Vice President of the United States Joe Biden and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden addressed students and community members at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH on Friday, highlighting the differences between the Democratic and Republican welfare platforms.
An inadvertent sexual innuendo by Dr. Jill Biden—who sparked raucous laughter with her passionate statement, “I’ve seen Joe up close”—went viral within hours.
Biden could scarcely suppress his laughter at the slip, and commented on the crowd’s reaction in his remarks, saying, “You can tell you’re on a college campus, man!”
Biden tailored his speech to the student audience with a focus on the Obama administration’s support of education through Pell Grants, as compared to cuts in education budgets he said would result from the budget planned by Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
The Ryan budget would “eviscerate” funding for public education, Biden said.
Biden wove in an attack on Republican presidential candidate former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., through recently publicized remarks from a fundraising event in May, at which Romney said there are 47 percent of Americans “who are dependent on government, who believe they are victims.”
Biden framed the Romney quote, which the crowd booed, as a “bet against the American people,” and responded to the crowd’s reaction with, “I don’t need your boos. I need your help.”
Biden said the quote illustrated that Romney sees America differently than Biden does.
“This is not a country of victims,” Biden said.
“How could he be so profoundly wrong about America? How is that possible?” Biden asked. “Not in my neighborhood. Not where I grew up. Not the people I know.”
Biden went on to say that the Democratic Party does believe in aiding citizens who need help, focusing his examples on education.
“None of us would be standing here today if someone did not reach out and give us a hand in the form of a scholarship or loan,” he said.
Biden also noted the Republican Party’s opposition to gay marriage and women’s reproductive rights, in remarks that drew strong cheers from the primarily student crowd.
According to Biden, the modern Republican Party is more conservative on social issues than it was in the past.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” he said.
Biden, who has Irish roots in Co Louth and Co Mayo, did not speak on the Obama administration’s foreign policy beyond a promise to end the war in Afghanistan.
Biden has previously stated to Irish America magazine, “I see myself as an Irish Catholic. If we have a moral obligation to other parts of the world why don’t we have a moral obligation to Ireland? It’s part of our blood.”
Colin Harris, a senior at Dartmouth and political affairs director for the Dartmouth College Democrats, said he thought the speech distinguished well between the agendas of the Democratic and Republican parties.
“The Vice President drew clear contrasts between the Democratic platform, which sees America as a culture of opportunity, and the Republican platform, which sees America as a culture of dependency and victimhood,” Harris told IrishCentral. “It was great to see the student body so enthused about the promise of a just America, whose government protects its citizens' rights and provides support for the most vulnerable in society.”
Dartmouth senior Olivia Martin, who told IrishCentral she still plans to vote for the Romney ticket in November, said she felt a “duty as a citizen” to attend Biden’s speech and hear his arguments.
The campaign event had no affiliation with Dartmouth College.
Watch Dr. Jill Biden deliver an inadvertent sexual innuendo in her introductory remarks at Dartmouth College.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.EphraimKibbey | Sep 29, 2012, 11:18 PM EDT
BippyBellito - Have you been watching Fox again? A University Study found that regular Fox viewers knew less about what was going on in the world than people who didn't regularly watch any news. Conspiracy theories may be great for ratings but they do little to address the very real problems that we face as a Nation.
jflanagan | Sep 28, 2012, 09:01 PM EDT
In looking over the tax returns the VP released, I see that he and his wife have as much income in one year as my wife and I have in twelve years total. Yet we give more to charity in one year than they give in ten. The last study I saw, in 2006, showed that liberals control more of the money than conservatives but conservatives give more to charity than liberals. It seems that the Vice President and his friends are very generous with other people's money, to buy votes, but stingy with their own. Vice President Biden calls himself "Blue Collar Joe" but has not worked a blue collar job in his adult life.
BippyBellito | Sep 28, 2012, 08:17 PM EDT
If Obama gets reelected and his Muslim Brotherhood begins the systematic slaughter and dismantling of the Catholic Church, I wonder where your writer will be then. Obama is on record that he sides with Islam. Islam and Christianity do not mix. One must be defeated in order to restore the world's sanity. to me, the choice is very clear and the answer is Not to ReElect Traitors like Obama and Biden.
pilib04 | Sep 28, 2012, 08:06 PM EDT
mreinhar2001, you do know that Ted Kennedy was conservative when compared to Bobby?
pilib04 | Sep 28, 2012, 05:02 PM EDT
mreinhar2001, I had the opportunity to work on Bobby Kennedy's campaign in Indiana in 1968. I doubt you have any idea what the man was like. He broke with LBJ on the the Vietnam war in 1966. He embraced the Civil Rights movement and more importantly he pushed it to the forefront of his Presidential campaign in 1968. Only Bobby could go out on the evening of April 4 and tell a crowd of Indianapolis Blacks that Martin Luther King Jr. had been murdered that day while the rest of America burned.
mreinhar2001 | Sep 28, 2012, 02:43 PM EDT
EphraimKibbey" Yuu misread PhlutiePhan's comment regarding American's and the Crucifixion; please return to his comment and read it in context. That should clear up her meaning for you.
mreinhar2001 | Sep 28, 2012, 02:37 PM EDT
Nor is the 2012 Democratic Party "your grandfather's Democrat Party, man." (Is the use of "man" at the end of a phrase making a comeback in the U.S. or does that just date Biden as a flower child of the 60’s, I wonder.) Bobby Kennedy, a proud 1960's Democrat for those of you not able to remember him, did not support ending the life of a pre-born child just because it is inconvenient--especially in the guise of reproductive rights of the one carrying the child.
McNamara31 | Sep 28, 2012, 11:42 AM EDT
mairint...There you go again with the "bearing false witness" I really hope you are not a Mairinist. Need I go back and tell you the hypocrisy of your statement, beginning with GOP Rudy Giuliani who is married three times, is pro choice, and received communion at St Patrick's Cathedral from the Pope. It’s amazing how “some” in the church use their Catholic outrage focused on “some” and not others. Why? I think that is precisely why the founding fathers fought for separation of church and state because the saw the outright hypocrisy that had occurred in Europe and did not want that to destroy our democracy in States.
eiriamach | Sep 28, 2012, 11:26 AM EDT
The polls tell us that the majority of Catholics will vote for Obama and Biden, which is to say that they will vote for women's freedom of conscience and right to equal pay for equal work, as well as equality under the law for LGBTs. They will vote to impose a fair share of the financial burden of bailouts and deficit on the upper middle class and the wealthy. They will vote to keep GOP hands off social contract programs-- unemployment insurance, Medicare, and social security, paid for through payroll taxes-- and off Head Start, Pell grants and student loans, food stamps, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, needed to extend equal opportunities across class lines. We will have a more fair nation over the next four years, and less mean-spirited, ideological manipulation of people's fears. Perhaps the Romneyites will learn to appreciate the value of equality under the law and fair distribution of resources. And if they don't learn to appreciate it, they will at least learn that it has the power of the people's vote behind it.
Eschetic | Sep 28, 2012, 12:22 AM EDT
Even we Delaware Republicans are proud of our Joe. He's had a remarkable public career and it's kind of nice that we even now have a Republican presidential nominee whose "hoof in mouth disease" is so severe that it makes Joe's occasional verbal flubs seem all the more affectionate foibles. The stridency of the occasional extremist right wing attacks merely are more evidence that (assuming the Dems can TURN OUT their vote) we've lost this election big time. Biden and Obama should be well over the 300 Electoral Vote level (270 wins it) by election day.
EphraimKibbey | Sep 28, 2012, 12:14 AM EDT
PhlutiePhan, and all this time I thought that the crucifixion had something to do with forgiveness. Thanks for clarifying it.
EphraimKibbey | Sep 27, 2012, 05:41 PM EDT
Obama seems to get along well with a crowd, Biden seems to have a connection when speaking. When Ryan and Romney spoke in Ohio, why was the chant "Ryan! Ryan! Ryan!" so much so that the poor little rich boy had to take the mic and yell "That's supposed to be Romney/Ryan?" How long will it take Ryan to go "Rogue" on Romney like Palin did on McCain? Biden is doing a GREAT job of reinforcing his ticket's message and it seems to be getting through to voters.
McNamara31 | Sep 27, 2012, 05:31 PM EDT
PhlutiePhan We get you don't like the guy, or plan to vote for him, but why must you go to such lengths with "Hannity" speak when everyone knows at this point its laughable.
paddyRanger | Sep 27, 2012, 05:26 PM EDT
Biden the moron is a disgrace.......the democrat party of today is not the party of JFK either .......he would be disgusted with the lowlifes running it now
pilib04 | Sep 27, 2012, 04:53 PM EDT
PhlutiePhan, Cheesesteak and Seanmor, you all must be suffering from exhaustion trying to come up with reasons to vote for Robme. Fact is, Robme destroyed his own campaign. His mouth did it all. 47%!!! Game, set, match.
pilib04 | Sep 27, 2012, 04:48 PM EDT
Proud of my fellow Mayoman. Clearly he has inherited the Harry Truman political finesse. Keep up the great work Joe. Ohio is going for Obama(Offaly)-Biden(Mayo/Louth). Is feidir linn.
PhlutiePhan | Sep 27, 2012, 12:24 PM EDT
This is not JFKs Democratic Party. JFK had a business degree from Harvard. Obama has a college degree from Columbia "College" and not university. He transferred after two years in Hawaii at Occidental College. He then mysteriously was able to get into Harvard Law School without a doubt based on "affirmative action". He is nothing more than a Marxist street thug from Cook County where people vote "early and often". Obama is clever without a doubt. He is a national socialist well within the parameters of loveable Adolph and Uncle Joe. The Catholic Church has fallen into a "social justice" trap according to Malachi Martin. Biden and his radical liberal Catholics have well formed allies within the hierarchical structure according to Malachi Martin who have taken "30 pieces of silver" and accepted gay marriage and unlimited abortion. Vatican II, again according to Malachi, was the "modus vivendi" which opened the door to radical socialism and the behavior modification of the faithful to accept the Gospel of Social Justice. There is no longer any sin and the Crucifixion is no longer the center of "American" Catholic thought.
cheesesteak | Sep 27, 2012, 12:04 PM EDT
Joe Biden is the most embarrassing example of a walking, talking horses' ass in the current shower of imbeciles showing up on TV every bloody night. His idiocy stopped being funny years ago - now it is just annoying. He's like the moronic uncle at the reunion that has managed to work his way up to manager at the deli counter and tries to insinuate his way into the conversation of the men of the family but someone mercifully kicks him in the ass and tells him to go play with the kids. Why won't this jackass just walk into an open manhole or stumble his way into traffic and let the rest of us just get on with it? This man was promoted beyond the capacity of his intelligence decades ago and should just go back to the deli counter. Please stop paying attention to this hammerhead.
Seanmor | Sep 27, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT
Biden was correct when indicated that Republicands are opposed to the killing of the unborn - as were the Founding Fathers when they wrote: "...all men are created equal...with inalianable rights to life, liberty..." Also, there is nothing to suggest that the Founders of this great nation would have permitted same-sex arrangements of any kind.