Joe Biden has been a reliable fount of gaffes, awkward statements and hyperbole.
Photo: AP
Media, Pa. — Joe Biden has a “bad habit” of telling voters what he thinks, he told a gymnasium full of Montana supporters recently.
But that’s not his only bad habit.
In the four weeks since becoming Barack Obama’s running mate, Biden has been a reliable fount of gaffes, awkward statements and hyperbole. He is a candidate in the highest-profile election in the world, operating under the unrelenting scrutiny of the media Hydra, but he seems constitutionally incapable of conforming his quirky and anachronistic political style to the punishing and unforgiving modern news cycle.
Among other things, the Delaware senator has said that Hillary Rodham Clinton may have been a better vice presidential pick; accidentally referred to his partner as “Barack America”; told a wheelchair-bound man to “stand up”; and called Michelle Obama’s convention speech “the most remarkable speech I have heard in my life.”
Yet somehow, despite an effusive, loose-lipped and emotive manner seemingly better suited to the urban ward-style politics of another era, Biden is proving to be an effective campaigner even as he validates Democratic fears about his undisciplined and garrulous ways.
Attendees at his events report a genuine connection with Biden, saying they feel as if he’s a regular guy, telling it like it is.
“I think he’s speaking for the working man. He really struck a lot of chords with me,” said Todd Wilhelm, a retired air traffic controller from Arizona who moved to Pennsylvania to help his union’s get-out-the-vote efforts there. A Clinton supporter during the primary, Wilhelm said Biden helps Obama by speaking to the concerns of middle-class Americans.
“I love the guy,” he said at an event in suburban Philadelphia.
There’s no question what constituency Biden’s aiming for as he travels to key Rust Belt states and other battlegrounds. He evokes a working man’s ethic, talking about the respect and dignity that is tied up in a job as he paces the stage, microphone in hand.
He grew up in a neighborhood like theirs, “where people worked like the devil,” he told an audience in Green Bay, Wis., an area that’s watched the local paper industry wither away. Even people with college degrees couldn’t get jobs, Biden explained, so his dad moved the family to Delaware in search of work.
“A lot of people have done that,” he told them. Of the opposition: “I don’t know if they come from a family that’s ever lost jobs,” Biden said.
Often, he notes that he understands the personal toll of job loss and economic hardship by quoting one of his grandfather’s sayings: When a guy in the nearby town loses his job, “it’s an economic slowdown. When your brother-in-law loses his job, it’s a recession. When you lose your job, it’s a depression.”
In fact, he draws from an almost unlimited reservoir of folksy wisdom derived from his relatives. Much of it Biden attributes to his father — who he mentioned no fewer than five times at a Tuesday rally — but he’s also apt to cite his mother, his uncle Boo-Boo, his grandfather and his 10-year-old granddaughter Finnegan.
God love him! I think he's great. He may not be an eloquent speaker but he is smart and he knows how to connect with the every-day worker. JoBama!Obama/Biden '08
Who is financing Biden now? Could it be MBNA again? This guy is the biggest joke. You talk about McCain and Palin and their colleges - this guy got kicked out for cheating! Joe Biden is turning off more blue collar voters than he is gaining. Obama should have picked Hillary.Biden's 36 years in the senate are the biggest example for why the senate needs Term Limits NOW!
Oh puleeeeez: Where was Joey Biden in 2005-2006 when independent congressional watchdogs were raising the alarm bells about the Fannie Mae's threat to the economy. Did Biden introduce or sponsor any legislation to save the poor taxpayer the bailout we are looking at now? No, NOTHING, NADA...Did Biden or Obambi join McCain and Hagel in the reform legislation they sponsored to try to limit the damage to the little taxpayer two years ago? NO, NOTHING< NADA. Biden also had no problem screwing the "little guy" when he sponsored the Bankruptcy reform act because it benefitted the credit card companies in his homestate. Has anybody asked Biden about his position on credit card debt and bankruptcy? C'mon guys Biden has been known as Sen MBNA for the last 30 years.
Whom do you know that can make over $100k a year for 35 years and have a current net worth (including his home) of $150k... total. He made $160K in salary just last year. He doesn't even have to pay for travel, soc. sec., or health insurance out of his own pocket. It's really mind-boggling.
If he connects so well with people why did he get so few votes in the primary? His story about Obama not taking his guns out of his cold, dead hands was beyond ridiculous. I could go on, but then I'd be like Biden.
Where was Joe and what did Obama or Biden do? Hello....the problem was deregulation. Thanks to McCain's advisor and ol' pal, Gramm, NOBODY was suppose to be watching! They were self-monitoring! Nice try, repubs, but this whole mess is due to YOUR party's incompetence. Good luck making your argument stick.
You can lead a republican to logic, But you can't make them think.
Shameless, isn't it? This is what "journalists" do in 21st century America: they write puff pieces about their favorite Democrats, which they attempt to pass off as "news." Then revenue declines at the place where they work, and a bunch of them get laid off. At the rate they're going in this election, they'll all be unemployed by 2012.
Obama must have more room in his tank than he does under his bus.
Biden earned over $2.5million since 2005 (or perhaps 2006?). Don't kid yourself into thinking that he is a "poor man" and living a middle class life. What I find really disappointing is that despite his millions, he could only cough up $3000 for charitable causes. That's one-tenth of one percent of his earnings.
Even the hard working middle class folks donate a greater percentage of their income to chartitable causes like church, the Red Cross, and whatnot. And they have to worry about which bills to pay.
What's Biden's excuse? Is he waiting for the government to make his contributions for him?
Joe is likeable. Joe says what he thinks and is sometimes not PC. Despite that...People can see that he is a real straight shooter and a decent human being with values. Note that Joe is not kept sequestered and away from the press like the Republican non prepared, and unqualified vp choice. Go Joe! Go Obama!
Most of the items listed were in fact gaffes, but why is what he said about Michelle Obama's speech so out there? William Kristol is the only person who wasn't blown away by her speech. Because it came first it ended up being somewhat overshadowed, but seriously are we talking about the perception of Obama as somehow being foreign anymore? That's largely due to her incredible speech. Ultimately I think with the president we've had for the last 8 years, the bar is pretty low on unacceptable gaffes.
Blame away, but you're wrong. The mess we're in stems from the push by democrats for mortgages for low-income families. Folks who couldn't obtain mortgages in the "traditional way" (gosh, that means they had equity, a downpayment, and the ability to pay back the loan over time) had congressmen fighting to change the rules so they too could have the "opportunity" to own a home despite the fact that they didn't have the money. Clinton signed a law allowing for mortgage and banking changes, and despite George W's attempts to rein in the lenders, the democratic congress refused to modify what a many feared was a disaster waiting to happen. Guess what? The disaster happened.
Do some homework and study up on the history of how this all came to be.
If you still feel the urge to point the finger at any one party, you really ought to be pointing the finger at the Democrats.
Well look, Politico and others can't write anything of substance on PALIN since she is actually a bucket of fluff, but I digress! We LOVE Joe Biden, goofs and all, we love his wife, and his family. He's human, he is completely comfortable with himself and always self deprecating but in a funny way(hence the Hillary line, how did you put that as a serious comment Victoria? Where do they find you people? Again, I digress but the reporters on this site are suspect, do they have rich parents or something?) We just saw him in Virginia and he was really good--the crowd loves him too--wherever he goes. And for you dweebs going off about MBNA,these people who work for this company are his constituents, why in the world wouldn't he do what his constituents want? This is the dumbest argument around!
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