Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) Addresses the DNC

thank you thank you thank you very much thank you thank you thank you thank you John Kerry ladies gentlemen thank you thank you thank you thank you thank thank you I appreciate it thank you very much you know folks my dad used to have an expression he's saying a father knows these success when he turns and looks at the son or daughter and know that they turned out better needed I'm a success I'm a hell of a success Bowie I love you I'm so proud of you I'm so proud of the son you become I'm so proud of the father you are and I'm also so proud of my son hunter and my daughter Ashley and my wife Jill the only one who leaves me both breathless and speechless at the same time it's an honor to share this stage tonight with President Clinton a man who I think brought this country so far along that I only pray we do it again last night and last night he was moving to watch Hillary one of our great leaders a great leader this party a woman who has made history and will continue to make history a colleague my friend Senator Hillary Clinton and I am truly honored I am truly honored to live in a country with the bravest warriors in the world and I'm honored to represent the first state my state the state of Delaware since I've never been called a man of few words let me say it as simply as I can yes yes I accept your nomination to run and serve with Barack Obama the next president of the United States of America let me make this pledge to you right here now reverie America was trying to do the right thing for all those people and government who are honoring the pledge to uphold the law and honor the Constitution no longer will you hear the eight most dreaded language words in the English language the vice president's office is on the phone Rock and I took very different journeys to this destination we share a common story mine began in Scranton Pennsylvania and then Wilmington Delaware my dad my dad who fell on hard times always told me though champ when you get knocked down get up get up I was taught I was taught by my dad and god I wish my dad was here tonight but I thank God and I'm grateful that my mom Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden is here tonight mom I love you you know my mom taught her children all the children who flocked to our house that you're defined by your sense of honor and you're redeemed by your loyalty she believes that bravery lives in every heart and her expectation is that it will be summoned failure failure at some point of your life is inevitable but giving up is unforgivable as a child as a child I stuttered and she lovingly would look at me and tell me Joey it's because you're so bright you can't get the thoughts out quickly enough when I was not as well dressed as the other kids she look at me and say Joey oh you're so handsome honey you're so handsome and when I got when I got knocked down by guys bigger than me and this is the God's truth she sent me back out and said bloody their nose so you can walk down the street the next day and that's what I did you know and after the accident she told me said Joey God sends no cross that you cannot bear when I try out my mother was quick to remind me it was because of others my mother's Creed is the American creed no one is better than you everyone is your equal and everyone is equal to you my parents taught us my parents taught us to live our faith in the treasure our families we learned the dignity of work and we were told that anyone can make it if they just try a hard enough that was America's Promise and for those of us who RUP in middle-class neighborhoods like Scranton and Wilmington that was the American dream ladies and gentlemen but today today that American dream feels like it's slowly slipping away I don't have to tell you that you feel it every single day in your own lives I've never seen a time when Washington is watched so many people get knocked down without doing anything to help them get back up almost every single night almost every single night I trake take the train home to Wilmington Delaware sometimes very late as they sit there in my seat and look out that window they see those flickering lights of the homes that pass by I can almost hear the conversation they're having at their kitchen table after they put their kids to bed like millions of Americans they're asking questions as as ordinary as they are profound questions they never ever thought they'd have to ask themselves should mom move into this now that now that dad's gone 50 60 70 dollars just to fill up the gas tank how in God's name with winter coming how are we going to heat the home another year no raise did you hear did you hear they may be cut in our health care at the company now now we owe more money on our home than our home was worth how in God's name we were going to send the kids to college how are we going to retire Joe you know folks that's the America that George Bush has left us and that's the America will continue to get if George excuse me of John McCain is elected president United States of America 40 and slip 40 and slip and folks these are night these are not isolated discussions among families down-on-their-luck these are common stories among middle-class people who've worked hard their whole life played by the rules on the promise that their tomorrows would be better than their yesterday's that promise is the promise of America it defines who we are as the people and now and now it's in jeopardy I know it you know it but John McCain doesn't seem to get it Barak Obama gets it though like many of us in this room like many of us in this hall Barak Obama has worked his way up he is the great American story you know I believe the measure of a man is not the road he travels but the choices he makes along that road and ladies and gentlemen Barack Obama could have done anything after he graduated from college with all his talent of promise he could have written his own ticket to Wall Street but what did he choose to do he chose to go to Chicago the south side of Chicago there there in the south side he met women and men would lost their jobs their neighborhood was devastated when the local steel plant closed their dreams had to be deferred their self-esteem was gone and ladies and gentlemen he made their lives the work of his life that's what you do when you're raised by a single mom who worked went to school and raised two kids on her own that's how you come to believe to the very core of your being that work is more than the paycheck it's dignity it's respect it's about whether or not you can look your child in the eye and say we're going to be all right pres Barack Obama because Barack Obama made that choice a hundred and fifty more children and parents have health care in Illinois he fought to make that happen and because Barack Obama made that choice working families in Illinois pay less taxes and more people have moved from welfare to the dignity of work and he got it done when he came to Washington when he came to Washington John and I watched with amazement how he hit the ground running leading the fight to pass the most sweeping ethics reform in a generation he reached across party lines to pass a law that helped keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists and then he moved Congress and the president to give our wonderful wounded warriors the care and dignity they deserve you know you can learn a lot about a man campaigning with them debating him seeing how are you racks under pressure you learn about the strength of his mind but even more importantly you learn about the quality of his heart I watched how Barack touched people how he inspired them and I realized he had tapped into the oldest belief in America we don't have to accept the situation we cannot bear we have the power to change and change it and changing it is exactly what barack obama will do that's what we'll do for this country you know john mccain is my friend and i know you hear that phrase use all the time in politics i mean john mccain is my friend we've traveled the world together it's a friendship that goes beyond politics and the personal courage and heroism demonstrated by john still amazes me but i profound i profoundly disagree with the direction john wants to take this country from Afghanistan to Iraq from Amtrak to veterans you know John thinks John thinks that during the Bush years quote we've made great economic progress I think it's been abysmal and in the Senate john has voted with President Bush 95 percent and that is very hard to believe and when John McCain proposes two hundred million dollars in new taxes for corporate America 1 billion alone for the largest companies in the nation but no none no relief for 100 million American families that's not change that's more of the same even today as oil companies post the biggest profits in history nearly a half a trillion dollars in the last five years john wants to give them another four billion dollars in tax breaks that's not change that's the same and during the same time John voted again and again against renewable energy solar wind biofuels that's not change that's more the same millions of Americans have seen their jobs go offshore yet John continues supports to support tax breaks for corporations that send them there that's not change that's more the same he voted 19 times against the minimum wage for people who are struggling just to make it to the next day that's not changed that's more the same and when he says who continue to spend ten billion dollars a month when the Iraqis have a surplus of nearly eighty billion dollars that's not changed that's more the same the choice in this election is clear these times require more than a good soldier they require a wise leader a leader who can change change the change that everybody knows we need Barack Obama's going to deliver that change because I want to tell you Barack Obama will reform our tax code he will cut taxes for ninety five percent of the American people who draw a paycheck that's the change we need Barack Obama Barack Obama will transform the economy by making alternative energy a national priority and in the process creating five million new jobs and finally finally freeing us from the grip of foreign oil that's the change we need Barack Obama knows that any country that out teaches us today will out-compete us tomorrow that's why he'll invest in the next generation of teachers and why he'll make college more affordable that's the change we need Barack Obama Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the average family and at long last deliver affordable accessible health care for every American that's the change we need Baraka put work cops on the street put security backing Social Security and he'll never ever ever give up until we achieve equal pay for women that's the change we need it is we gather here tonight our country is less secure and more isolated than it has been any time in recent history the Bush foreign policy has dug us into a very deep hole with very few friends that help us climb out and for the last seven years the administration has failed to face the biggest the biggest force in shaping this century the emergence of Russia China and India's Great Powers the spread of lethal weapons the shortage of secure supplies of energy food and water the challenge of climate change and the resurgence of fundamental fundamentalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan the real central front in the war on terror ladies and gentlemen recent years and in recent days we've once again seen the consequences of the neglect of this neglect with Russia challenging the very freedom of a new democratic country of Georgia Barack and I will end that neglect we will hold Russia accountable for its actions and we will help the people of Georgia rebuild I've been on the ground in Georgia Iraq Pakistan Afghanistan and I can tell you in no uncertain terms this administration's policy has been an abysmal failure America cannot afford four more years of this failure and now now despite being complicit in this catastrophic foreign policy John McCain says Barack Obama Barack Obama is not ready to protect our national security now let me ask you this whose judgment do you trust should you trust the judgment of John McCain when he said only three years ago Afghanistan we don't read about it anymore in the papers because it succeeded or should you believe Barack Obama who said a year ago we need to send two more combat battalions to Afghanistan the fact of the matter is al-qaeda and the Taliban the people who actually attacked us on 9/11 they've regrouped in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan and they are plotting new attacks and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has echoed Barack's call for more troops john mccain was wrong and Barack Obama was right should we trust John McCain's judgment when he rejected when he rejected talking with Iran and then asked whether to talk about Barack Obama who said we must talk and make clear to Iran that it must change now after seven years of denial even the Bush administration recognizes that we should talk to Iran because that's the best way to ensure our security again and again John McCain has been wrong and Barack Obama is right should we trust John McCain's judgment when he says when he says we can't have no timelines to draw down our troops in Iraq that we must stay indefinitely or should we listen to Barack Obama who says shift the responsibility to the Iraqis and set a time to bring our combat troops home now after six long years the administration in the Iraqi government are on the verge of setting a date to bring our troops home John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama was right again again and again on the most important national security issues of our time John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama has been proven right folks remember when the world used to trust us when they look to us for leadership with Barack Obama's our president they'll look at us again they'll trust us again and we'll be able to lead again folks Jill and I are truly honored to join Michelle and Barack on this journey when I look at their young children when I look at my grandchildren I know why I'm here I'm here for their future I'm here for everyone I grew up with in Scranton in Wilmington I'm here for the cops and the firefighters the teachers and the assembly line workers the folks whose lives are the very measure of whether the American dream endorsed our greatest presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Roosevelt to John Kennedy they all challenged us to embrace change now it is our responsibility to meet that challenge millions of Americans have been knocked down and this is the time as America's together we get back up back up together our debt our debt to our parents and our grandparents is too great our obligation to our children is too sacred these are extraordinary times this is an extraordinary election the American people are ready I am ready Barack is ready this is his time this is our time this is America's time god Bless America and may God protect our troops thank you very much and honey tonight we have a very special surprise guest who hello Democrat I just wanted to come out here for a little little trumping to say I want everybody to now understand why I am so proud to have Joe Biden and Jill Biden and boban and Momma Biden and the whole bond family with me on this journey to take America back I think the conventions gone pretty well so far what do you think I think Michelle Obama kicked it off pretty well don't you if I'm not mistaken Hillary Clinton rocked the house last night and just in case you were wondering I think President Bill Clinton reminded us of what it's like when you've got a president who actually puts people first thank you president now we are going to be moving to Mile High Stadium tomorrow and I want to let you know why at the start of this campaign we had a very simple idea which is change in America doesn't start from the top up top down it starts from the bottom up then that change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things and so we want to open up this convention to make sure that everybody who wants to come can join in the party and join in the effort to take America back I think we are going to have a great night tomorrow night and I look forward to seeing you there god bless you god bless america

Channel: C-SPAN

Views: 309,783

Keywords: senator, joe, biden, vice, president, obama, cspan, c-span

Id: vvY9HxFJymY

Length: 32min 10sec (1930 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 27 2008