Biden fills in the role of attack dog

“He will have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at” when considering his own economic future, Biden said — a blistering reference to McCain’s embarrassing admission, particularly during a period of financial turmoil, that he didn’t know how many homes he and his ultra-wealthy wife own.

Named Obama’s running mate before dawn Saturday, a feisty Biden appeared with the top of the ticket at an afternoon rally in Springfield, Illinois.

He gave a speech filled with subtle jabs and outright punches at McCain, a sharp tone intended to send a message to nervous Democrats: Never fear, the vice presidential attack dog is here — and he’s itching for a fight.

As polls show the race tightening, Democrats increasingly have been questioning whether Obama can play the game of brass-knuckle politics against McCain. Some are fearing a repeat of 2004 when a Republican-aligned group called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth got the best of slow-to-respond John Kerry and his soft-touch No. 2 John Edwards.

Biden, however, left no doubt he’s comfortable going for the jugular.

In one breath, he called McCain “genuinely a friend of mine” over a 35-year period. In the next, the Democrat skewered his decades-old Republican colleague and linked McCain to the unpopular President Bush at every turn.

“The American dream under eight years of Bush and McCain, that American dream is slipping away,” Biden said — suggesting that McCain, too, served in the White House during that period and overlooking the times when the Arizona senator broke from his own party’s standard-bearer.

He jabbed at McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war who is arguably the county’s most vocal supporter of the U.S. mission in Iraq, next to Bush. Said Biden: “These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader. A leader who can deliver.”

The Delaware senator also used McCain’s own words against him to argue that the Republican can’t change the country when he offers more of the same, though he left out details and cherry-picked quotes as he sought to make his case.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email