Biden: The entire country is pro-America
Posted: Friday, October 17, 2008 6:49 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Joe Biden
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
MESILLA, NM -- Biden today accused his Republican counterpart for engaging in the same kind of divisive politics seen in the Bush Administration, saying he has yet to find a part of the country that is not “pro-America.”
Near the end of his speech in an outdoor square here, Biden repeated Palin’s comments from a fundraiser in North Carolina last night, and said he hoped it was “just a slip on her part.”
“Folks, it doesn’t matter where you live, we all love this country,” he said. “One of the reasons why Barack and I are running is that we know how damaging the politics of division that continues to be practiced by the McCain campaign, how damaging this policy of division has been for Americans over the last decade or more.”
Raising his voice, Biden said Americans “are all patriotic, we all love our country.” He added, “And I’m tired. I’m tired, tired, tired, tired of the implications about patriotism."
Biden was referring to Palin's comments last night in North Carolina, where she celebrated campaigning in "pro-America" areas of the country. (That remark prompted the Obama campaign to ask: Which parts of the country aren't pro-America?)
"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America," Palin said. "Being here with all of you hard-working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans."
(Today, Palin responded that she considers the entire country "pro-America." "I was just reinforcing the fact that there, where I was, there’s good patriotic people there in these rallies, so excited about positive change and reform of government that’s coming that they are so appreciative of hearing our message, hearing our plan,” she said. “Not, not any one area of America is more pro-America patriotically than others.")
In his first public event since Wednesday’s debate, Biden also seized on McCain’s comment that night saying he was not George Bush, and said it seems the Arizona senator “doth protest too loudly.”
“My mother when I was a kid -- and you've heard me say this before … she says, ‘Honey, if it looks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, it's a duck.’ Well ladies and gentlemen, in these last three debates it looked like a duck to me,” he said.
Biden’s visit comes on the eve of the early voting period in New Mexico. And in urging the crowd to take advantage of early voting, he reminded them that John Kerry lost the state in 2004 by the equivalent of four votes in each precinct. He said that while there is "reason to be encouraged" about the Democratic ticket, he cautioned supporters that the election was "far from over."
"This Administration is -- has bequeathed, I think, the tactics of Karl Rove to the McCain [campaign]," he said. "You’re gonna see some pretty, pretty tough stuff, pretty tough stuff in these last two weeks, so we cannot let up."
Introducing Biden, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also urged voters to work hard through election day. “I want everybody here early voting, go out and vote now,” he said. “I want you to vote often! I want you to vote many, many times, legally!”
