Biden: Democrats have lost faith in the American people
Sen. Joe Biden said in an interview at the New Hampshire Union Leader this afternoon that too many Democrats, including the frontrunners for the presidential nomination, do not have faith in the American people.
“We’ve got to trust the American people more,” Biden said.
“I think they’ve really lost faith in the American people in terms of leveling with them,” he said of his leading rivals.
When he asks groups of Democrats if they think the American people are stupid because they elected George W. Bush twice, most respond that, yes, they do, he said. He said he thinks that attitude is a real problem for the Democrats, who fail to understand how smart and pragmatic the American people really are.
Biden was generally critical of the far left wing of his party and of the strategies the frontrunners are using to win the nomination.
Asked if he thinks, as he suggested recently in another interview, that the other candidates tend to think the American people are stupid or easily fooled, he said, “Well, I do.”
“It’s not even so much they don’t trust, which is a piece of it,” he said. It’s that they think that “the way to win is the Bill Clinton triangulation and the Karl Rove angering.”
“It’s the thesis that you go to your base because people don’t vote. Well, why don’t they vote?” he asked. He said he thinks people don’t vote because they’re tired of the way politicians treat them.
He said Democrats would do better if they stopped dividing the electorate by playing to their base and instead brought people together. He criticized the left wing of his party for demonizing the rich and Republicans.
“Rich folks are as patriotic as poor folks, but we don’t talk that way,” he said.
The Democratic frontrunners err by running what he calls a 20+5 state strategy to win the general election, he said. They want to win the same 20 blue states the party always wins, and five more. It’s a plan to make a play for Ohio, Florida and other tossup states “and hope you draw to an inside straight.”
“I don’t want to be President if that’s the way I have to win, because I can’t govern that way,” he said. He said that as President he would hope to have enough red state support to get his legislation through Congress.
If he gets the nomination, he would run on a 15 red-state strategy. He thinks he can win 15 red states — such as Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri — which would give him enough of a base of support in Congress to govern effectively.
He said some of his rivals, especially Hillary Clinton, will turn out Republican voters. “They’re going to be lightning rods,” he said.
When Hillary Clinton has bragged about how she upsets the right wing, he said he’s wanted to tell her, “If you weren’t the nominee, the right wing would not be so exercised.”
He doesn’t think he would draw as much conservative ire and could even win over independents and some Republicans, he said.
What to think about this tough talk about his own party? He was talking with the publisher and editorial writer of the New Hampshire Union Leader, as well as our chief political reporter, so perhaps he was playing to the crowd. But he knew the interview was on the record and was being recorded, and he certainly wasn’t afraid that it would come back to bite him later. He acknowledged that such comments get him into trouble with liberals, but he expressed what seemed to be genuine frustration with what he saw as missed opportunities to broaden the party’s appeal.
Some of his talk about the other candidates being lightning rods for conservatives might have been an attempt to warn Democrats against voting for them, but given the level of anti-Clinton sentiment on the right it’s hard to say that his analysis was inaccurate. He certainly wouldn’t motivate Republicans to the polls the way Hillary Clinton would. My impression is that by and large his criticism of his own party was sincere.
As an aside, on his line about Rudy Giuliani’s entire campaign being a verb, a noun and 9/11, he admitted that he didn’t make it up. “I got that from a friend of mine,” he said.
Comment from J.T. in Tempe, Ariz.: Biden is a fine exmple of the typical democrat politician-arrogant, stupid, and totally clueless.
Comment from Scott in Wallingford: He is never afraid to give it to us straight. His clear leadership, experience and honesty are reasons why I’m voting for him.
Comment from Daniel in Omaha: I disagree with Biden on many issues but I admire straight talk like this from a politician.
Comment from Shelby in Atlanta: Joe Biden is exactly the kind of presidential candidate that could re-unite this country, living up to Bush’s failed pledge to be a “uniter.” He has impeccable Democratic credentials in terms of ratings from our usual position groups (ACLU, NAACP, labor etc.), but is still honest enough and has the national security expertise to draw some of my Republican family into his camp.
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Joe Biden tells the truth
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Trackback by Wizbang — November 9, 2007 @ 1:37 pm