Biden Calls Romney 'Out of Touch' on Foreign Policy
YORK, Pa. -Vice President Joe Biden went on the attack today against Mitt Romney's foreign policy positions, calling the Republican presidential candidate "out of touch."
"Listen to what he says about foreign policy, you caught some of it in his speech. He said it was a mistake to end the war in Iraq and bring all of our warriors home. He said it was a mistake to set an end date for our warriors in Afghanistan and bring them home. He implies by the speech that he's ready to go to war in Syria and Iran," Biden, kicking off his Labor Day weekend campaign spree, told a crowd at West York Area High School
"He wants to move from cooperation to confrontation with Putin's Russia. And these guys say the president's out of touch? Out of touch? Swiss bank account, untold millions in the Cayman Islands. Who's out of touch, man?" Biden continued.
Romney briefly touched on foreign policy in his acceptance speech Thursday at the Republican National Convention, saying "every American is less secure today" because the president has failed to deal with Iran's nuclear weapons and criticized the president's handling of issues in Israel and Russia.
"He's eager to give Russia's president Putin the flexibility he desires after the election," Romney said Thursday. "Under my presidency our friends will see more loyalty and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone."
Biden detailed how he believes Romney and Paul Ryan's budget plans hurt the middle class and quoted former President Bill Clinton in calling the Republican ticket "Bush on steroids." The vice president also tweaked one of Ryan's lines from his speech Wednesday in which he said, "The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves."
"I'd like to change the quote of my distinguished colleague, Congressman Ryan," Biden said. "I think the truest measure of a political party is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves."
When Biden referred to Ryan's false claim that a Janesville, Wis., General Motors plant closed under Obama's watch - the plant actually closed while President George W. Bush was still in office - the crowd booed, but the vice president took a line from his boss to quiet them down.
"I don't need you booing, I need you voting," Biden said.
Biden's stop in York, which drew a crowd of 1,400 according to the superintendent of schools, was the first of the vice president's two-day "Road to Charlotte" tour ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. this week. President Obama is conducting a "Road to Charlotte" tour of his own in the days before the DNC.