Biden Says McCain Is Alone With View of a Strong Economy
(CANTON, OHIO) - Joe Biden continued to criticize John McCain's economic views following the sharp drops on Wall Street, and pointed to a White House spokeswoman's refusal yesterday to answer the question if the president feels the economy is strong.
"John McCain stands alone now, even with Bush, stands alone now with saying the fundamentals of the economy are strong," Biden said to a crowd of supporters outside of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. "He is totally out of touch with the problems of average people."
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino backed off as question yesterday over whether the fundamentals of the economy are strong – a line used many times by President Bush.
"I recognize that this issue of `strength' has come into the 2008 election," Perino said. "I'm not going to try to get involved in it."
Sarah Palin defended McCain last night on Fox News, saying that by fundamentals, McCain was talking about the members of the American workforce being strong.
At one point, Biden stopped his speech momentarily when a few protestors had their anti-abstinence only signs ripped away from them by people in the crowd.
When the protestors began chanting that abstinence only education was "baloney" Biden interrupted them before defending their cause.
"Now it's my turn okay," said Biden. "That's alright I'll be happy to talk, I'll talk about that in a minute, don't, don't, no, no, don't take their signs, I happen to agree with them, I happen to agree with you, I happen to agree with you, but just let me to get a chance to talk about it."
While Biden didn't mention abstinence in the remainder of his speech, he did shake hands with a majority of the crowd, including many standing near the protestors. However, being kept out of earshot from reporters, it was unclear if he spoke directly to any of the protestors on the matter.