Biden makes appeal to National Guard
Posted: Monday, September 22, 2008 4:00 PM by Carrie Dann
Filed Under:
Joe Biden
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Joe Biden, calling himself a “gigantic supporter” of the National Guard, pledged that Democrats would be a stronger ally for Guard members both at war and at home, offering added support to match what he said was an increasingly important role they play for the country.
The Democratic vice presidential nominee also offered a rebuttal to the style and substance of John McCain’s speech before the National Guard Association conference here yesterday, criticizing his foe for maligning Barack Obama’s motives.
“I heard John claim that behind Barack’s positions quote, ‘lies the ambition to be president,’” Biden recalled. “I do not think it’s appropriate to question a man or a woman’s motive. … After the last eight years, the last thing we need now is more politics of division, more characterizations of personal motivation rather than strong and important disagreements on judgment.”
And borrowing a line from his running mate, Biden alluded to his and McCain’s sons’ service to make the point that no party has a monopoly on patriotism.
“We all, we all put country first,” he said. “When John and I send our sons to war, they don’t wear a Republican flag or a Democratic flag. They wear an American flag.”
Biden argued that the issues affecting the Guard match the nation’s challenges on national and economic security, and promised that he and Obama would support the missions of servicemen abroad and ensure they return to home “to strong, secure jobs and a sound economy.” He faulted the Bush administration and McCain for opposing legislation to extend to National Guardsmen the benefits other servicemen receive, despite their increasing role in combat.
The vice presidential nominee also said he welcomed a debate about who had the judgment to serve as commander in chief, deviating from his prepared remarks for a lengthy tangent about the state of affairs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We can end this war and we can end it with honor, and we can end it leaving a stable Iraq behind. So who was right on that?” he said. Obama had advocated a gradual drawdown in U.S. troops in Iraq that was as cautious as the initial decision to invade was “imprudent,” he added.
(It’s a policy he claims the Bush administration is now pursuing, while McCain favors what Biden considers an unending commitment to stay in Iraq.)
“So when John McCain, God love him, says Barack Obama put his career before his country, what does that say President Bush is doing?” he said today. “What does that say about what is about to be the policy with a great big stamp on it? The policy that Barack Obama suggested 15 months ago is a policy that we’re about to adopt as a nation and in a de facto way we’ve already adopted.”
