Joe Biden sounds like he’s had enough of Mitt Romney’s rhetoric.
The vice president flew into eastern Ohio today to counter a GOP argument that Democrats hope to sow “envy” between the middle class and the wealthy.
“I resent when they talk about families like mine that I grew up in,” the vice president said in a sometimes fiery speech at a manufacturing facility in Youngstown. “I resent the fact that they think we’re talking about envy, that’s it’s job envy, it’s wealth envy. That we don’t dream.”
“My mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams!” he said to mounting applause. “They don’t get us! They don’t get who we are.”
Echoing the campaign’s new TV ad hitting Romney’s record as the head of Bain Capital, Biden also accused the GOP presumptive nominee of gutting companies without regard for hundreds of employees who lost their jobs and benefits when they were shuttered.
“Romney made sure the guys on top got to play by a separate set of rules, he ran massive debts, and the middle class lost,” Biden said, taking no prisoners. “And folks, he thinks this experience will help our economy? Where I come from, past is prologue, man. So what do you think he’ll do as President?”
Biden argued that jobs in eastern Ohio are returning, highlighting the campaign’s focus on revitalizing the manufacturing industry.
“You know the difference between an economy that’s built on making things rather than on collateralized debt, creative credit default-swaps, financial instruments subprime mortgages,” he said. “That’s not how you grow an economy.”
Biden also promoted the Obama administration’s widely popular decision to bail out the auto industry three years ago. One in eight jobs in Ohio are related to the auto industry, as Biden pointed out in a tweet: In Ohio, 1 in 8 jobs relate to the auto industry—that’s 848,000 Ohioans whose jobs are more secure thanks to President Obama. #MadeInOhio “Folks, as you’ve begun to see in the Valley, things really are starting to come back. There are signs of hope in the heartland,” the vice president said. “Jobs are starting to come back. And the ones that are coming back are the kind you can build a middle class life on. Manufacturing jobs.” Hopefully, Biden’s tone and rhetoric will prove to be contagious and spread to other Democratic candidates. Ed will have a lot more to say about this tonight on The Ed Show at 8pET on msnbc!
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