Election ’08: Quotes

On Barack Obama
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
Joe Biden

Obama is “a one-term, a guy who has served for four years in the Senate…. I don’t recall hearing a word from Barack about a plan or a tactic.’”
Joe Biden

“I think he can be ready but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.”
Joe Biden

“I think that I stand by that statement.”
Joe Biden

“When’s the last time we elected a president based on one year of service in the Senate before he started running?”
Bill Clinton


On Saddam and Iraq
“He’s a long term threat and a short term threat to our national security… We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world.”
Joe Biden

“Saddam must be dislodged from his weapons or dislodged from power.”
Joe Biden

“Well, the point is, it turned out they didn’t [have WMDs], but everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued — they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued.”
Joe Biden

“My impression is [Obama] thinks that if we leave, somehow the Iraqis are going to have an epiphany” about peace. “I’ve seen zero evidence of that.”
Joe Biden

On Afghanistan
“We’ve to get the job done so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there.”
Barack Obama


On John McCain
“I would be honored to run with or against John McCain because I think the country would be better off.”
Joe Biden

“I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.”
Hillary Clinton


On Gay Marriage:
“I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying.”
Barack Obama


On When Human Life Begins
“… whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity … is above my pay grade.”
Barack Obama


On Abortion Reduction
“The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing that I’d do.”
Barack Obama


On America
“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction.”
Michelle Obama

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God d*mn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God d*mn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God d*mn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”
Jeremiah Wright

“We are witnessing the phenomenal rise of a man of color in a country that has persecuted us because of our color. This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better.”
Louis Farrakhan


On Obama’s Friends
“What I value most about Pastor Wright is not his day-to-day political advice. He’s much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible and that I'm not losing myself in some of the hype and hoopla and stress that's involved in national politics.”
Barack Obama

“I think that people were legitimately offended by some of the comments that he had made in the past. The fact he's my former pastor I think makes it a legitimate political issue. So I understand that.”
Barack Obama

“I feel we didn't do enough.”
William Ayers

“This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.”
Barack Obama