Joe Biden on Principles & Values Democratic Sr Senator (DE); Vice President-Elect

Familiarity & experience balances Obama's inexperience

To distance himself from President Bush, McCain emphasized his role as a political maverick rather than party stalwart. Yet his experience--the thing that gave him cache with moderate voters--left him appearing old, outdated, and bound in the strictures of traditional politics. In need of adding balance, he selected as his running mate a governor--one who was female, young, and relatively unknown to the national political spotlight.

As VP, I’ll be point person in Congress

A: I had a long talk with Barack. Let me tell you what Barack asked me to do. I have a history of getting things done in the US Senate. John McCain would acknowledge that. My record shows that on controversial issues. I would be the point person for the legislative initiatives in the US Congress for our administration. When asked if I wanted a portfolio, my response was, no. But Barackindicated to me he wanted me with him to help him govern. So every major decision he’ll be making, I’ll be sitting in the room to give my best advice. He’s president, not me, I’ll give my best advice.

And one of the things he said early on when he was choosing, he said he picked someone who had an independent judgment and wouldn’t be afraid to tell him if he disagreed. That is sort of my reputation, as you know. I look forward to working with Barack and playing a very constructive role in his presidency, bringing about the kind of change this country needs.

Cheney has been most dangerous VP in history

PALIN: Yeah, I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there.

BIDEN: Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president, that’s the Executive Branch. The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

Models his role on LBJ’s vice presidency

A: A: Lyndon Johnson. For all the foibles he had as president, in people’s minds, he really knew how the system worked. He was able to be a significant facilitator of a new frontier, new policy. People in the Congress knew him, knew he knew a lot. And so I hope one of my roles as vice president will be as the person actually implementing Barack Obama’s policy. You gotta get the Congress to go along with it.

Favorite movie: “Chariots of Fire”, for real heroism

A: “Chariots of Fire” is probably my favorite movie. There is a place where someone put personal fame & glory behind principles. That to me, is the mark of real heroism, when someone would do that.

Q: Do you remember your favorite scene from that movie?

A: The favorite scene is when he is making the decision & talking about, “Do I do this?” He so desperately wanted to run, but concluded he couldn’t. It was that moment of decision that was my favorite scene

35-year track record of accomplishments

BIDEN: I will place my record and Barack’s record against John McCain’s or anyone else in terms of fundamental accomplishments. Wrote the crime bill, put 100,000 cops on the street, wrote the Violence Against Women Act, which John McCain voted against both of them, was the catalyst to change the circumstance in Bosnia.

PALIN: But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism. And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope. We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights. Those things that we stand for that can be put to good use as a force for good in this world.

McCain no maverick on education, health care, and debt

BIDEN: I’ll be very brief. John McCain has been no maverick on the things that matter to people’s lives. He voted four out of five times for eorge Bush’s budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he’s got there. He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan. He’s not been a maverick when it comes to education. e has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college. He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.

Failure is at times inevitable but giving up is unforgivable

Everyone is your equal, and everyone is equal to you

We need a wise leader like Obama, not just a good soldier

We should embrace change just like the previous generations

Focus on Iraq, ending torture, healthcare, and education

Insulted Indian-Americans in attempt to compliment vibrancy

Giuliani is truly not qualified to be president

MoveOn.org has not changed politics

A: I don’t think they’ve changed politics.

Q: Have they been a positive force in politics?

A: On some things, yes. I mean, look, I don’t think you can castigate them for the ad [saying “Patraeus or Betray Us?”]. But the idea that I was initially told--I’m going to get in trouble for this, but--that the quote, “It’s their party”--they’re part of the party. It’s not their party.

Prayer gives you strength, but doesn’t prevent crises

A: My mom has an expression. She says that, “God sends no cross you’re unable to bear.” The time to pray is when you’re told, as I was, that my wife and daughter are dead, to have the courage to be able to bear the cross. Pray that God can give you the strength to deal with what everyone is faced with in their life, serious crosses to bear. The answer to the question is, no, all the prayer in the world will not stop a hurricane. But prayer will give you the courage to be able to respond to the devastation that’s caused in your life and with others to deal with the devastation.

Most decisive moment: engaging in civil rights movement

A: I worked in the African-American community, as the only white employee for a long while when I was a kid. And I got involved in the civil rights movement. The decisive moment in me life that put me on the broader path was the civil rights movement. When I realized that it does make a difference if you’re engaged. You actually can change people’s lives. You can actually change the state of the nation.

Next president has no margin of error, post-Bush

Politics is a noble calling

If you do politics the right way, you can actually make people’s lives better. And integrity is the minimum ante to get into the game. Nearly 40 years after I first got involved, I remain captivated by the possibilities of politics and public service. I believe my chosen profession is a noble calling.

Childhood stuttering strengthened me

It’s a funny thing to say, but even if I could, I would not wish away the darkest days of the stutter. That impediment ended up being a godsend for me. Carrying it strengthened me and made me a better person. The very things it taught me turned out to be invaluable lessons for my life as well as my chosen career.

1970: won first election, to County Council, in GOP district

I asked my sister, Val, if she’d run the campaign. She was a methodical organizer. She got voter records going back several elections, had an index card for every block in every neighborhood and started recruiting block captains. I spent most of my time in Democratic precincts, but I also spent time going door to door in the middle-class neighborhoods like the one I grew up in. They were overwhelmingly Republican in 1970, but I knew how to talk to them. I understood they valued good government & fiscal austerity & the environment. I promised to fight for open space. Those voters were key for me. The 1970 elections were a washout for the Democratic Party in Delaware, but I won election to the County Council by 2,000 votes.

1972: beat GOP incumbent; 2nd youngest Senator ever elected

When the political reporters started to find out how hard I was working to win over voters, none of them called my running for the Senate ridiculous. I was “one of the bright young men of the Democratic party.” I think they liked fresh blood to write about. At the same time, the smart guys covering Delaware politics didn’t give me a snowman’s chance in August. They’d note my lack of a war chest, Sen. Boggs’s long-standing popularity, his quarter century of serving Delaware, and the slew of Democratic challengers he’d left by the roadside. [In 1972, Biden won by 3,000 votes and became the 2nd youngest senator ever elected.]

1972: Wife & child killed in pre-inauguration auto accident

Washington & the Senate had no hold on me. I was supposed to be sworn in two weeks, but I could not bear to imagine the scene without Neilia. I told the Senate majority leader, Mike Mansfield, that I wasn’t going to be a Senator. Mansfield was relentless. He called the hospital every day to tell me he needed me in the Senate and to keep me up to date. Mansfield told me I owed it to Neilia to a Senator. My wife had worked too hard for me to kick it away. Give me six months, Joe, Sen. Mansfield kept saying. So I agreed. Six months.

Remarried in 1977, willing to give up Senate for Jill

I’d given her my word. I’d already let a few people know they might want to be ready to run for the Senate in case I got out. I was going to have to show Jill I meant it, [so I concluded] “I’ll tell Bill Frank I’m not running.” Frank was the chief political reporters at the Wilmington News-Journal. I could hear Frank’s phone ringing. Then I heard a dial tone. Jill had her finger on the phone cradle. She’d cut off the call. She told me later why: “If I denied you your dream, I would not be marrying the man I fell in love with.”

Jill and I were married by a priest at the UN chapel in NYC in 1977. Beau and Hunter stood with us at the altar. The way they thought of it, the four of us were getting married.

1988: Presidential run intended as base-building for 1992

If someone had hooked me up to a lie detector in 1988 and asked if I was going to be a fully announced candidate for 1988, I would have said no. If they had asked me if I was building a base to run for president in 1992 or 1996, I would have said, “Absolutely.”

1988: plagiarized law school paper, but not malevolently

This was an academic mistake. I hadn’t been trying to cheat. My gurus advised me to just say I did it and ask for forgiveness. I said, “It was an academic mistake. I wasn’t trying to hide it. If I was trying to hide it, why would I cite this article that no one else in the class found? I didn’t cheat.“

I’d made a stupid mistake 22 years earlier, I told the press. ”I was wrong, but I did not intentionally move to mislead anybody. I am in this race to stay. I am in this race to win.“ The NY Times headline was ”Biden admits plagiarism in School but says it was not ‘malevolent.’“ [As a result, Biden withdrew from the presidential race.]

1988: suffered aneurysm requiring brain surgery

The size of the worst bulge and the leak meant that a fatal rebleed could be imminent. Surgery to shore up the spot where I’d bled was the best chance I had of survival. My chances of surviving the surgery were certainly better than 50-50. But the chances of waking up with serious deficits to my mental facilities were more significant. Any incidental damage could leave me seriously impaired.

The most likely incidence was loss of speech. Dr. George said what he was about to do was going to be difficult, but he had done many of these before. But he recommended I speak to my family--it might be my last chance. [Biden fully recovered from the surgery.]

Religion informs my values; my reason dictates outcomes

His book “Promises to Keep” written before presidential race

A: Well, I wrote a book back when I thought I was going to be working with John Kerry in a Kerry administration. It had nothing to do with presidential politics. I was encouraged to write it by a guy named Richard Ben Cramer, who wrote the book “What it Takes,” and asked how my personal values inform my public policy. And I talk about everything from the Supreme Court to the Balkans to Iraq, and how I think that the most significant thing about what we need in leadership is people who are willing to get back up. My dad used to have an expression. He used to say, “The measure of success is not whether you get knocked down; it’s how rapidly you get back up.” And the American people always get back up. And I think what they’re doing is looking for somebody who is going to give them the opportunity to be able to take on the tough issues that are out there and just tell them the truth.

Apologized for saying Barack Obama was clean and articulate

A: Look, this is a very rough game. My referring to Barack as articulate, it was a mistake. The good thing about being around a long time is people have a basis upon which to judge you. And I didn’t find any serious person in the civil rights community, because of my long history and long support for civil rights, thinking that I was trying to insult Barack Obama in any way. I didn’t find anyone suggesting that anything else I have said goes to the heart of whether or not my record is being undercut by what I’ve stated. But it is true. It is true that my candor sometimes get me in trouble.

Embellishment forced withdrawal from 1988 presidential race

A: It was.

Q: And you learned from it?

A: I did. It was 20 years ago, and I learned from it. People have had 20 years to judge since then whether or not I am the man they see or I am what I was characterized as being 20 years ago. I learned a lot from it, and, let me tell you, it was a bitter way to learn it.

Biggest mistake was thinking he could work with George Bush

A: Overestimating the competence of this administration and underestimating the arrogance. I really thought, working with the secretary of state and with other Republicans, I could impact on George Bush’s thinking. And that was absolutely not within my capacity.

Knocked out of 1988 race due to plagiarizing a speech

Biden has gained some credibility with his articulate, objective and forthcoming analysis of the Iraq War, given from his perch atop the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But he is, after all, another has-been who never was.

Plans to seek presidential nomination in 2008

Conducted Bork hearings in a scholarly manner, not emotional

Ralph Nader's personal asceticism and low-key style masked a sour and unrelenting demagogue--and he clearly understood the new political terrain better than Biden did.

Voted NO on confirming Samuel Alito as Supreme Court Justice.

Voted NO on confirming John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Religious affiliation: Catholic.

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Rated 100% by the AU, indicating support of church-state separation.

OnTheIssues.org interprets the 2006 AU scores as follows:

• 0%- 20%: opposition to church-state separation (approx. 232 members)
• 21%- 79%: mixed record on church-state separation (approx. 79 members)
• 80%-100%: support of church-state separation (approx. 153 members)

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. AU is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.

Americans United is a national organization with members in all 50 states. We are headquartered in Washington, D.C., and led by the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director. AU has more than 75,000 members from all over the country. They include people from all walks of life and from various faith communities, as well as those who profess no particular faith. We are funded by donations from our members and others who support church-state separation. We do not seek, nor would we accept, government funding.