Biden vs. Romney

[ProSense]

Mitt Romney: Joe Biden's vision of dignity and opportunity is 'a fantasyland'

by Laura Clawson

Vice President Joe Biden, writing in the Des Moines Register:

The president and I firmly believe, like my father, that every man and woman is entitled to basic dignity. And we believe deeply in opportunity — that if you work hard and play by the rules, no opportunity should be out of reach. That is a fundamentally different vision than what the other side has proposed. [...]

We believe in reducing the deficit in a fair, balanced and responsible way. They refuse to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires to reduce the deficit, even if they are given $10 dollars in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. [...]

Quite simply, the president and I believe this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules. That is how we define opportunity. It’s an America where everyone has a fair chance to go as far as their talents and drive will take them, and where the middle class is growing, not shrinking.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's response:

Romney said Biden and President Barack Obama don't "understand from fantasyland what it's like in real America."

Well ... what Biden wrote was explicitly aspirational. But basic dignity, fairness and opportunity are a fantasy Mitt Romney wants to mock?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/23/1048290/-Mitt-Romney:-Joe-Bidens-vision-of-dignity-and-opportunity-is-a-fantasyland

[gateley]

1. Bwah! Biden and Obama don't understand what it's like in Real America? Romney does?

God, that's rich.

[livvy]

3. I'm sure he was just joking....not. What an out of touch asshat.

It never ceases to amaze me the stuff that people like Romney come up with. He has no idea what life is like for the average American, let alone those that are less fortunate. Our governator here in Michigan commented about a proposed hike in vehicle registration of $10 a month. He just couldn't understand how people could object since it was just like two trips to Starbucks. A little out of touch.
Biden, what a gem. Now, he gets it, and Obama knows what it's like to have to live under a budget as well.

[gateley]

5. Biden was the second "poorest" Senator, and I just recently read an article entitled

Obama, Clinton and Biden: The Wealthy, Wealthier and…Not So Wealthy.

Obama wasn't able to pay off his student loans until he made money off of his first book. Biden had (probably still has) two mortgages, put his kids through school, etc., etc. (as you well know). He's a lot closer to where the rest of us are, but with the DC perks.

I think Hillary and Bill, being older and having made wads of money, are a bit more removed, but still get it.

Romney honestly doesn't have a clue. It's frightening.

[karynnj]

8. That is why it was a stroke of genius to have Biden counter this

Coming from him, the comments are not just sincere, but they are not impeachable by saying that he is too far removed to understand. Although it is easy to point to FDR and the Kennedys to show that personal experience with poverty is not needed to have empathy for the poor - or, in this case, the middle class, it is good when you do not need to defend that.

There are few people who lives were less touched by ever having to worry about money that Romney's - he was born to it and never had a stage in his life when he did not have it. (The fact that he has tried to make his time as a missionary that is silly. Though that might have been a key religious experience for him, it was also something that was, by definition, short term and had there been a real emergency, he would have had the money needed as fast as Western Union could have gotten it there. )

[demtenjeep]

2. Mitts and his money family are the ones living in fantasy

!

[The Genealogist]

4. I hope Mitt keeps up his elitist snobbery

The way things are for many people in this country, he looks terrible. He pretends to know what it is like to be poor or have very little disposable income, but he does a terrible job with it. He sounds so fake. He is a blue-blood through and through, and likely always will be, no matter what he pretends to be and to really know about.

[gateley]

6. I had to roar when I saw him being a "real guy" in his jeans, crisp shirt (with sleeves rolled

up to indicate he's just like the rest of us) and Sperry topsiders. His Real Person Just Like You look screamed what we used to call Preppy. It was hysterical. And embarrassing.

[The Genealogist]

9. Indeed, about everything I have seen him wearing besides suits, screams "preppy"

He always looks like he is going out yachting or truffle hunting or whatever else it is rich people do for leisure. And I always expect him to be doing his rich guy activities with people named Muffy, Tiffy and Buffy or something like that.

Nothing says to poor Americans "I feel your pain" than dressing like you just went ape-shit on a Ralph Lauren bender.

[hifiguy]

7. Joe Biden has forgotten more about

what it is to be an average American than Willard could ever buy.

Pathetic.

Joe rocks!