In Southern Virginia, Biden Tries to Connect

By: Ryan Corsaro
Topics: Joe Biden

(CBS)

From CBS News' Ryan Corsaro:

(CASTLEWOOD, VA.) - Joe Biden attended an annual outdoor Virginia fish fry this afternoon, where he addressed union members from the United Mining Workers of America.

Calling John McCain a great soldier but not a wise leader, Biden warned rural gunowners that Republicans would use the Second Amendment to scare voters out of choosing a Democratic ticket.

"I guarantee you, Barack Obama ain't taking my shotguns, so don't buy that malarkey. Don't buy that malarkey. They're going to start peddling that to you. I got two, if he tries to fool with my Beretta, he's got a problem. I like that little over and under, you know? I'm not bad with it."

Workers heard from Gov. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and a rousing introduction of Biden by UMWA President Cecil Roberts, who said an Obama Biden presidency would support "American workers, not Chinese Communist workers."

Biden took the stage atop a sunny hilltop above Virginia coal country and told the crowd, "Hope you won't hold it against me, but I am a hard coal miner -- anthracite coal. Scranton, Pennsylvania, that's where I was born and raised."

Biden said that there weren't many differences between people where he was from and the folks from southern Virginia, insisting they shared the same values of family and faith.

"It's not much different. Different accent," he said, drawling his speech. "They all don't talk quite as funny as y'all do you down here you know what I mean, up there in Scranton." His voice dropped to a low, monosyllabic booming, "They ALL TALK LIKE THIS there in Scranton, you know what I mean?"

"Only people from coal country truly know what it means to have to get back up."

He told the mine workers that though they may forget sometimes, "You basically started the whole union movement in America. You're the ones back up in my part of the country which were the ones that went on strike and got the living hell beaten out of ya'. You were the ones out there who said that everyone's entitled to some treatment."

He used mining regulations to segue into the topic of the economy and the financial woes suffered this week in the market, saying the problems with the market were caused by the same thing that caused deaths in the Sago mine disaster.

"What happened? What happened was we cut all these regulations. These regulations were all talked about as being bad. The regulations that save our lives, protect our savings, protect our interests."

Biden quoted an article written by McCain, published this month in the magazine Contingencies, where McCain said he would open up the health care insurance market to national competition, as had been done with banking, to offer more choices by getting rid of state regulation.

"Translated?" said Biden. "Get rid of the regulations, get rid of the protection, and hang on to your health insurance. Ladies and gentlemen, this guy's not learned anything."

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by justgran September 22, 2008 1:38 AM EDT: Sarah Palin%u2019s selection by John McCain completes the dream ticket the American people have prayed for to clean up national politics. Virginia mine workers are too smart to fall for Biden''s insulting mockery of local dialect. And they are too smart to let their union leader''s endorsement make them vote for the "Empty Suit" and the Presidential primary drop-out. These guys can very well make up their patriotic own minds!; Reply to this comment


by justgran September 22, 2008 1:29 AM EDT: How insulting! What kind of idiots does Joseph R. Biden Jr. think make up his audience? What arrogance!; Reply to this comment


by maestro4660 September 21, 2008 11:40 PM EDT: Biden''s pandering is completely insulting to the intelligence of gun owners.
Don''t think they''re buying it for one second. Combined with the disingenuous carrying on by Obama and Biden, with the ''pholksy'' dialects they put on while patronizing everyone on this issue, this issue alone will likely lose them the election. It is so transparently insincere, it is nauseating.
Biden and Obama could never likely round up all the guns under their watch, but they can and would do serious damage to this right, by relentless, incremental baby steps. It would start with so-called semi automatic assault weapons, You know, the ones that are used in less than 1/10th of a percent of gun crime. (FBI uniform crime report). They are just ugly enough, and look menacing enough to be excellent target of a gun ban.

There is very good reason to protect these weapons in particular. Part of the myriad of reasons our founders created the Second Amendment is so that the People would have an ultimate recourse against future tyranny. Sure, we won''t have outright gun confiscation a broad scale . . . right away. But until we draw a permanent line in the sand, and specifically codify the limits of government infringement in our courts and legislatures, me may depend on a relentless chipping away of this fundamental right to keep and bear until one day we will look up, and the right will have ceased to exist.; Reply to this comment


by maestro4660 September 21, 2008 11:39 PM EDT: Biden''s pandering is completely insulting to the intelligence of gun owners.
Don''t think they''re buying it for one second. Combined with the disingenuous carrying on by Obama and Biden, with the ''pholksy'' dialects they put on while patronizing everyone on this issue, this issue alone will likely lose them the election. It is so transparently insincere, it is nauseating.
Biden and Obama could never likely round up all the guns under their watch, but they can and would do serious damage to this right, by relentless, incremental baby steps. It would start with so-called semi automatic assault weapons, You know, the ones that are used in less than 1/10th of a percent of gun crime. (FBI uniform crime report). They are just ugly enough, and look menacing enough to be excellent target of a gun ban.

There is very good reason to protect these weapons in particular. Part of the myriad of reasons our founders created the Second Amendment is so that the People would have an ultimate recourse against future tyranny. Sure, we won''t have outright gun confiscation a broad scale . . . right away. But until we draw a permanent line in the sand, and specifically codify the limits of government infringement in our courts and legislatures, me may depend on a relentless chipping away of this fundamental right to keep and bear until one day we will look up, and the right will have ceased to exist.; Reply to this comment


by nonesoblind September 21, 2008 1:08 AM EDT: Biden is the real deal...and he''s really smart...and he''s been around the block a few times.

Obama/Biden -- they''re the good, real, smart guys who''ll get things done and tell you the truth.

Yes, we can if we work together!; Reply to this comment


by cacatua08 September 20, 2008 11:05 PM EDT: That''s right Joe, I''m not worried, and we''ve got lots of guns. My smallest is a snub-nosed .357 S&W wheel gun, and my biggest is a Holland&Holland double rifle, .577 black powder express!

McCain & the Republicans are just using the same old Fear & Smear tactics. Obama''s cool - after all he picked you for VP! That shows that he has good judgment! He wants people around him who will tell him what they think, not just be "Yes Men" like Bush. He knows that you will call malarky as it is - malarky!; Reply to this comment