Posted on 09/06/2008 1:48:05 PM PDT by Chet 99
Posted on Sat, Sep. 6, 2008
Biden gets mixed welcome in Northeast Local Dem leaders say race is issue for many voters
By DAVE DAVIES Philadelphia Daily News
daviesd@phillynews.com 215-854-2595 DEMOCRATIC vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden went stumping for votes yesterday in Northeast Philadelphia, where Democrats need to earn the love of Democrats who voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the April primary.
He worked a diner, gave a rousing speech on bread-and-butter issues at a union hall, and reeled off a memorable line tying the Republican candidate to the unpopular team in the White House.
"My friend John McCain and George Bush are joined at the hip," Biden said. "And we need a hip replacement very, very badly."
So how is the ticket doing with the Northeast's white working and middle-class voters?
Mike McAleer, the veteran Democratic ward leader of the 66th ward in the far Northeast, said Obama and Biden haven't closed the deal yet.
"The Dunkin' Donut crowd tells me that we've got everything going for us but Obama," McAleer said. "They can't give me a direct answer. Do I have them right now in the 66th ward? No. But I got 60 days to get them."
Asked what the problem is with Obama, McAleer paused and said: "It's his color . . . I tell them he's half white and half black. He's got a better perspective for everything in this country."
Joe Dougherty, business manager for Ironworkers Local 401, which hosted Biden's morning event, also said race is an issue for many Democrats.
"I hear it in the neighborhood, and I hear it in the union," Dougherty said. "But I remind them (Obama's) mother was white. He sees all sides, and he could be just what we need to bring this country together."
Biden talked to the crowd of about 200 senior citizens and union members about lower taxes, trade agreements that protect American jobs, and ending what he called the Republicans' "war on unions."
Later, Biden and Gov. Rendell worked the lunchtime crowd at The Dining Car, a neighborhood spot on Frankford Avenue.
Biden smiled, laughed, shook hands and sometimes hugged diners or slid into booths next to them. Sometimes he felt the love coming back, and sometimes he didn't.
Charles Daukas said he'd vote for the Obama-Biden team.
"Put it this way, if Hillary was running I would have really went hard for it," Daukas said. "But I'm a Democrat."
In a corner booth, Biden sat down and, after a moment's conversation, planted a kiss on the forehead of Carolyn Bauer, age 89. Bauer explained afterward it wasn't such a friendly encounter.
"I told him I'm not going to vote for him," Bauer said. "Anybody who runs with a guy with a name like that is not going to get my vote. It'd be disgusting to get a man named Barack Obama as president of the United States. No way. I mean it . . . I'm going to vote for McCain and the lady."
"[Obama's] a Muslim," Bauer added. "He pretends to be a Christian, and he isn't, he's a Muslim."
Obama has attended Christian churches for years, and his children are baptized.
After his stops in Northeast Philadelphia, Biden attended a rally in Langhorne. *
I saw the dust-up about Oprah not having Sarah Palin on her show. I say FINE; this breathless hypocrisy is from someone who aligns with the party who wants to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Can we all say “delicious irony”?
It matches the less-humorous ironic thrust of this story that it is Democrats who are considering voting or not voting for Bam-jo based on race, something they always ascribe to us eeeeeeevil pubbies. And that, dear FReepers, is called “projection”.
Haha, I noticed that too! (Full disclosure, there’s a reason that I wear longer skirts as well. . .)
Palin woulda’ made that line work. Biden couldn’t and never will. Biden’s hair plugs are shouting “abandon ship!”
Women are a majority of voters. Blacks are not. Of which would you rather have a large percentage of vote?
“What I thought was the most offensive about that statement was denigrating his WHITE grandmother who raised him”
A lot like that Halle Berry acting chick with a white mother who raised her, and a black father who deserted them. She disses her mother and gloms on to dear ol’ dad ‘cause it’s more beneficial to her career.
She should have double swatted him with a piece of ham loaf and scrapple./Just Asking - seoul62.........
Well there is a lot of that in this state too.. but I don’t think that alone is going to cost him the election... I think its more of the beginning of the pre-emptive excuses for when he gets spanked.
Face it, no matter how much better McCain and Palin campaign and do against Fauxbama... when he loses the press will declare the loss to be nothing but because of racism.
I can find folks who are going to call McCain and all republicans the devil as well.
What this does show is that even around Philly, where Fauxbama must absolutely dominate, and I’m talking 80%+ of that region MUST vote for him to have any chance of carrying the state, he’s not connecting with the blue dogs and the working class folks. Which is the reason he won’t win PA, they’ll blame it on skin color, but reality his, he’s all hat, no cattle, and folks in PA are not going to fall for it.
Without a doubt. The fact that he's a Marxist with no resume will never occur to our media "elites."
Fascinating sentence. OBAMA HAS NOT BEEN BAPTIZED!!
Remember when Hillary was booed in Washington after 9-11? The "press" didn't even cover it.
If the MSM is going after Biden, it means the top people in the dem party want Biden out and Hillary in. Don't be fooled by this looking like a "balanced" piece...
Remember when Hillary was booed in Washington after 9-11? The "press" didn't even cover it.
If the MSM is going after Biden, it means the top people in the dem party want Biden out and Hillary in. Don't be fooled by this looking like a "balanced" piece...
BTW, Biden just said that candidates families are off limits. Someone should make it clear to him that when you run for POTUS, nothing is off limits.
Obama was baptized in 1988.
Thanks. I wonder why the article worded that sentence so strangely.
Barack Obama's father was also named Barack Obama. He's just Obama Jr.
Barack is Arabic and Swahili for "blessed;" the Hebrew equivalent is Baruch.
There's also a Hebrew name, "Barak" which means "lightning."
The MSM protected Clinton's daughter through college.
They protected that scoundrel John Edwards up until a tabloid ran a picture of him holding a baby.
They protected Clinton when he was accused of rape.
They protected Teddy Kennedy when he acted as a coward and left a woman to drown in a car.
They protected Jack Kennedy when he was hanging with mob women.
They protected Obama's cocaine use... - but NOT Sarah's husband's third beer 20 years ago.
And a Republican seventeen year old?? No way... the MSM took on a 17 year old child who was pregnant - and they ran with it. And they were looking for more.
They're disgusting.
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