Speaking of Biden Gaffes............

[MrsDL]

This one is hard to spin into a "taken out of context" thing or anything else imo - what say CE&P?

Biden Says Republicans Are ‘Going to Put Y’all Back in Chains’

Vice President Biden raised eyebrows today when he referred to the Republican party as wanting to put voters in chains.

Specifically, the vice president said to the Danville, Virginia, crowd that the House GOP budget, partly written by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., gives an indication of the Republican presidential ticket’s values.

“We got a real clear picture of what they all value,” Biden said. “Every Republican’s voted for it. Look at what they value and look at their budget and what they’re proposing. Romney wants to let the — he said in the first hundred days he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, ‘unchain Wall Street.’ They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”

An Obama campaign official tells ABC News that “as the full quote makes obvious, the Vice President was clearly using a metaphor to describe the devastating impact of deregulating Wall Street and the financial industry, as well as how Governor Romney’s policies would take us back to the same failed formula that led to the 2008 financial crisis – the same failed formula that benefitted a few, but crashed our economy and hurt the middle class.”

Defenders of the vice president suggest that he inartfully was attempting to play off language Republicans have used about President Obama needing to “unshackle” small businesses and the economy.

Asked about the comments by Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, Obama campaign deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said the president “probably agrees with Joe Biden’s sentiments. I mean he’s using a metaphor….He was making a point that if we repeal Wall Street reform which is what Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want to do, we’re going to go back to the days where they’re writing their own rules, and we saw what happened. Taxpayers had to bail them out. We had to spend billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars bailing them out. Now I would think that that, you know, that is a problem for middle class taxpayers. That would hamper their ability to take care of their own finances.”

Cutter said, “the bottom line is that we have no problem with those comments.”

Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul said, “In case anyone was wondering just how low President Obama could go in his campaign for re-election, we now know he’s willing to say that Governor Romney wants to put people back in chains. Whether its accusing Mitt Romney of being a felon, having been responsible for a woman’s tragic death or now wanting to put people in chains, there’s no question that because of the President’s failed record he’s been reduced to a desperate campaign based on division and demonization.”

Mr. Biden also told the crowd that if they get out the vote, “we can win North Carolina again.” Danville is close to the North Carolina border, but it is in fact in Virginia.

-Jake Tapper

abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/vp-biden-says-republicans-are-going-to-put-yall-back-in-chains/

[teflep]

I posted it below and while I get what he is saying, that sentiment makes me bristle (same went for ROmney)
pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=44803

[ChillyMcFreeze]

He said it immediately following a reference to "unchaining Wall Street." I'm not sure what we're supposed to infer otherwise. If we was speaking to the NAACP, then that would be a different story. In this case, the slavery bit is a reach.

[marie427]

I watched the clip. I don't see the big deal about this - he was being metaphorical.

[Deleted]

Tis would be a poor choice of words if he was talking about racial matters. It may still be a poor choice of words, but its hardly a gaffe IMO. I mean, Biden has made thousands, and this one? not so much lol.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure how saying Shackles is much different than Chains

[NitaX]

I posted above, but I agree 200% with Biden. Wall Street made big money on banks offering up shady ass loans. Who was the victim of shady ass loans. Minorities. Countrywide and Wells Fargo both have been cited for using predatory lending practices with minorities. It's chains alright. The chains of financial ruin. Memphis just settled a $432 million dollar lawsuit with Wells Fargo over predatory lending practices that targeted black folks.

[runforrest]

Aug 15, 2012 8:10:06 GMT -5 ChillyMcFreeze said:

He said it immediately following a reference to "unchaining Wall Street." I'm not sure what we're supposed to infer otherwise. If we was speaking to the NAACP, then that would be a different story. In this case, the slavery bit is a reach.

This. I don't see the big issue here.

[MrsDL]

Aug 15, 2012 8:10:14 GMT -5 marie427 said:

I watched the clip. I don't see the big deal about this - he was being metaphorical.

I guess I don't get this metaphor. How were we "chained" by Wall Street? The lack of regulations actually freed many to engage in individually responsible behavior - buying homes we couldn't afford, for example, some with the hopes to flip them and make a profit with little or no investment (interest only loans given out like candy). If anything, chaining up Wall Street chained us all in terms of protecting us from our own bad behavior. I don't see how shackles came-off with these regulations. Liquidity in the market still sucks, small business owners can't get loans, the banks actually did or tried to stick it to all of us with unintended consequences (bank fees, etc). Maybe I'm completely clear today, which is entirely possible, but what chains are going to be put back on us in terms of impact? I suppose you can argue that the entire economy won't be subject to the risky behavior of Wall Street - but we have a shitty economy now and tons of regulations.

[MrsDL]

Aug 15, 2012 9:35:12 GMT -5 NitaX said:

I posted above, but I agree 200% with Biden. Wall Street made big money on banks offering up shady ass loans. Who was the victim of shady ass loans. Minorities. Countrywide and Wells Fargo both have been cited for using predatory lending practices with minorities. It's chains alright. The chains of financial ruin. Memphis just settled a $432 million dollar lawsuit with Wells Fargo over predatory lending practices that targeted black folks.

I don't disagree with the fact that there were predatory loan practices (and Rs are not trying to allow that to happen again btw). But I also feel that personal responsibility was lacking here as well. I suppose if you want to say that minorities in general are too ignorant to understand how a loan works and need to be protected from themselves, then I agree with you, but I'm really not convinced that this would be an issue right now if the market kept growing. People would have continued to make out like bandits, and that was responsible for some people accepting shady loans. But like I said, particularly where these regulations are concerned, it didn't remove chains from duped homebuyers, it actually put chains on them as well - they couldn't get a loan now. So it's like freedom from harming ourselves type a thing?

[marie427]

MrsDL - I'm not saying I really get the metaphor myself and I do think it was poorly-worded (shocker coming from Biden, lol). But the attempt at the metaphor just doesn't seem offensive to me at all in the context of what he's talking about.

[NitaX]

It's real easy to say - oh well minorities are just ignorant of the loan process. I'm talking about being specifically targeted!

www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/countrywides-racist-lending-practices-were-fueled-by-greed/250424/

From The Atlantic:

"Here is the ugly story made brief. According to Justice, Countrywide overcharged more than 200,000 black and Hispanic borrowers for their loans. About 10,000 were sold risky subprime mortgages, even though their finances were good enough to qualify for cheaper prime rates. Black customers who obtained their mortgages through a Countrywide-affiliated broker were more than twice as likely to get a subprime loan than similar white borrowers. In some markets, they were as much as eight times more likely.

"Countrywide's employees were paid extra commissions to hand out more expensive mortgages. Brokers could earn fatter fees for convincing borrowers to take out an exotic subprime loan than for a plain-vanilla 30-year-fixed mortgage. And of course, the more borrowers paid in interest and fees, the more money Countrywide made.

Everyone involved with the company, from the executives on down, had an interest in hawking the most expensive loans they could. And sadly, minorities were the go-to targets for that kind of predatory lending. For years, black and Hispanic families in America had minimal access to credit. As Ellen Schloemer of the Center for Responsible Lending explained to me, that meant many of them had scant familiarity with complicated financial transactions, such as taking out a mortgage. During the housing bubble, their inexperience made them an easier mark for unscrupulous lenders, especially if they spoke little English."

This isn't a case of "Oh I Jes Too Dumb Too Know Betta." These are documented cases of bad business practices. And no, I don't want lenders unshackled because we don't need this mess happening again. As my grandmom would day, you give somebody an inch, they'll take a mile.

[iammalcolmx]

Aug 15, 2012 9:44:52 GMT -5 MrsDL said:

I suppose if you want to say that minorities in general are too ignorant to understand how a loan works and need to be protected from themselves, then I agree with you, quote]

Say what now?

[iammalcolmx]

I honestly don’t want to hear shit about personal responsibility because the banks who targeted communicate and passed out shady loans basically have had to face minimal consequences. They were given money to so everyone could start lending again meanwhile the ONLY way I can get them to speak with me is if I trash my credit first.

[mominatrix]

It's called "predatory lending" for a reason.

[sweettooth]

There is a clip where Paul Ryan uses the word shackles and there wasn't a big deal made about that and I wouldn't have either--same as this. Not a racial reference. I am more concerned about the fact that banks and Wall Street are still able to cause harm to the economy. Dangle large amounts of money in front of some people with the ability to bend around and get it and they will. Not all people, but some, and that is enough.