Biden: Obama's bin Laden mission was most "audacious" plan in 500 years

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a union hall in Toledo, Ohio, Thursday March 15, 2012.

/ AP Photo/Madalyn Ruggiero

Vice President Joe Biden on Monday lauded President Obama for his leadership in the mission to take out Osama bin Laden last May, telling donors at a New Jersey fundraiser that you could not find a "more audacious plan" if you went back in history 500 years.

"You can go back 500 years. You cannot find a more audacious plan. Never knowing for certain. We never had more than a 48 percent probability that [bin Laden] was there," said Biden, in Morris Township, New Jersey, according to a White House pool report.

"Do any one of you have a doubt that if that raid failed that this guy would be a one-term president?" he asked. "This guy is willing to do the right thing and risk losing."

Tickets for the event, which was in support of Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, cost from $1,000 to $5,000. According to the Menendez campaign, about 140 people attended.

Biden, in his remarks, said he spends between four and six hours a day with Mr. Obama, and that he gets to be "the last guy in the room" with him.

"I watch this guy make decisions. I watch him make decisions. And I'm telling you, man, this guy is not only smart as hell, he is absolutely ready to make the decision and stand back and live with it," Biden said. "No whining."

Osama bin Laden was killed almost a year ago after Mr. Obama approved a top-secret raid, carried out by an elite team of United States Navy SEALs, at a highly fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, had been living.

Biden also praised Menendez for making hard decisions on behalf of the middle class, pointing specifically to the New Jersey Democrat's support for the Recovery Act,

"It was incredibly unpopular, even among Democrats. But he stood up - he stood up - took a lot of crap. And where are we?" said Biden. "I can tell you on behalf of the President of the United States, both he and I owe Bob. Not only the country owes him - we owe him."

Biden said he was optimistic about America's future.

"I give you my word as a Biden I'm more optimistic about the United States chances in the world today than when I got elected 40 years ago as a 29-year-old kid," he said.

[seerclearly]

Not an Obama supporter here... more of a tolerator. But I can easily think of some campaigns in WWII that made the Bin Laden mission look like child's play.

[kce94544]

Liberal hubris? Obama has a keen tactical military mind greater than any military leader of the 20th century...yeah, right. Bashar al-Assad must be shaking in his boots fretting Obama's next "audacious" plan.

[seerclearly]

Maybe he should. Assad is an easy target.

[skivtyo]

"Can you imagine if Quale, Palin, Newt, GWB or any other republican said this nonsense? He would be mocked as a fool....instead this moron continues along his merry way."

So True

[MinniePearlJam]

Then again, this is the same fool that told us President Roosevelt went on television the day after the stock market crash of '29 to calm the nation. That was an amazing feat considering that Roosevelt wasn't President, and that televion didn't exist.

[SJames6621]

who told you that lie - Faux news or the fatso pig Limbaugh

All bought and paid for by the people who gave us the almost great 2nd repub depression

[Foolscap001]

@SJames6621: check out http://www.factcheck.org/2008/09/biden-fdr-and-the-invention-of-television/. From that page: "Biden told Couric: 'When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed.'" The page includes video of Biden saying that to Katie Couric in an interview that aired on September 22, 2008 on, of all places, CBS Evening News.

[MinniePearlJam]

Yeah, Joe. That Normandy invasion and the Battle of Midway were peanuts compared to this. What an utter moron.

[lsu_tiger_fan_72]

500 years? Really Biden? How does the Democratic party even let you out on your own?

As other posters said, D-Day, Iwo Jima, Battle of Midway, Battle of the Bulge... and that's just WW2.

[dman6015]

Did you ever notice the connection: Biden...BIn laDEN, oBama...oSama? Almost like it was pre-ordained that these two would bring him down.

[seerclearly]

Did you know you can write any sentence you want with the letters that are used in the Bible?

[martymarsh]

Bin Laden was dead 10 years ago when they sent in the bunker busters.

[endurorob_5]

That statment just shows the arrogance of this administration. What a bunch of clowns.

[[e-mail]]

Biden is an absolute idiot - he is like your favorite Uncle telling stories at the holiday party - good for a chuckle on the ride home.

Unfortunately this intellectual lightweight is one seat away from the Presidency.

Can you imagine if Quale, Palin, Newt, GWB or any other republican said this nonsense? He would be mocked as a fool....instead this moron continues along his merry way.

Not only did lemminghunter list a few of the hundreds of missions which were more daring then this one, the stakes for others...such as national survival, for instance....were often a tad bit higher.

BTW - nothing is to take away from a fantastic mission and a gutty call by the President, but reinforces the absolute lack of brainpower, knowledge, and awkward slips-into-hyperbole which characterize this plagerizing fool of a senator.

Honsetly - if it wasn't for his telegenic look and love afair with Tim Russert on Meet The Press, he would have remained irrelevant and forgotten - but as a frequent guest heois stature was elevated far beyond his abilities.