While Biden made several references to the protesters as he criticized McCain, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, he told the crowd of about 1,000 that they need to unite with Republicans.
"We can't moan about the politics of division unless after this election's over, God willing we win, we reach out to the very people out in the outer parking. I mean literally, not a joke," Biden said. "I know you find some of that obnoxious, but ... we've got to end this. Somebody's got to be big enough to stand up and end it."
We'll see if being grownup can "end it." Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Fox News, tens of millions of dollars of wingnut welfare, calling Obama a socialist Muslim -- and having many people in your party believing it, calling a progressive income tax rate socialism, the most obstructionist Senate in the history of the United States, the popularity of the radically divisive radical Sarah Palin among the Republicans -- how can you put an "end" to all this and still have enough focus left to run the country? Many of those people think they are at war -- not just with "islamofasicts," but with liberals and any other Americans who don't agree with them. How, exactly, does Biden propose to put an "end" to that?
I'm hoping Biden isn't that naive. I'm hoping he and Obama are laying the groundwork to be able to say, "We've tried hard to work with these folks but they aren't interested in anything besides namecalling and obstructionism." And I'm hoping they are able to pull this off without looking weak and foolishly optimistic in the process.
