Vice President Biden showed up unexpectedly at his wife’s book reading at the D.C. Armory on Saturday morning. He surprised even the event staff from the United Service Organizations, who received word that the VP was coming shortly before. Though he was unscheduled to appear, Biden didn’t hesitate to pick up the mic and address the small crowd of military families. (“I’m Jill’s husband,” he began.)
While Jill read from her book “Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops” to several dozen seated children, the VP wandered around the armory, helped himself to coffee and chatted with servicemen and women.
Recommended Stories
The second lady wrapped up her reading and seemed to signal that the event was over — “Thank you for coming everyone” — but the VP wasn’t ready to go. Biden took the mic.
“Before you all leave,” he began, “we have two doggies.” Biden explained that his dog Champ was “really jealous” when he found out that gift shops sold stuffed Portuguese water dogs in homage to the Obama’s dog Bo.
“Champ said why can’t we have a dog that looks like me? So we got little Champ dogs. And I brought a bunch of them along.”
After distributing stuffed dogs to the kids, Biden launched an impromptu Q&A session. (Sample question from the kids: Can I get a real dog like this?)
Biden went into full granddad mode, getting on the floor with the kids and telling the story of how his wife wouldn’t let him get another dog when he was a senator because he was never home.
“She joked, you can get another dog if and when you get elected president or vice president,” Biden said. “At least you’ll be home then.” On airplane trips, Biden says, his wife would take pictures of German shepherds on the bulkhead of the seat in front of him. After the 2008 election, Biden’s family surprised him with Champ at Christmas.
The Bidens stayed well past the event end time to shake hands and pose for pictures with families.
