Biden Not Sure 60 Votes Is A "Blessing"
VP Joe Biden, one of a small handful of senators who served the last time Dems had 60 votes in the Senate, downplayed losing MA's seat last week and said Dems are far from political disaster.
"Yes it's had a practical impact, but I'm not so sure what a blessing 60 votes was. Not a joke, I mean it sincerely," Biden told the DNC Finance Committee today in DC. "When we had sixty votes there was the expectation left, right, and center that we could do everything we wanted to do, which was never realistic. Never."
Biden, who was first elected in '72, was in the Senate when Dems held 61 seats following the '76 elections. Dems lost 3 seats in '78, to fall to 58 seats, and 12 seats in Ronald Reagan's '80 landslide.
Biden said losing the seat once held by Sen. Ted Kennedy was a psychological blow, but that the loss taught the party a valuable lesson.
"The reports of our demise are premature. It's time everybody take a deep breath, take a deep breath, let's put this in perspective. Yeah, we took a hit and the frustration was aggravated by the fact that Teddy's seat was lost," he said. "That makes it sound more profound than it is."
"Look, we understand that people are frustrated," Biden said, according to a pool report of the event. "If the Lord Almighty were president why wouldn't they be frustrated? There's over 10 million people unemployed."
The DNC's top money panel met in DC for a regular quarterly meeting. The panel includes many of Obama's top donors and those who have long given hefty sums to the DNC. Today, the panel heard from Biden, DNC chair Tim Kaine and the WH political team, among others.
If the 60th vote was never very good for the Dems, then why did Biden exert so much effort in (and take so much public credit for) Arlen Specter's switch which GAVE them the 60th vote.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/president-vice.html