Speaking Thursday at the St. Louis County Police and Fire Training Center, Joe Biden described how this nation has stepped back from the brink of economic disaster since Obama took office on January 20th. He started by acknowledging the fear that Americans still live with--fear that their job will be next or that they won't be able to send their kid to college--or disgust that their house is upside down, in other words, worth less than they paid for it. We're still losing jobs every month, and until we can create 100,000 or 200,000 well paying jobs a month, we cannot be said to have succeeded.
Biden did a fine job of reminding the audience how bleak the picture was last January 20th and gave plenty of evidence to bear out his claim that we have stepped back from the brink.
Vice President Joe Biden addresses the audience at the ABB plant in Jefferson City, Missouri.
This afternoon Vice President Joe Biden toured the ABB plant in Jefferson City and then addressed an audience of approximately 350 employees and guests. The ABB plant employs 650 people "...and manufactures transformers that are used to increase voltage to transmit power onto the grid, or decrease voltage to serve a residential neighborhood..."
...Lost Creek is a wind energy project located in DeKalb County [Missouri] being developed by Wind Capital Group. The $300 million project will be capable of generating 150 MW of power when it is completed and will utilize transformers manufactured by ABB at the Jefferson City plant by UAW labor...Lost Creek is a beneficiary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and will create hundreds of local construction jobs.
[emphasis added]
It's all about promoting the practical results of the economic stimulus package as they kick in.
Missouri Secretary of State (and announced candidate for the open United States Senate seat in 2010) Robin Carnahan (D).
Technology and I are barely on speaking terms. That may seem odd for a blogger, but it's true, and my camcorder bit my plans in the butt this morning, just to remind me of it.
I went to Arnold to videotape Joe Biden, and five minutes into his speech, the camcorder screen went blank. So you don't get video of him, and that's a shame because, God love him (as he would say), he was great. And the greatness wasn't that he said anything we haven't heard--I know Obama and he want a three month moratorium on home foreclosures; I know they want judges to have the authority to help homeowners renegotiate loans; I know they think McCain's proposed tax on health care benefits is scandalous.
I like Biden's sense of humor. He enjoyed describing how McCain, when he's at a rally with Palin, points at her and says, dramatically, "maverick." Then she points at him and says, "maverick." But Biden quotes Senator Bob Casey, who observed that "You can't call yourself a maverick when all you've been for the last eight years is a sidekick."
But Biden's sense of humor is not what made him worth hearing either. The best word to describe what made him worth hearing is one that's a little out of fashion because it could sound cornball, and that's "heartfelt".
"I don't know who's writing your questions," Biden told West later in the interview. When West asked if Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) wanted to "turn America into a Socialist country like Sweden," Biden said, "I don't know anybody who thinks that except the far right-wing of the Republican Party."
Barbara West is what Sarah Palin could have been if she would have continued her television career, except they work in opposite ends of the country and there aren't as many moose in Florida...
On Thursday, October 9th Joe Biden spoke at campaign events in St. Joseph (morning), Liberty (noon) and Jefferson City (night).
Joe Biden spoke at Memorial Park in Jefferson City.
The event at Memorial Park in Jefferson City was scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m., with the gates opening at 5:30 p.m.
The audience started to fill in about two hours before the scheduled 7:00 p.m. start of the event.
About 600 people filled the large park shelter. There was standing room on the west side of the shelter. I also noticed a large number of people standing behind the temporary perimeter fences - in the dark I couldn't get a head count, but the could here Joe Biden's speech via the sound system.
I drove to Jefferson City yesterday afternoon to cover the Joe Biden campaign event at Memorial Park. While I waited for the media credential table to open I had the opportunity to speak with Tony Viessman and Les Spencer of Rednecks for Obama.
Toney Viessman (left) and Les Spencer (right) of "Rednecks for Obama" at the entrance to the Joe Biden campaign event in Memorial Park, Jefferson City.
According to Tony Viessman, during the 1992 gubernatorial primary someone called Mel Carnahan a "Redneck from Rolla". He continued:
"Why not 'Rednecks for Obama'...?
...[Obama] is for working class people...
...Guns are [used as] a wedge issue every four years...
...Our web site has had over 800,000 hits so far, it jammed up pretty good this morning...
Les Spencer added:
I think Obama will build this economy from the bottom up. Top down ain't workin'...
...Don't be afraid to vote for Obama. We need change. Things have gotta be done different...
...We're doin' this on our own money...Most reaction has been pretty good...
...A lot of the time we're preachin' to the choir, but the choir carries the message.
A small group of republican students (identified as such by their signs), one dressed up as the Statue of Liberty and another dressed as Uncle Sam, gathered opposite Tony and Les and started in with chants.
republican students opposite the "Rednecks for Obama". The two students on the right have obviously been spending a goodly amount of their time making costumes (and the others, signs) instead of canvassing and phone banking.
Most of the media in the credential queue ignored the republican students, though someone did quip, "That'd be news if a 'Redneck for Obama' punched out the Statue of Liberty'." There were a few laughs.
I just made it back from Washington University, the site of the 2008 Vice-Presidential Debate. Along with a couple of other friends, I met up with Archpundit and DailyKos' GoldnI at the new University Center. None of us had credentials to attend the actual debate, but all of us had permission to be on the campus. After taking a quick tour of the media whirlwind on campus (MSNBC had a stage up next to Graham Chapel, and Archpundit witnessed John Oliver being chased by dozens of students), we attempted to watch the debate from the new campus restaurant so that we could get some drinks while watching it. A fine idea, but there was no TV in the restaurant (probably a good idea for a nice restaurant) and the Archpundit's laptop didn't have a strong enough wireless connection to deliver reliable video, so we ended up standing in a packed student cafe watching it on one of the many live feeds around campus.
The restaurant foray wasn't a total loss. The door opened from the restaurant to the patio we were sitting on, and sitting at the head of the table directly in our view, almost like a Mafia don, was Chris Matthews.
Anyway, some quick impressions. I think McCain probably bussed in a lot of people, because in the battle of the sign holders around the MSNBC stage, Team McCain's people looked older and out of place with the normal Wash U crowd. After the debate, none of those people were back at the MSNBC stage. We did see Steve Schmidt angrily storming away from the stage after taping an appearance. Don't know if it was in response to what he had been asked or something unrelated.
Also, this was my first time in a long while watching the debate in a public venue in a long while. And I have to say, Biden was the only candidate who elicited any cheers, or any vocalized response, other than a few chuckles at some of Palin's dunderheaded answers. And if you think that's just because Wash U is just some liberal elite school, it also has a well-organized College Republican chapter and is the recipient of major conservative donors like John Olin. One of the major Swift Boat donors has a building named for him on campus. And the campus held a cookie sale in 2004 as a proxy vote for the election. It was hotly contested, and Bush ended up besting Kerry by a similar margin as the real election.
As for the debate itself, I don't think my opinion is controversial. Biden did relatively well, Palin beat her abysmal expectations, and not many votes probably changed as a result.
Joe Biden kept the crowd with him on Tuesday, partly with red meat rhetoric. You'll see his outrage in the clips below about health care and about the Republican policy of offering deferred taxes to corporations that move operations to other countries. Humor played a part in his presentation, as well, as you'll also see.
Another ingredient in his appeal is that he sympathizes with middle class people because of his own middle class background. He talked about going to his dad's place of work, an auto agency, to see about borrowing the car for the prom and finding his dad out on the car lot. (Hey, my dad sold cars. You think I didn't identify?) Anyway, his dad was visibly upset because he'd been turned down for a loan for Joe's college education.
And finally, of course, the crowd loved Biden because they were fired up and ready to add their energy to his message.
On health care, he hits McCain hard for proposing to tax health care benefits as if they were income:
Obama and Biden want to get rid of one of the main tax rewards corporations get for outsourcing American jobs:
Ah, now I understand why the schedulers put Joe Biden at Mehlville High School in South St. Louis County today. The area is critical to Obama's chances in Missouri. It is a part of the third congressional district that's been split evenly, with Bush edging Kerry out there in '04. It used to be decidedly Republican, but now it's like St. Charles, starting to ease in the direction of the Democrats.
As Russ Carnahan, Congressman for folks in South County, pointed out, "Missouri is the best bellwether state in the country" so South County voters "are going to decide not just who wins Missouri but who wins the presidency." And, Carnahan warned, "this is not the time for a warmed over McBush third term in Washington." To justify using "McBush", Carnahan noted that McCain has bragged about voting with Bush 90 percent of the time. "Is there anybody here that only wants 10 percent change? Because if you do, then McCain and Palin are your candidates."
Joe Biden and Barack Obama at the "photo-op", Harkin Steak Fry, Indianola Iowa, September 16, 2007.
Almost a year ago I scored my first press credential to cover the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa for Show Me Progress. Looking back through those stories and photos recently I was reminded of a brief encounter between Barack Obama and Joe Biden as their photo-ops overlapped:
...I made my way back to the public grounds. I see Joe Biden. There are three people around him. I take a few photos.
I spot a swirling crowd. It's Obama - he's surrounded by a swarm of media and supporters. I join in and and start taking pictures. The mass of humanity makes its way to the photo op-area. After Obama walks into the fenced area those of us with press passes follow.
Obama is engaged in a lengthy conversation with a grill volunteer. He listens intently.
Joe Biden makes his way into the photo-op area. He and Obama are simultaneously greeting the people in the area. They see each other and shake hands...
So by now you've head the news... Barack Obama has picked Joe Biden to join the ticket as the vice-presidential nominee. It's a good pick, especially considering some of the alternatives that have been floated. I can see some negatives against him, like his initial support for the war in Iraq and his sponsorship of the awful Bankruptcy Bill of 2005. But he is a senator from Delaware, the credit card company capital of the world, and his fellow senator Jack Reed wasn't great on the bankruptcy bill either, despite an otherwise progressive voting record. Not exactly a profile in courage, but he's not the only progressive to carry water for the home state industry (like Obama, Schweitzer, and Tester with coal or Dodd with insurance.)
And Biden's initial support of the war turned to vocal criticism as the results of the invasion became apparent. It's also worth noting that he authored the Biden-Lugar Amendment, which, if passed, would have kept the US from invading Iraq until after inspections were completed.
There are some big pluses with Biden, too. He has working-class roots, born in Scranton, PA in a working-class family. He has the lowest net worth of any US Senator, even though he's one of the longest serving senators. And his Progressive Punch score ranks Biden as just behind Ted Kennedy and just above Hillary Clinton. He also authored the Clinton Crime Bill of the early 1990s which helped bring crime down and take crime off the table as an issue for Republicans. And Biden authored the Violence Against Women Act, which was a big step in helping battered women to bring their tormentors to justice.
One of the biggest pluses for picking Biden is that he is an aggressive and effective campaigner. He's good with a quip (who can forget his "Noun, Verb, and 9/11" takedown of Giuliani) and he's extremely good at connecting personally with voters. When I canvassed for John Edwards in Iowa, the talk among staffers was sheer terror that Biden would campaign there, because reports coming in from around the state was that Biden was the best natural speaker anyone had ever seen. Unfortunately for Biden, he didn't have enough money or staff for the campaign to get off the ground. But now he's got Obama's money and a crack staff to get that message across to voters. As long as he stays on message (which he did in the primary after early stumbles), Biden will be fantastic for the campaign as a nominee.
UPDATE: There's a craptacular AP "analysis" from Ron Fournier on why this is a terrible pick for Obama. Don't buy it. After all, this is the guy who almost joined the nascent McCain campaign in 2006 and exchanged chummy e-mails with Karl Rove, encouraging him to "keep up the fight" in Bush's re-election campaign.
UPDATE II: The DMI report on Joe Biden's recent record on domestic issues gives him a very progressive score.
Technology and I are barely on speaking terms. That may seem odd for a blogger, but it's true, and my camcorder bit my plans in the butt this morning, just to remind me of it.
So by now you've head the news... Barack Obama 