Promises to Keep, by Joe Biden : on Government Reform

The greatest sin is abuse of power

The central lesson I received from the Catholic Church and my parents had been the governing force in my political career. To wit, the greatest sins on this earth are committed by people of standing and means who abuse their power.

With power and privilege, I was taught, comes a responsibility to treat others with respect and fairness. When we see people abusing power, it is our duty to intercede on behalf of their victims.

As I looked back on my career, it was obvious that what had animated me was the belief that we should stand up to those who abused power, whether it was political, economic, or physical.

1988: led fight against nomination of Robert Bork

At a meeting, I said, "If I lead this fight, it will not be a single issue campaign." The NY Times called my staff to confirm that I'd promised to "lead the fight" against Bork. The president's spokesman said his boss found it "regrettable" that I had "chosen to politicize the hearings in this kind of partisan fashion."

Bork was a bona fide scholar. He had been solicitor general, acting attorney general, professor of law at Yale, and a judge. The way to stop Bork was on a question of his outside-the-mainstream judicial ideology. I thought it was time to avoid personal attacks. [Bork was defeated.]