Biden tells African-American audience GOP ticket would put them "back in chains"

(CBS News) DANVILLE, Va. -- Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday told a diverse crowd here, including many African-Americans, that presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney would "put you all back in chains" by unshackling Wall Street.

Biden told more than 800 ticketed supporters that Romney wants to repeal the financial regulations enacted after the Wall Street crash of 2008. "He's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules - unchain Wall Street!" Biden said. Then he added, "They're going to put you all back in chains" with their economic and regulatory policies.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Biden's comments "are not acceptable in our political discourse and demonstrate yet again that the Obama campaign will say and do anything to win this election. President Obama should tell the American people whether he agrees with Joe Biden's comments."

Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager of the Obama campaign, called Saul's statement "faux outrage. She said on MSNBC that Biden was "using a metaphor to talk about what's going to happen" if Romney is elected and financial reform is repealed. and "we have no problem with those comments" in their full context.

The Obama campaign later put out a statement that said Biden's comment was a variation on comments Republicans have made about unshackling the private sector, and his own frequent references to the need to unshackle the middle class. "Today's comments were a derivative of those remarks, describing the devastating impact letting Wall Street write its own rules again would have on middle class families," the campaign said.

Biden is on a southern swing to North Carolina and Virginia this week. "With you we can win North Carolina," he said at the end of his speech, mistakenly referring to the bordering battleground state that he visited on Monday.

In the past month polls of Virginia have ranged from a tie to Obama ahead by 4 percentage points, within the poll's margin of error. North Carolina is also a toss-up.

[reformed_druid]

Unless the group all have amnesia, they should be aware that not one of them has ever spent time in chains unless they were ever violent felons. The comment should have pissed them all off, but of course it didn't because they were carefully chosen to be there.

On a side note, I can't help but wonder what restrictions it is that he thinks Romney/Ryan want to remove, because Obama declined to put any back in place claiming that it would hinder a recovery of the economy.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Who is Paul Ryan?

A catholic who rejects the teachings of Jesus Christ for the philosophy of atheist Ayn Rand. Nice pick Mitt

[olyboy]

The saddest thing about this whole thing is that many blacks in this country are still subject to slavery. The only difference is that the "master" is the democrat party that keeps them dependent on whatever handouts the government can give them in return for their vote rather than labor in the fields. The result is the same, they have little self-respect and live at the poverty level. Wouldn't it be nice if the leaders of the black community started to preach independence and personal reponsibility instead of doing the masters work of creating a culture of victimhood. The Obama/Biden/democrat system isn't working.

[nearl451]

Now that rationalization is silly.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Democrats are not the master but republicans are obviously the ku klux klan.

[bloominggarden]

Wow. OK. Where to begin?

1. It wasn't an African American audience. It had African Americans in it, but also many many other ethnicities. Misleading title, but why let facts stand in the way of a sensational lead?

2. It's OK for Romney and republicans to call Obama a socialist, "unAmerican," welfare president and other defamatory character attacks. It's OK for Romney and republicans to calll government regulations and the social safety net a "nanny state" that is "shackling" business. It's OK for Romney and the republicans to talk about "rationing" healthcare and death panels that don't exist. But Biden can't use a metaphor?

Feigning outrage and denouncing every single criticism against you doesn't give you an upper hand. It makes you look really, really weak and unable to stand up to attack. It makes you look like a faker--it's called flopping in basketball. Players want a foul call from the ref, so they fall down if someone breathes on them.

What is Romney going to do when other countries attack us with words or worse? Denounce them? Say it's un-gentlemanly? Grow a pair, Romney. Politics is a contact sport. It's not dressage.

[redought]

You wouldn't know class if it bit you.The same goes for Obama.

[Monkaroo]

As a former democrat. If I remember correctly. I have heard Democrats say much worst things about Republicans. The news just doesn't blow it up as much because the president is their guy. Secondly, the democrats have been saying for 30 years Republicans what to take medicare away and destroy healthcare. Hummm. 30 years later it still hasn't happend. I think people are wising up to that so now they'll have to resort to the real nasty lies like the Ads that have been running lately that even democrats say are despeciable.

[ex-obama-dem]

This is the most racist comment I've ever heard from a presidential cmpaign It's sickening.

[fiberglass3]

But TRUE.

[swanman823]

Once again a double standard. If a Republican had said this they would vilified in the press. Jesse, Al, and all the other board members of Racism, Inc. would be out marching in the streets. Here, it's just that wacky Joe at it again and Obama's degenerate campaign defends the comment. If anything, Obama has put us all in chains: the chains of high unemployment (especially blacks), the chains of gas prices that have doubled since Obama was inaugurated, the chains of national debt that will bankrupt our nation, the chains of hopelessness, the 47 Million people on food stamps in chains, more people in the chains of poverty than any time in our history.
This is all Obama can do when he is desperate, has no plan except punish the rich, and the Country is seeing he is a liar and a fraud.

[parrot2-2009]

You obviously are not paying attention - Romney already talked about Chains and UnSHACKLING these Chains last week, with no peep from the Dems. Dumb Dumb Repugs !!

[swanman823]

You are obviously parroting the Dem's talking points. Any moron would see the dissimilarity between "unshackling the private sector" and "they gonna put y'all back in chains" spoken with an insulting phony southern twang, before a predominately black audience. Can't you at least be somewhat intellectually honest?

[Magic-Sky-Daddy]

Romney made the comment last week that he was going to unshackle people from government and now Biden points out that he and Ryan have a different set of chains in mind.

If Romney can talk about chains why can't Biden?

Republicans like to dish it out but any reply to their lies and distortions and WHAA WHAH WHAA.

[CaptainSmollett]

What irony! What is putting folks in chains is poverty, unemployment, dependancy, and the lack of opportunity. And that's precisely the shackles this administration is putting on the working-class. Poverty has increased under Obama, unemployment seems a perpetual problem, a third of the population is receiving some form of welfare, and the Fed's economic outlook is "darkening". Obama is like the Pied Piper, playing his mesmerizing melody while he leads his followers off the cliff.

[Magic-Sky-Daddy]

Riighht. And the Romney - Ryan want to increase taxes on the lower income wage earners, gut medicare and slash social programs, plus lower taxes on the rich. But the military budget doesn't get touched. Probably because they think they will need it to put down civil unrest. And as far as the economy, it was Bush who gave us the worst recession since the Great Depression - with crushed retirement accounts, smashed home values and bailouts for Wall Street banksters who caused the crash.

[wfw3536]

How sad the Obama's campaign is using this racial remark as part of their dirty campaign against Romney and Ryan. Ms Cutter, one of Obama's campaign cheifs says Obama wouldn't have a problem with Biden remark in an interview today. First they try to link Romney to a women's death 6 years later, now they are going even lower. I guess when you can't run your record you have to sink into the mud.

[DawnGurl]

Obama and Biden are the scummiest pair to ever infest the Whitehouse. Are we supposed to do the same thing again for four more years? With these two low lives?