‘Run, Joe, run!’
Biden a hit with workers in Labor day fete
Joe Biden was greeted with chants of “Run, Joe, run!” and “Give it a go, Joe!” as he marched in Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade with AFLCIO boss Richard Trumka on a day that had all the markings of a presidential campaign event.
“He’s a friend, he’s a brother, he’s a great champion of working men and working women,” Trumka gushed about Biden, who is considering entering the Democratic presidential race.
The AFLCIO and other major unions have yet to endorse a candidate, an unwelcome sign for Hillary Rodham Clinton (inset), who already is facing an increasingly stiff challenge from Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist.
Biden donned a baseball cap and declared himself “angry” at income inequality, venting in a fiery speech to union members against “trustfund babies,” and saying the economic playing field is tilted against the average worker.
“Today, 1 percent of Americans owns 40 percent of all wealth in America,” Biden said. “It’s the way the tax code has been set up. I’m hot — I acknowledge that. I’m mad, I’m angry.”
When a man in the audience yelled out, “Run for president!” Biden responded, “I gotta talk to my wife about that.”
The gregarious vice president mingled with fans, jogged along the route, posed with kids, and kissed elderly women along the way.
Meanwhile, Clinton, campaigning in Iowa, said she doesn’t have to apologize for her controversial private email server, since none of the messages she sent or received was marked classified “at the time.”
“There is always a debate among different agencies about what [things] should be retroactively [marked classified],” Clinton told The Associated Press on Monday.
“But at the time, there were none. So I’m going to keep answering the questions and providing the facts so that people can understand better what happened.”
“I did not send or receive any information marked classified. I take the responsibilities of handling classified materials very seriously, and did so.”
She also insisted an FBI inquiry into the matter “is not a criminal investigation, it is a security review.”