Biden Knocks Romney for Binder Comment, '1950s Time Warp' on Women

GREELEY, Colo. - Vice President Joe Biden hammered away at Mitt Romney over women's issues, saying the former Massachusetts governor is living in a "1950's time warp" and mocking his reliance on "binders full of women" to find qualified women to serve on his cabinet.

"You heard the debate last night," Biden told a crowd of more than 1,000 at the Island Grove Regional Park Exhibition Hall. "When Gov. Romney was asked a direct question about equal pay, he started talking about binders. Whoa! The idea that he had to go and ask where a qualified woman was, he just should have come to my house. He didn't need a binder.

"For good measure, Romney said, on multiple occasions, that he wants to get rid of Planned Parenthood," Biden added. "Look, talk about being out of touch. It's not just the Swiss bank accounts and the Cayman Islands. No, really isn't. It's more than that. That I understand him doing. I can't understand someone running for president doing [it], but I can understand him doing it. … But what I can't understand is how he has gotten in this sort of 1950s time warp in terms of women."

Biden continued to criticize Romney's stance on equal pay, saying "he didn't answer the question" when asked about it during Tuesday night's debate and noted a Romney adviser said the Massachusetts governor did not support the The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which countered pay discrimination based upon age, religion, national origin, race, sex and disability.

"His senior adviser said last night in - they call it the spin room - when Romney was asked about, when they're asked about did Romney support Lilly Ledbetter, which is just basic, minimal justice, he said Romney would have vetoed it."

The vice president lauded President Obama's performance at Tuesday's presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York, calling the president a "man of principle, a man of gumption, a man with a steady hand and a clear vision.

"That's what America got to see last night," he said. "And I am telling you, it's presumptive of me to say as vice president, but I am proud of him."

Biden pointed out that Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have shied away from offering specifics in the past three debates.

"Gov. Romney was a little, how can I say it - sketchy?" Biden said. "No details, no specifics. But folks, that's not new. We've now had three debates. Gov. Romney twice, Congressman Ryan once - and the answers are always the same: 'Maybe. It depends. We'll let you know after the election.' Folks, these are the only guys I've ever heard, out of any guys I've ever met, who thought that not telling you now, but telling you after the election, constituted leadership."

While he delivered his normal criticisms of Romney and Ryan's tax plan and creating incentives for companies to invest overseas, Biden focused heavily on immigration, saying Romney's stance on the issue shows he's "out of touch with the American people."

"They support the action taken by the president to lift the cloud of deportation off a million kids that were brought here - as if they're going to say, at 2 years old, 'Mom, I don't want to cross that border. Leave me behind, Mom. That's what I want to do,'" he said. "And now, these guys are talking about these bright young kids and going to send them home. Home? Home? This is home. This is home. America is home. They didn't choose to come here, but they chose to do right by America, and the president believes it's time to do right by them."

Biden ribbed Romney for his suggestion that undocumented immigrants should self-deport.

"Self-deportation?" he asked. "Whoa. Every 13-year-old, get up and move, man."

Biden, who was campaigning alongside Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., has visited Colorado five times as vice president But today's trip marked his first visit of 2012. Biden encouraged Colorado voters to vote early and assured them that a victory in Colorado will win Obama and Biden the election.

"Folks, we need you, because together we can win Colorado - and we win Colorado, we win this election," Biden said. "So let's go. Let's stand up. We're going to win. Let's move forward. God bless you all and may God protect our troops."