Biden praises unions for keeping 'barbarians away from the gate'

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070421-2203-nv-nevada-biden.html

Politics
Biden praises unions for keeping 'barbarians away from the gate'

By Kathleen Hennessey
ASSOCIATED PRESS

10:03 p.m. April 21, 2007

LAS VEGAS – U.S. Sen. Joe Biden touted unions as defenders of the middle class and the “only thing that keeps the barbarians away from the gate,” in a speech to an AFL-CIO group Saturday.

The Delaware Democrat, who is trying bring momentum to his second bid for the White House, railed against what he described as power hungry corporate America's disdain for organized labor.

“They've convinced themselves that not only are you, in fact, an obstacle in their path, they also think you're not smart enough to know what's in your own interest,” Biden told the group in his third trip to Nevada, home to the second presidential caucus in the nation.

Organized labor is expected to be a major player in the state's Jan. 19 caucuses. Bucking a national trend, some Nevada unions have grown in number and influence along with the boom in the casino and construction industries.

Other Democratic hopefuls, including former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, are seen as better positioned to get union support. Still, Biden said Saturday he planned “to compete as hard as I can” for union endorsements in Nevada.

The senator criticized the Bush administration's trade policy.

FULL story at link.

[saltpoint]

1. Good for Biden. He knows the contribution working people have made

to the deep character of the country and it sounds as if he is ready to fight to align with those people and their cause.

No complaints from me.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Too bad that bankruptcy bill he voted for was like giving the barbarians a catapult

Talking out of both sides, eh?

[saltpoint]

3. Recommended.

For the anonymous working woman or man trying to meet expenses in a world too greatly controlled by shitheads like Kenneth Lay.

And for the millworking woman in James Taylor's song "Millworker."

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

4. Good for him. Will he renounce the banks and credit card companies, who prey on the

working class? MKJ

[tblue]

5. He could be so great

[Deja Q]

6. After the DMCA and the bankruptcy bill, has he figured it out??

:applause:

:yourock:

[saltpoint]

7. Many DUers' misgivings about Joe Biden notwithstanding, I think it

would be wrong to pretend he is a marginal voice in foreign policy.

These days he sits as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, replacing former Republican chair Richard Lugar. That is a huge difference.

If I am not hogwild about every single vote Biden has cast in the Senate, I am nevertheless convinced that his voice in foreign affairs is desperately needed, especially after 6-8 years of the mindless carnage Bush has engendered in the Middle East.

And, not least, I greatly admire the very principled stand Biden took early and fiercely against the appointment by Bush of John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador.

[leftofthedial]

8. too bad biden doesn't share the unions commitment to the middle class

biden's commitment is to predatory lenders