"I Got One With Bono, But I Think You Might Be Better"
LISBON, OH -- Joe Biden said he would be disappointed if John McCain were to carry Bill Ayers into tomorrow night's final presidential debate, criticizing the Republican's campaign tactics as "over the top."
The Delaware senator, responding to questions from members of the traveling press for the first time in more than a month during a stop at the Steel Trolley Diner, said that to sustain his momentum Barack Obama should handle the last debate just as he did the two prior.
"What the debate has shown, the last two debates, is a guy who's confident and steady, and a guy who's not quite sure of where he wants to take the country," Biden said as he waited for a cheeseburger at the diner counter. "All Barack's got to do is repeat the performance he's had the last two times out. I feel good about it, I have total confidence in him."
Biden has been very critical of his friend McCain of late, and he assailed him last week for not having the gumption to raise in person, not just at stump events and in media interviews, some of his campaign's criticisms of Obama. Asked if he's tried to send that message to McCain personally, the Delaware senator said he hasn't spoken to him in some time, but that "John knows my views."
"I expressed them in a slightly different way earlier," he said. "[But] I think this is all about - all these people in this diner. ... They want to know what is John McCain, what is Barack Obama going to do to change their circumstance."
The Ayers attack line, Biden claimed, is off-base since Obama was just a child when Ayers was a radical.
"I know about him, but I've never met him.," he said. "But you know, I think the average person looks out there and sees this guy who they say is a known terrorist, and I think they - the vast majority of the American people associate terrorism with, you know, radical Islamic groups and al Qaida. I just think it's - I think it's over the top."
The stop here came as Biden works his way through eastern Ohio, hitting some of the working-class communities that Hillary Clinton carried in the March Democratic primary. He attempted to order the famous Governor's Oatmeal Pie, a favorite of Democrat Ted Strickland but was told they were sold out. Still, he basked in a rock-star reception.
"I got one with Bono, but I think you might be better," a woman told Biden as she posed for a picture with him.
(NBC/NJ's MIKE MEMOLI)
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus