Is Joe Biden the GOP's new secret weapon?
Is Joe Biden the GOP鈥檚 new secret weapon?
That鈥檚 what the Mitt Romney presidential campaign appears to believe. It鈥檚 begun to publicize VP Biden鈥檚 twisted tongue moment of Tuesday, in which he said 鈥渢he middle class ... has been buried the last four years,鈥� in an attempt to turn the sitting Veep鈥檚 own words against his boss.
The Romney camp already has an ad up in which Biden is front and center. Titled 鈥�,鈥� it starts with about 15 seconds of clips of Romney and his VP candidate Rep. Paul Ryan saying that the 鈥淥bama economy鈥� has crushed the middle class, workers are suffering, and so forth.
Then it cuts to Biden speaking Tuesday at a campaign appearance in Charlotte, N.C. 鈥淭he middle class ... has been buried鈥� he shouts to the crowd. Then comes a white screen, and a simple phrase, 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 have said it better ourselves.鈥�
Top Romney surrogate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was even more cutting at Wednesday in Colorado. He repeated Biden鈥檚 statement to a roomful of Republicans, then said, 鈥淗e鈥檚 the best thing we鈥檝e got going, guys. Because in a moment of clarity, in a brief moment of clarity, he told us what we already knew.鈥�
Will this work? Well, Biden鈥檚 sentence certainly fits into the Romney campaign鈥檚 original strategy for the race. That was to hammer home the jobless numbers and tie them to President Obama鈥檚 stewardship of the economy.
There鈥檚 a presidential candidate debate Wednesday night in Denver 鈥� just in case you hadn鈥檛 heard 鈥� and it鈥檚 supposed to focus on economic issues. We鈥檙e pretty sure that some variation of 鈥渕iddle class鈥� and 鈥渂uried鈥� will work its way into a pre-planned Romney zinger.
The problem for Romney is that his economic message alone hasn鈥檛 been carrying him toward victory. Lagging a few stubborn percentage points behind Obama in the polls, the former Massachusetts governor has had to broaden his approach, hitting the administration on its policies toward the Middle East and other foreign issues as he attempts to portray himself as a more forceful choice for the Oval Office.
Plus, voters in general don鈥檛 necessarily see the wealthy Romney as the best candidate to look out for the middle class鈥檚 interests. In a recent Washington Post/ABC News 66 percent of respondents said that Obama does more to favor the middle class than the wealthy. Only 35 percent made the same judgment about Romney.
Finally, it鈥檚 unlikely you鈥檒l see the fuller context of the Biden 鈥渂uried鈥� quote in a GOP ad anytime soon. At the time he spoke those words, he was working up a dudgeon about Romney鈥檚 tax proposals, which the Obama campaign maintains inevitably would lead to a higher taxes for those in the middle.
鈥淭his is deadly earnest,鈥� Biden told the North Carolina crowed. 鈥淗ow they can justify, how they can justify raising taxes on the middle class that has been buried the last four years? How in the Lord鈥檚 name can they justify raising their taxes? We鈥檝e seen this movie before....鈥�
Yes, this charge is itself based on a fairly tenuous analysis of Romney鈥檚 plans. But the GOP still has to shear off most of what Biden said to make his statement something they can use in their ads.
