrastructure and keeping jobs in the country are priorities, Biden said. After his short speech at the KI Convention Center in downtown Green Bay - running about 15 minutes - Biden took questions from the audience that included the topics of social security, education and veteran benefits.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave a good convention speech last week but has "fairly extreme views" that she'll have to defend in the coming weeks, Democratic counterpart Joe Biden said here today.
Palin's reported stance on global warming - that she's skeptical about man-made causes - is "pretty far out there," if the early reports on her are accurate, Biden said at a town hall meeting at Green Bay's KI Convention Center.
In other remarks during a wide-ranging, 50-minute session, Biden said the assertion by Palin and Republican presidential candidate John McCain that they would bring about change in policy from President Bush's administration was incorrect.
"Name me a single issue that affects your life - jobs, health care, education, energy - where McCain and Palin disagree with the president," Biden told a crowd of about 700. "If you liked the last eight years, you'll like the next four years of a McCain-Palin administration, because there is no fundamental change."
I think Biden has to tone down his "no change" rhetoric and be specific on the change that a Barack Obama administration would offer.
Biden also needs to specify how the change he's promising will be funded. What good are promises that will be broken?
Another bit of advice for Biden: He needs to stay on the same page as Barack Obama and not act like he's the presidential nominee.
So Biden wants someone to name a single issue that affects people's lives where McCain and Palin disagree with Bush.
OK.
Spending.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Barack Obama isn't John McCain's only opponent. Sometimes McCain sounds like he's running almost as hard against President Bush and the Republican Party as he is against Obama, his Democratic rival for the White House.
The GOP is guilty of indulging in a spending spree of taxpayers' money, McCain laments. They haven't solved huge problems such as the looming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, passing on huge IOUs and perplexing issues to future generations instead of fixing them as they had promised. He doesn't name Bush but the implication is clear: It happened on his watch and he signed bills that made the deficit soar.
Obama and Biden talk change but their actions belie their words.
An example-- Lobbyists and campaign contributions.
Obama and Biden's claims that they aren't accepting money from lobbyists isn't true.
More from Biden's town hall meeting:
A woman in the crowd of about 1,000 people urged Biden not to "be afraid to debate her." Biden said he would debate Palin just as he does his female colleagues in the U.S. Senate.
(Note: I've seen crowd estimates for the event as low as 400 and as high as 1,000. Officials from the Barack Obama campaign put the KI crowd estimate at 800.)
"The idea that somehow, there's a woman, 'oh my God, I don't know how to deal with this,' I think guys who think that way have never been around strong women," Biden said.It's tough for Biden to play up his Catholic faith when he votes in favor of killing the unborn.
Biden also pledged help for laid-off paper workers, courted Catholic voters and claimed to be a longtime Green Bay Packers fan.
...Biden played up his own Catholic faith, suggesting an awareness of area's demographics. The Diocese of Green Bay counts 350,000 Catholics as members, or about 40 percent of the population in the 16 northeast counties it encompasses.
As a Catholic, that bothers me. I don't think he should use his religion to court voters when he isn't following the teaching of the faith.
If Biden believes life begins at conception and abortion is murder, then how can he, in good conscience, be part of promoting the slaughter?
Biden also made reference to more stem cell research being a change he and Obama would usher in. He was talking about embryonic stem cell research, yet he's playing up his Catholic faith. That's a problem.
Biden said the priests at his Catholic school taught him to be a fan of the Green Bay Packers because of their ties to northeast Wisconsin, joking they were "prepared to canonize" coach Vince Lombardi.Sure.
On Mondays, he said: "If the Green Bay Packers won, we got out early. If the Green Bay Packers lost, we got more homework. So I'm a Green Bay Packers guy from high school!"
Do you believe Biden's story about the priests teaching him to be a Packer fan?
Do you believe the line that he got more homework on Monday if the Packers lost on Sunday and got out early if they won?
I find that hard to believe, partly because he qualified the story by saying it was true.
Biden graduated from Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware in 1961.
Here's the Green Bay Packers' record during Biden's high school years:
1957 3-9
1958 1-10-1
1959 7-5
1960 8-4
He must have hated Mondays, especially as a freshman and sophomore.
After the town hall meeting, Biden went to Kroll's.
Kroll's stop: Biden didn’t eat during his half-hour visit to Kroll’s West, but he did shake a lot of hands.
The vice presidential candidate stopped by on his way to Austin Straubel International Airport and hit the restaurant at lunchtime on game day. The restaurant was packed with Packers and Vikings fans alike.
Biden stopped at about 10 tables, shaking hands and visiting with customers. He also stopped back in the kitchen.
Why didn't he eat anything?
How could he resist Kroll's food?
Are blue-collar Joe's tastes more sophisticated than that?
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Audio of the event, from 620 WTMJ
2 comments:
Draft Deferment Joe reporting for duty - that's rich. And the Catholic thing is tiresome.
Joe's a political animal. He lost track of his soul a long time ago.
Biden's pandering was really too much.
I'm surprised he wasn't wearing a Cheesehead.
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