Biden, Clintons rally for Obama
Posted: Sunday, October 12, 2008 6:11 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Joe Biden
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
SCRANTON, Pa. --
Biden took the stage with
Bill and
Hillary Clinton here today, as all three shared their admiration for one another and argued that their party offers the best hope for turning around the nation’s ailing economy.
A crowd of 6,000 gathered to see the three Democratic titans here in Northeast Pennsylvania, an area that Hillary carried overwhelmingly in April’s primary. And, at times, one could confuse the affair for a Clinton rally. Even as Hillary and Biden forcefully made the case for a President Obama, both Clintons also spent a good portion of their remarks emphasizing how much Hillary has done for the Democratic ticket since she withdrew from the race in June.
“I expect to spend the rest of my natural life trying to show people how grateful I am who supported Hillary,” Bill Clinton said. “She has not only done more to support him than any runner-up in a Democratic primary process in my lifetime; she has done more than all the other runners-up combined -- and that says a lot about why she ran for president and what she believes in.”
Video: Campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton explained to the crowd that the U.S. “will once against rise from the ashes of the Bushes.” NBC’s Ron Allen reports.
Hillary said she’s been “barnstorming” across battleground states because the nation “cannot afford four more years of the last eight.”
“I haven’t spent 35 years in the trenches fighting for universal health care, for children, for families, for middle class people to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our nation and the hopes of our people,” she said. “Barack Obama and Joe Biden are for you, and that’s why I’m for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”
Hillary also was unsparing in criticism of McCain and the Republicans, who she said don’t see the middle class as “fundamental,” but “ornamental.”
“They don't understand that we are at the core of whether this country goes up or down,” she said. “That's why, my friends, sending the Republicans to solve this economic crisis is like sending the bull to clean up the china closet. They broke it and we're not buying it anymore.”
Her best zinger recalled her husband’s win in 1992, as she told the crowd: “Make no mistake about it, we've done it before and we'll do it again: America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes.”
For Biden’s part, he largely stuck to the familiar script of the past week. But he opened his remarks with glowing praise for Hillary, in a way that seemed intended to draw attention to Sarah Palin, who was Friday found to have abused her authority as governor in the so-called “Troopergate” affair.
“The one most serious abuse a man or a woman or a government can engage in is to abuse power,” he said, referring to Hillary: “This is a woman who understands what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s fair and what’s unfair, but is always, always fighting against the abuse of power by the powerful.”
Biden spokesperson David Wade denied that the Delaware senator was drawing attention to his Republican counterpart. “This is about fighting for the people who've taken it in the neck the last eight years,” Wade said. He added that Biden has long talked about “how the abuse of power is why he got into politics in the first place.”
Today’s rally came together in part because both Clintons were in town for the Christening of Hillary’s nephew. Bill Clinton left the event in progress to fly to Virginia, where he’s holding more events for the Obama campaign. A spokesperson said he is ready to campaign with Obama himself whenever the campaign asks.
