Joe Biden

Joseph Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (born 20 November 1942) is the senior U.S. Senator from Delaware (representing the state in the United States Senate since 1972), and a member of the Democratic Party. He currently serves as the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the 110th Congress. On August 23rd, Joe Biden was named Senator Obama's Vice Presidential running mate. Biden is a self-described northeast liberal.

In August 2005 Biden said "John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off."

Obama hopes Biden will help the ticket in three ways:

• Biden is Catholic, and Obama is weak with that key voting bloc; however, the Catholic Church may take offense at Biden's pro-abortion positions (see below).
• Biden was born in Pennsylvania, a must-win state for Obama where he is weak; however, Biden's roots are in the rural northeastern part of the state.
• Biden's son is going to Iraq, which may help rehabilitate Obama's image as anti-military; however, Biden himself never served.

Almost immediately after his selection, the conflict between his pro-abortion position and that of his church surfaced:

Biden has said: "I am a long-standing supporter of Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose." But Biden's own bishop, Bishop Michael Saltarelli of Wilmington, Del., has ... denounced the notion that politicians can 'personally oppose' abortion, but refuse to pass laws protecting the unborn. He made clear that pro-abortion Catholic politicians should refrain from receiving the Eucharist:

"The promotion of abortion by any Catholic is a grave and serious matter. Objectively, according to the constant teaching of the Scriptures and the Church, it would be more spiritually beneficial for such a person to refrain from receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. I ask Catholics in this position to have the integrity to respect the Eucharist, Catholic teaching and the Catholic faithful."

Early Life and Education

Joe Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and grew up in New Castle County, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965, and from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. (At Syracuse Law School, it is said that he had plagiarized a law review article in a class paper he wrote. Although he was permitted to retake the course after receiving an F.)

Since 1991, Biden has been an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law, where he teaches a seminar on constitutional law.

Jill Biden

In 1966, while still in law school, Biden married Neilia Hunter. They had three children together: Joseph R. "Beau" Dien, III, Robert Hunter, and Naomi. Shortly after his election to Senate in 1972, his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident, and his two sons were seriously injured. He eventually remarried to Dr. Jill Biden, the former Jill Jacobs, an educator in Delaware's schools. She currently is a professor teaching at Delaware Technical Community College. Together, the couple added a daughter, Ashley Biden, to the family.

United States Senate

Biden took office on January 3, 1973, at age 30, becoming the fifth-youngest U.S. Senator in United States history. He was later reelected five times. Biden calls himself pro-choice and opposed president George W. Bush's two nominees to the U.S. Supreme court. However, he has voted in support of banning partial birth abortions and was given a 36% rating from the pro-abortion group NARAL, indicating a mixed voting record. In 1998 he voted for a Balanced-budget constitutional amendment and the GOP budget. Biden is a strong opponent of 2nd-amendment rights. He was rated F by the National Rifle Association. Biden has also voted to give Social Security benefits and citizenship to illegal aliens.

On the War in Iraq, Senator Biden was to the right of his fellow Democratic opponents for the 2008 Presidential Election. He voted for the war in 2002, but is now a war critic. He has voted against setting a timetable for troop withdrawal and is against cutting off funding for the troops on the ground. In a 2005 interviews with Meet the Press, Biden said, "I’ve been calling for more troops [in Iraq] for over two years, along with John McCain and others subsequent to my saying that." Biden is a long-time member of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which he chaired from 1987 until 1995 and served as ranking minority member from 1981 until 1987 and again from 1995 until 1997. He almost never supports a supreme court nominee who's not in his party and presided over two of the more contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings ever, Robert Bork in 1987 and Clarence Thomas in 1991. Biden is also long-time member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, currently the chairman.

Joe Biden has close ties with lobbyist by receiving $5,133,072 in contributions from lawyers and lobbyists since 2003. Also, one of Biden’s sons, Hunter, is a registered Washington lobbyist.

Plagiarism controversy

Controversy helped derail Biden's candidacy for the U.S. presidency in the 1988 Presidential campaign. He was found to have plagiarized a speech from British Labour Party (UK) leader Neil Kinnock. The plagiarism was considered all the more serious, because it included details of Kinnock's life which were not true in Biden's case.

Controversial comments

Joe Biden has been the subject of many controversial comments that many claim to be racist.

• Indian-Americans

While speaking to a group of Indian-Americans in Delaware, Biden stated, "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." His comment was caught on C-SPAN.

• "My state was a slave state"

In August of 2006, Biden was on Fox News Sunday and said "You don't know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast liberal state."

• Barack Obama

Talking about his fellow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama he said, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, ... I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Presidential Campaign

Biden declared his candidacy for President on January 31, 2007 after months of prior discussions, but later withdrew after the Iowa Caucus.

His first steps at going into the presidential campaign were overshadowed by his comments about other candidates. He ran on his foreign policy experience and credentials. On November 15, 2007, during the CNN presidential debate "This is not about experience. It's not about change. It's about action. Who among us is going to be able to, on Day 1, step in and end the war?". In the 2007 ABC debate with the Democratic presidential candidates, Biden was asked about the statement regarding Barack Obama "I think he can be ready but right now, I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” Biden replied “I think that I stand by the statement." Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race on January 3, after coming 5th in the Iowa caucus, receiving only 1% of the votes.

Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator. [2]

Vice Presidential Nomination

Biden had been mentioned as a Vice Presidential candidate for Senator Barack Obama, in that he would add foreign policy experience to the ticket. When asked in June over the speculation, Biden stated, "I'd make a great president. I'd make a great Secretary of State. I'd make a great vice president." On August 19th, Biden was asked by reporters of his VP status, to which he replied "Hey guys, I'm not the guy. See ya."

See also

• 2008 Presidential Election
• John McCain
• Democratic Party