Joe Biden’s remarks Tuesday in Danville, Va. about the Republican presidential ticket returning some people to “chains” upset a lot of Americans, but former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is advising voters not to take the vice president seriously.
Giuliani jabbed at Biden on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report,” saying that the remarks would have been cause for excitement if they were made by a mentally capable politician.
“I think if it came from somebody serious, maybe we would get all excited about it,” Giuliani said.
“But I think the vice president of the United States has become a laugh line on late night television. I mean — I have never seen a vice president that has made as many mistakes, said as many stupid things. I mean, there’s a real fear if, God forbid, he ever had to be entrusted with the presidency, whether he really has the mental capacity to handle it.”
“I mean, this guy just isn’t bright. He’s never been bright. He isn’t bright. People think well, he just talks a little bit too much. Actually, he’s just not very smart.”
Host Larry Kudlow suggested Biden’s remarks are part of a broader smear campaign against Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his recently selected running mate Paul Ryan — a strategy which Giuliani explained is President Barack Obama and Biden’s only shot at re-election.
“It’s is only chance of winning, Larry,” Giuliani said. “It’s his only strategy. He can’t run the way Ronald Reagan ran. He can’t run the way Bill Clinton ran. He can’t go to the American people and say, ‘Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Here are the things I promised. Here are the things I delivered.’”
“What he’s delivered is our worst economy maybe since the Great Depression — our most anemic recovery ever and policies that make most people in business too frightened to expand, to invest.
“So if it ever went to the American people and said, ‘I made these promises. I did a good job. Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ He would lose by 60-40. So, the only way he can win is by making Romney and now Ryan — try to make them monsters. Well, they’re not monsters. They happen to be two very decent guys, two very bright guys, two very successful guys. So, I mean, I don’t think it’s going to work, but he’s going to try it.