On The Road With Joe Biden
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden has been campaigning non-stop since being named Barack Obama's running mate. This week the Delaware senator has been stumping in the battleground states of Ohio and Michigan, attacking Republican John McCain.
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STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. We're going to spend this part of the program talking about the vice presidential candidates. And we'll start with Democrat Joe Biden. He's attracted a lot less attention than his Republican counterpart, Sarah Palin. But Biden has been on the stump almost constantly. This week, he was in the hard-fought Upper Midwest, Michigan and Ohio, focusing on the economy and attacking Republican presidential nominee John McCain. In short, Biden has been doing exactly what candidates for vice president have always done. NPR's Don Gonyea is traveling with him.
DON GONYEA: I'm on the road this week with Joe Biden. It all feels kind of timeless.
Unidentified Bandleader: One and two and set and go.
(Soundbite of marching band)
GONYEA: It could be almost any high school marching band in any small town. In this case, it's Maumee, Ohio, and the band is wearing the purple and gold of the Panthers of Maumee High. A big topic this week is the economy and the turmoil on Wall Street. Predictably, Biden aimed some of the blame at John McCain, noting that the Republican presidential candidate began one day this week calling the fundamentals of the economy strong.
(Soundbite of Biden campaign rally in Maumee, Ohio)
Senator JOE BIDEN (Democrat, Delaware; Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee): Two hours later - literally, I'm not making this up - at 11 o'clock, as we Catholics say, John had an epiphany.
(Soundbite of crowd laughing)
Senator Biden: At 11 o'clock, John McCain said that this is - we're in great economic crisis. Well, ladies and gentleman, this boy had what they call a political epiphany, not a policy epiphany.
GONYEA: The not-so-subtle references to Catholicism are a not-so-subtle reminder of something Biden shares with many voters here in the industrial part of Northern Ohio. Catholics are a key demographic here in this state and in neighboring Michigan and Pennsylvania. And Biden's speech in Maumee was peppered with such references. Moments after the epiphany line, Biden talked about John McCain's frequent praise of Bush administration economic policies.
(Soundbite of Biden campaign rally in Maumee, Ohio)
Senator BIDEN: As, again, we say, bless me father for I have sinned. Give me a break. We have made - seriously, that's his comment - we have made great economic progress during the Bush years.
GONYEA: If you're wondering when you'll get a reference to Biden's sainted Catholic mother, it came later in the day in Wooster. But back in Maumee, near the end of his speech Biden tossed in yet another biblical reference. This time it was on McCain's promise to crack down on greed on Wall Street.
(Soundbite of Biden campaign rally in Maumee, Ohio)
Senator BIDEN: So let's take a look at John's conversion here. Something happened on the road to Damascus.
(Soundbite of crowd laughing)
Senator BIDEN: John fell off his horse, but he got back up on the same horse.
GONYEA: Joe Biden's road show is not nearly as extensive as that of Republican Sarah Palin. There's none of the celebrity buzz that is so evident at her rallies. But Biden is drawing crowds of committed Democrats, including lots of union members who have long seen Joe Biden as a friend. Al Silac(ph) has been a member of the Electrical Workers Union for three decades.
Mr. AL SILAC (Member, Electrical Workers Union): Joe has been around for a long time. It's not a flashy pick, but like I say, he's supported labor, so. He tells things like they are, and that's what people need to be told, the facts.
GONYEA: Last night, Biden drew several thousand in Wooster, Ohio. Most of his rallies draw only hundreds, but they tend to be a specific kind of voter. Lots of labor guys, often Catholics. They're constituencies Barack Obama had trouble with during his primary fight with Hillary Clinton. If they are ambivalent, it could mean real trouble in a state like Ohio, the state everyone agrees made the difference in 2004 and may well again in 2008. Today Biden continues his bus tour with stops in Canton and then in Youngstown. Don Gonyea, NPR News, in Maumee, Ohio.
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In Michigan, Biden Likens McCain Tactics To Rove's
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Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden has been overshadowed so far by his Republican rivals. But Biden is fighting back now, saying that Sen. John McCain's campaign is defining new lows in American politics.
On Monday, Biden continued his strong criticism of McCain by linking him to President Bush. He pointed out that during his first presidential election, Bush ran as a reformer, promising to change the tone in Washington and reach out to Democrats. Now, he says, McCain is taking the same route.
"We've seen this movie before, folks," Biden said from a rally in Michigan. "But as everyone knows, the sequel is always worse than the original."
Biden said no one should have believed Bush when they saw his previous campaign, just as he says no one now should believe McCain's "change" rhetoric. Biden also condemned ads that the McCain campaign has run that have been called misleading and inaccurate by independent monitoring organizations such as Politifact.com and FactCheck.org.
"The McCain-Palin campaign has decided to bet the house on the politics perfected by Karl Rove," Biden said. "Those tactics may be good at squeaking by in an election, but they are bad if you want to lead one nation, indivisible."
Speaking in a high school gym in suburban Detroit, Biden sadly recalled that it was McCain who was the victim of false ads and other such attacks during the primary season of 2000.
Biden recalled what he did when he saw his friend John McCain dealing with such tactics eight years ago.
"I picked up the phone and I called John McCain as his friend. I said, 'John, where do you want me. I will show up in public to testify to your character.' And now, and now, some of those very same people and the tactics that were used against John and deplored by him, his campaign is now employing against Barack Obama," Biden said.
Biden says McCain of 2008 has decided to do whatever it takes to win.
"Like the McCain advertisements that misrepresent a vote by Barack Obama to protect young children from sexual predators," Biden said. "Like Sen. McCain's effort to obscure the fact that Barack Obama's tax cuts will benefit 95 percent of all working people. Like John McCain's attempt to cloak himself in reform by misrepresenting his running mate's record."
Biden then added, "Ladies and gentlemen, it's disappointing to me to think that John McCain really does approve this message as he says at the end of every ad."
Biden's broader goal is to make McCain and Palin's basic credibility an issue, thus damaging McCain's previous brand as a practitioner of straight talk. The Obama campaign says this will allow the candidate at the top of the ticket to get the focus back to the economy and foreign policy.
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