Joe Biden Said That? :

We're going to lead the world economically throughout the twentieth century

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:01:00 -0600

Back in Feb 2010 the VP was speechifying in Michigan; he took a bold stand regarding the U.S.'s status as an economic leader:

Yes, indeed, I look forward to the 20th century as well! In other news, I refuse to accept the notion that the Yankees will not win the 1978 World Series! And you can take that to your "too big to fail" bank!

It's easy being Vice President

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:41:00 -0600

Alert reader Ashley Tate wrote in with the latest Bidenism. From CNN; here's the dialog:

Biden: How you doing Eric?
Cantor: Not bad Mr. Vice President
Biden: Good, doing alright. It's easy being Vice President believe me.
Cantor: It's like being a grandparent and not the parent.
Biden: Yeah that's it.

And the video:

Excellent! Of course, he was joking, etc., etc... still, it's another classic Biden quote.

I wished I were seeing it in 3D

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:36:00 -0600

An alert reader wrote in with a a video that breaks a long drought. The VP has been keeping a low profile recently, sadly... but he emerged recently and was interviewed on ABC. The question of Oscar nominees came up, and Biden's response was typically concise:

Q: Any favorites among the Oscar nominees? A: Yeah, as a matter of fact, we do, um, and uh, um, and I think that the, uh, one of the odds-on favorites (Jill didn't go with me), but, is, um, is uh, this uh, this new program that I looked at it and I wished I were seeing it in 3D, and you sit there and you watch this science fiction thing unfold in front of you, Avatar...

It's hard to capture the bumbling nuances in text. If you have a spare 45 seconds, you won't regret watching the video. It took some effort to pry that movie name out of him, but, there ya go.

Are you really committed to changing the course of this country?

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:23:00 -0500

An alert reader pointed me to this boston.com article discussing the upcoming elections. Happily for us a Biden quote from a recent Allegheny County Democratic Committee dinner made its way into the article. Apparently Biden first rejected Obama's overtures to be VP, but later changed his mind. Here's the narrative from Biden:

“A couple months later,’’ Biden said, Obama repeated the offer in a hotel room in Minneapolis. The senator looked at Obama and said, “Are you really committed to changing the course of this country?’’ “He reached out, shook my hand and said, ‘I am.’ ’’

You see? It's all about Joe Biden! This Obama fellow is just along for the ride! I'm glad we've got that straightened out.

I hope to God you understand this race is winnable

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:00:00 -0500

Another item hot off the presses! Speaking at a October 2009 fundraiser in Alexandria, VA, Biden sounded optimistic. Or at least vaguely hopeful; here's the quote:

I hope to god you understand this race is winnable

Not to worry, though, he quickly recovered with:

I was told another good friend of mine running for governor in another state. They declared him dead two weeks ago. He is now ahead. We are going to win that race.

That's only fair - dead people have voted Democratic, so why can't a dead person receive Democratic votes?

Source: National Review's Mark Hemingway

Some of the guys Chuck and I have campaigned for are turkeys

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:49:00 -0500

This just in - hot off the presses from the LA Times! Biden was introducing several Democratic House candidates at a fundraiser in McLean, Virginia, and had a few words to say about them:

These guys are smart. Some of the guys Chuck (Robb) and I have campaigned for are turkeys. Not all Democrats are created equal, while most Republicans are.

It's been a long time since Biden has said something we can agree with. But yes, it's true, many of the Democrats for which he has compaigned are indeed turkeys.

I have let imagination take hold in some places

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:22:00 -0500

An alert reader wrote in with the latest Bidenism. While speaking at the Brookings Institute (transcript) on Sep 3 2009, Biden was asked about stimulus spending and how to ensure it was spent wisely. He rambled on for quite a while and then said:

And I have not bent the law, but I have let imagination take hold in some places where I think it's consistent with the spirit of the law.

Maybe it'd be better just to obey the law, sir? He then followed up with this:

Is that the best way of saying that? Yes.

I think he meant "No". I hope!

We've spent less in Afghanistan in seven years than we spend in a month in Iraq

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:14:00 -0500

Phil Walter pointed me to another Bidenism from the 2008 VP debate. Here's the quote from the transcript:

Look, we have spent more money -- we spend more money in three weeks on combat in Iraq than we spent on the entirety of the last seven years that we have been in Afghanistan building that country.

The problem with this (thanks to Real Clear Politics for the numbers-gathering), is that it's way, way off. Specifically, we spend about $10B a month in Iraq, and (when he said this) the U.S. had spent a total of around $172B on Afghanistan. So he was off by an order of magnitude. Close enough for government work?

We provide about 50 percent of the health care already

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:41:00 -0500

In August of 2009 (this month! hot off the presses!) Biden was in Chicago plugging the wonders of government-provided (i.e., rationed) health care. He had some words to say regarding the current percentages of Americans who are already experiencing the joys of centrally-planned medicine:

We provide about 50 percent of the health care already [...]

This is incorrect, of course. The government provides about a quarter of healthcare coverage via Medicare and Medicaid; two-thirds of Americans are covered by private insurers. Thanks to the News Virginian for the legwork on the numbers.

And thanks to VP Biden for making a speech! We here at joebidensaidthat.com were wondering when we'd get some fresher material. Not that there's not plenty of existing fodder from past speeches... all of which we'll continue to research, summarize, and provide here for your viewing pleasure.

Source: Abdon Pallasch at the Chicago Sun-Times

Articulate and bright and clean

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:34:00 -0500

And now a classic that I've saved for a while. In early 2007 Biden was getting ready to announce his run for president, and what better way to do that than to comment on the other candidates? He had some kind words for then-Senator Barack Obama:

I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man.

And here's a video commentary on that quote with Biden's audio:

Gaffe-tastic! Everything was smoothed over quickly, although former black presidential candidates like Alan Keyes and Jessie Jackson were probably a bit annoyed. But this one ranks highly on the long list of Bidenisms.