Look who stopped by the briefing room today! (reuters)
Vice President Joe Biden made a rare appearance at the daily briefing, coming to share with us the details of “Recovery Summer,” which will usher in the biggest frenzy of stimulus spending to date.
Mostly, he just seemed kind of happy to be here.
“I’m glad to see the deference to the vice president’s office,” he said (ap)
He touted the benefits of the Recovery Act, at great length, and joked about how in our spare time we no doubt peruse Recovery.gov to check on the status of stimulus spending. There was also some paper:
Government handout!
President Obama on Friday travels to Columbus, Ohio, to observe the groundbreaking of the 10,000th Recovery Act road project.
Biden said the Recovery Act is not the “boondoggle” critics were calling it for awhile.
“You know, again, I’ve been around a long time in public life. I was a senator for six full terms. And I tell you, people back home know whether or not the guys in the corner with the hard hat putting in a crosswalk or building a four-lane highway — whether or not they’re working. They understand there’s activity. They know whether or not it’s real,” he said.
“And there’s a lot of real, positive things happening in people’s communities that are improving their quality of life. And these road projects are among them.”
Then April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks asked about Joe Barton, and Biden laughed, covered his face, tapped the microphone, glanced at Gibbs and chuckled.
BIDEN: Well since you know I never say what’s on my mind…
(LAUGHTER)
… I probably shouldn’t comment on Mr. Barton’s comments.
A general groan of pleading and protest persuaded Biden to chance it. Turning to Gibbs he said, “They’re encouraging me. What can I say?”
Gibbs stands by with the hook, just in case (ap photo)
Biden called Barton’s remarks, “insenstive, incredibly out of touch” and “outrageous.”
“And to sit there and say that we’re being, in effect, as I understood the statement, that he was ashamed we’re being tough on an oil company who caused the problem, I mean, I — I — I — look, I just think that it’s pretty important to the people of Louisiana all the way through Florida and even in his home state of Texas that people disassociate themselves from that. That’s not the role. There’s no shakedown. It’s insisting on responsible conduct and a responsible response to something they caused,”” Biden said.
He said a bunch more — he was very animated.
“I find it pretty astounding,” he concluded.
Oh, God love ya! (reuters)
