“I must tell you, had Donald Trump been president I would have thrown my body in front of him … to keep him from going if the judgment was based on Trump’s decision”.
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How could there be pleasure in division and you’re fired. “It’s such a bunch of malarkey”.
Even as polls show her leading Trump, Clinton has faced lingering questions about her trustworthiness in the fallout of her use of a private email server as secretary of state and over her family’s sprawling foundation. And they deserve someone who’s made of the same stuff.
Biden spoke about twice as long as Clinton, delivering a sometimes wandering but always fond endorsement of Clinton as a seasoned public servant who “gets it” about economic changes that have left some parts of the country behind.
Among the day’s set pieces beyond the rally was a trip to the home Biden grew up in, just blocks from where Clinton’s father’s family lived.
“Hillary understands the hopes and aspirations of the people in Claymont and Scranton and of every Scranton and Claymont in the United States of America”, he said, name-checking both the Pennsylvania town he was born in and the DE town where he grew up.
Still, he directly blamed the president and Clinton, who served as Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, for backing policies that “unleashed” the group, including withdrawing US troops from Iraq in late 2011.
The scene, Biden surrounded by Clinton campaign banners and with the Democratic nominee seated behind him, was a far cry from his last high-profile appearance here almost three years ago to the day. “And the American Dream is big enough for everyone to share in its promise”, she said, saving her biggest words for her attacks on the GOP nominee.
Biden brought up Trump’s past praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, whom Trump once credited for killing terrorists while also saying he was “a bad guy”.
Biden launched his cancer moonshot initiative after his son, Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015.
Biden flirted past year with his own run for president, a decision that would have scrambled the race and could have imperiled Clinton’s campaign. When Trump said his businesses provide child care for workers, it perked me up.
Monday’s event was originally scheduled for last month, but was canceled in the aftermath of an ambush in Dallas that killed five police officers.
Biden’s folksy demeanor and ability to connect with working-class voters is considered an asset for Clinton-particularly among blue collar white male voters who lean towards Trump, her Republican rival. People say he lacks good temperament.
Famous for his gregarious personality and unfiltered style, Biden is the latest in a string of high-profile Democrats to hit the road for Clinton. The vice president is expected to campaign on Clinton’s behalf in several battleground states where he remains popular, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Florida.
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Perhaps the most personal local shout out was for Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds Evie McNulty-her elected office isn’t usually on the list of mentions from a presidential nominee, but Clinton made exception. The former DE senator’s ability to connect with middle- and working-class voters will be especially potent in battleground Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania and OH, where economic frustrations are running high.
