Joe Biden Defends ‘Decent’ GOP Lawmakers: ‘There’s An Awful Lot Of Really Good Republicans Out There’
During a campaign fundraiser held at Cape Cod on Saturday, former Vice President Joe Biden defended Republicans in Congress as “decent people,” Raw Story reports.
“There’s an awful lot of really good Republicans out there,” the Democratic front-runner said, before acknowledging that his previous praise of Republicans had generated criticism and controversy.
“I get in trouble for saying that with Democrats,” he said.
According to Biden, he was only able to cut deals with Republicans in Congress while vice president because they are “decent,” and know that he respects them.
Biden recalled how “every time we ever got in trouble with our administration, remember who got sent up to Capitol Hill to fix it? Me. Because they know I respect the other team. I do.”
“They’re decent people. They ran because they care about things, but they’re intimidated right now.”
Biden’s most recent statement echoes many of his previous remarks. In May, he predicted that the Republican Party will have an “epiphany,” and start working with members of the Democratic Party once President Donald Trump is no longer in the White House.
News outlets across the political spectrum criticized his remarks. The Washington Examiner, a right-leaning publication, wrote that Biden is “living in Fantasyland,” pointing out that the political landscape in the Untied States had significantly changed over the past few decades, and that both parties are now more ideological.
The publication also noted that Republicans in Congress refused to work with former President Barack Obama, choosing instead to obstruct his presidency and block his legislative agenda as much as possible. The paper concluded that the days of bipartisanship are long gone, writing that the “opening for bipartisanship would entail a longer-term structural change,” which has nothing to do with who occupies the White House.
Obama worries Biden's 2020 bid could 'damage his legacy': report https://t.co/HSS5OUJcEy pic.twitter.com/BEaDPbUHzK
— New York Post (@nypost) August 17, 2019
“Someone please tell Joe Biden that bipartisanship is dead,” left-leaning journal The New Republic wrote, reminding the former vice president that Republicans had opposed “virtually everything proposed” by Obama. Even Obama’s longtime allies dismissed Biden’s calls for bipartisanship, with former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid describing them as either “delusional or dishonest.”
The New Republic also pointed out that Biden frequently describes Trump — a president who the Republican Party has fully embraced — as an “existential threat” to the country, while at the same time calling for bipartisanship and vowing to work with Republicans, seemingly viewing them as colleagues, and not political opponents.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Biden has also praised George W. Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, and the current Vice President Mike Pence, describing both men as “decent.”
