KEEP OUT OF THE GUTTER, BLAS!
Joe Biden ticked off a long list of issues at his first major campaign rally Saturday: civil liberties, education, abortion rights, climate change, health care, immigration, competition with China, infrastructure and more.
But there was one item he wanted to focus on first.
“The single most important thing we have to do to get all this accomplished is defeat Donald Trump,” the former vice president told a crowd of about 3,000 at the rally in Philadelphia.
“As long as Donald Trump’s in the White House, none of these things, these critical things, will get done,” the Pennsylvania native said.
Even as he bashed the president for a litany of alleged sins, Biden lamented that politics have become too negative.
“Our politics has become so mean, so petty, so negative, so partisan and so unproductive,” he said. “Instead of debating our opponents, we demonize them. Instead of looking for solutions, we look to score political points.”
This kind of politics is “ripping this country at the seams,” he added.
The rally capped a three-week kickoff to Biden’s campaign that saw him vault to the top of the polls even as the Democratic field widened to 24 candidates.
He’s trying to cast himself as the candidate who can bring the nation’s warring factions together.
“If the American people want a president to add to our division, to lead with a clenched fist, closed hand and a hard heart, to demonize the opponents and spew hatred — they don’t need me, they’ve got President Donald Trump,” he said.
“I am running to offer our country — Democrats, Republicans and independents — a different path.”