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Highlights: Biden on "This Week" July 18, 2010


From ABC's "This Week":

* On Robert Gibbs' comments regarding the midterms and whether Democrats
could lose their congressional majority, Biden said: "I don't think the
losses are going to be bad at all. I think we're going to shock the heck out
of everybody. I am absolutely confident... we're going to be in great
shape...Robert Gibbs also said...what he believes. What I believe, what the
president believes: we're going to win the House and we're going to win the
Senate...To paraphrase Mark Twain, I think the reports of our demise are
premature."

* When asked if he thinks elements of the Tea Party are racist, Biden said:
"Elements that were involved in some of the Tea Party folks expressed racist
views...but I wouldn't characterize the Tea Party as racist. There are
individuals who are either members of or on the periphery of some of their
things...But I don't believe, the president doesn't believe that the Tea
Party is a racist organization. Very conservative. Very different views on
government and a whole lot of things. But it is not a racist organization."

· On whether the business community views the Obama administration as
anti-business, and if that may be the reason they are hesitant to spend
money, Biden said: "I think that a couple of things have happened. One...no
one anticipated the potential collapse of the European economy and the
so-called Eurozone. That put a real brake on...optimism about where the
world economy was going. Secondly...the very uncertainty they had has now
been settled by the passage of the reforms. They didn't know which way they
were going to go...I think there is increased certainty now that the major
reform they were worried about is law. They're going to know how to deal
with it...I think you see stabilization on the European side, so I think
you're going to see them beginning to move."

· On Jonathan Alter's new book, that cites the Vice President saying to ‘bet
on it' when referring to a ‘whole lot of people moving out' of Afghanistan
by July 2011, Biden said: "There's going to be a drawdown of forces as we
transition...really what I was responding to was the idea that the president
had been outmaneuvered."

· On the state of things in Afghanistan: "It's too early to make a judgment.
We don't even have all the troops of the so-called surge in place
yet...Unfortunately, everyone knew that in these summer months, when they
[insurgents] can infiltrate from Pakistan under the cover of foliage...that
there would be more deaths...And now we're engaging them more and there are
more deaths. But we still believe that the policy that the military signed
onto...is, in fact, going to work.”

· On what General McChrystal said about him, Biden said: "I didn't take it
personally at all...compared to what happens in politics, that was a piece
of cake. And it wasn't so disparaging...that I...was the enemy...I was the
guy who, in fact, was their problem...I agree with the policy the president
put in place. But it was clear...the president made the right decision. He
changed the personalities, but not the policy."

· When asked whether he has or would argue for a three way partition of
Iraq, Biden said: "I don't want to debate history here, but I never called
for a partition. I called for a central government with considerable
autonomy in the regions...They're in negotiations right now to figure out
how to allocate the power within that government...It's going to happen.
There will be a central government with control of its foreign policy, with
control of the military. But you will see that there are going to be
significant amounts of autonomy in each of the areas that exist in these
provinces. That's what their constitution calls for. I used the phrase
politics has broken out, not war. We're moving in that direction."

· When asked what the U.S. is doing to ensure the upcoming referendum in
Sudan will not facilitate a war, Biden said: "We're doing everything in our
power to make sure this election on the referendum is viewed by the world as
legitimate and fair."

· When asked what the larger strategy for combating Islamo-terrorism is,
Biden said: "The larger vision is to appeal to the moderate Islamic states
and the moderate Muslim world, which is the vast majority of the world...the
second piece is, in those areas which the radicals feed on and breed off of
is to try to help stabilize those governments, not alone, but with the rest
of the world...part of that is building strong countries around them, as
well as inside...it would have taken me four years to do what he [President
Obama] did in one month...he changed the attitude of the world about
American intentions."
--
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.co