Biden: “The sequel is always worse than the original”

Democratic veep nominee swings hard at McCain

Barack Obama may be just learning to throw verbal punches at his opponents, but his running mate energetically wielded a hammer during a visit to a Macomb County high school Monday morning.

Joe Biden vivaciously lived up to his reputation for pugnacity during the rally at South Lake High School in St. Clair Shores, rolling out oratorical zingers designed to make starkly clear the choice between Obama and John McCain to the hundreds of attendees.

“Eight years [after the campaign of President George Bush] we have another Republican nominee who’s telling us the exact same thing — that this time things will be different,” Biden said. “This time he’ll put country before party. Folks, we’ve seen this movie before. And we know the sequel is always worse than the original.”

With grim news from Wall Street as a backdrop for his speech, Biden focused largely on economic themes, referring to Washington as “a culture where the very few wealthy and powerful have a seat at the table and the rest of us are on the menu.” He repeatedly slammed McCain for being out of touch with regular Americans and for the Arizona senator’s reliance on campaign tactics “perfected by Karl Rove.”

After a soft start, with condolences offered to Democratic U.S. Rep Sander Levin, whose wife just died, Biden rapidly ignited the fire in his belly.

“John is profoundly out of touch,” he said of McCain. “If all you do is walk the halls of power, all you’ll hear is the wants of the powerful.

“John McCain could say as recently as this morning that the fundamentals of the economy are strong,” he continued. “Ladies and gentlemen, I could walk from here to Lansing and not run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well, unless I ran into John McCain. He just doesn’t understand what average middle-class people are going through. He doesn’t think we have any responsibility to help the people who are hurting.”

The somewhat less-than-capacity crowd tilted a bit older and less racially diverse than a typical Obama gathering, likely reflecting both the demographics of Macomb County and Biden’s appeal to white, working-class voters.

Indeed, the president of UAW local 235 introduced Biden, and several members of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades were in the audience. Biden began his remarks by saying he “wouldn’t be a senator if it weren’t for the UAW.”

He also decried the report, first broken by Michigan Messenger’s Eartha Jane Melzer, that Macomb County Republican Party officials planned to use foreclosure listings to challenge voters at the polls.

Biden spoke throughout his 35-minute speech of the “dignity” of work, of the respect that comes from earning a paycheck and of the uncertainty facing Americans who are struggling to make ends meet.

“[This campaign] is about what we value as a people,” Biden said. “It’s not just about jobs. It’s about dignity … It’s not just about a paycheck. It’s about respect. That’s why we’re in this race, to restore a sense of dignity and pride.”