Biden responds to RNC in Philadelphia speech
By Emily Schultheis, Youth Vote '08 correspondent
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - On the campaign trail in his home state of Pennsylvania, Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden aimed to win over working-class voters by responding to the speeches delivered and the claims made at the Republican National Convention.
Biden campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama in a speech to the Ironworkers Local Union in Philadelphia Friday.
"It wasn't so much what I heard ... it was what I didn't hear," Biden said of the convention, which ended Thursday night after Sen. John McCain accepted the Republican nomination. "Sometimes what goes unsaid is even more powerful than what is said."
He went on to stress the things the Republicans didn't discuss - health care, bringing college costs down, saving Social Security and solving the housing crisis, to name a few - and said the Republicans avoided these issues at the convention because they didn't want to address the unpopular policies of the Bush administration.
"I do understand why they don't want to talk about the issues - how can they possibly explain the last eight years?" he said.
While he conceded that McCain has been his friend for more than 30 years and his bravery "goes without question," he said that a soldier isn't necessarily what the country needs in the White House.
"America needs more than a brave soldier - America needs a wise leader," he said.
Biden also sought to tie McCain to President George W. Bush, framing a McCain victory as a third Bush term.
"My friend John [McCain] and George Bush are joined at the hip - and we need a hip replacement very, very badly," he quipped.
Biden was not alone in his negative response to the Republican National Convention.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter also criticized the Republicans, referring to the convention as the "Repulsive National Convention."
"Insults have now replaced ideas, invective has now replaced innovation, personal attacks have replaced policy addresses," Nutter said of the RNC. "I have never seen such a negative climate."
Other speakers at the event included Jill Biden, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Congressman Bob Brady.
Biden also held a question-and-answer session with audience members that covered topics from outsourcing to the No Child Left Behind Act.
After his event in Philadelphia, Biden held an event in Langhorne, Penn. Obama was also in the Keystone state Friday - the Democratic nominee held a town hall meeting in Duryea, and also stopped in York and Lancaster on Thursday.
Biden held a similar event Thursday at George Mason University.
Emily Schultheis is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania. She covered the presidential primaries as a freshman for her campus newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian. Emily is originally from Moraga, Calif., a small town in the San Francisco Bay Area.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - On the campaign trail in his home state of Pennsylvania, Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden aimed to win over working-class voters by responding to the speeches delivered and the claims made at the Republican National Convention.
Biden campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama in a speech to the Ironworkers Local Union in Philadelphia Friday.
"It wasn't so much what I heard ... it was what I didn't hear," Biden said of the convention, which ended Thursday night after Sen. John McCain accepted the Republican nomination. "Sometimes what goes unsaid is even more powerful than what is said."
He went on to stress the things the Republicans didn't discuss - health care, bringing college costs down, saving Social Security and solving the housing crisis, to name a few - and said the Republicans avoided these issues at the convention because they didn't want to address the unpopular policies of the Bush administration.
"I do understand why they don't want to talk about the issues - how can they possibly explain the last eight years?" he said.
While he conceded that McCain has been his friend for more than 30 years and his bravery "goes without question," he said that a soldier isn't necessarily what the country needs in the White House.
"America needs more than a brave soldier - America needs a wise leader," he said.
Biden also sought to tie McCain to President George W. Bush, framing a McCain victory as a third Bush term.
"My friend John [McCain] and George Bush are joined at the hip - and we need a hip replacement very, very badly," he quipped.
Biden was not alone in his negative response to the Republican National Convention.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter also criticized the Republicans, referring to the convention as the "Repulsive National Convention."
"Insults have now replaced ideas, invective has now replaced innovation, personal attacks have replaced policy addresses," Nutter said of the RNC. "I have never seen such a negative climate."
Other speakers at the event included Jill Biden, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Congressman Bob Brady.
Biden also held a question-and-answer session with audience members that covered topics from outsourcing to the No Child Left Behind Act.
After his event in Philadelphia, Biden held an event in Langhorne, Penn. Obama was also in the Keystone state Friday - the Democratic nominee held a town hall meeting in Duryea, and also stopped in York and Lancaster on Thursday.
Biden held a similar event Thursday at George Mason University.
Emily Schultheis is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania. She covered the presidential primaries as a freshman for her campus newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian. Emily is originally from Moraga, Calif., a small town in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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