By MAGGIE HABERMAN |
Vice President Joe Biden dug in when it came to apologizing for his earlier remark, made at a Virginia campaign event where the AP described the crowd as having a couple hundred African-American attendees, about Republicans and Wall Street wanting to put "y'all back in chains."
But he did clarify the comment. Here's the full text:
"We don’t have to imagine anymore. The details are there. Here’s what Congressman Ryan said. He said, 'We believe a renewed commitment to limited government will unshackle our economy.' The Speaker of the House said, used the word 'unshackled' as well, referring to their proposals. The last time these guys unshackled the economy, to use their term, they put the middle class in shackles. That’s how we got where we are."Nine million jobs lost. Wage stagnation. 16 trillion dollars in wealth you all lost in your home equity, in your 401Ks and your pension plans. You’re the ones that got nailed. All of America, except the very few."And I’m told that when I made that comment earlier today in Danville, Virginia, the Romney campaign put out a tweet. You know, tweets these days? Put out a tweet, went on the airwaves saying, ‘Biden, he’s outrageous in saying that,’ I think I said instead of ‘unshackled,’ ‘unchained.’ ‘Outrageous to say that.’ That’s what we had. I’m using their own words. I got a message for them. If you want to know what’s outrageous, it’s their policies and the effects of their policies on middle class America. That’s what’s outrageous."
The line kept Democrats on defense for part of the day, and was seized on by Republicans. Mitt Romney's campaign was outraged, calling it a "new low." While there was no contrition - and the campaign backed him up - the clean-up reflects that the comment, even if it was a pivot off the "unshackle" line, was fairly loaded.
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