American politician (1942- )
It required a lot less energy, intelligence, and competence to run against government than to try to make government work.
JOE BIDEN
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Promises to Keep
Simply put, the radical fundamentalists seek to kill our citizens in great numbers, to disrupt our economy, and to reshape the international order. They would take the world backwards, replacing freedom with fear and hope with hatred.
JOE BIDEN
Congressional Record, October 6, 2005
Iran is not a monolith. Our greatest allies against the theocracy are the Iranian people. They admire America. But we never get our side of the argument into Iran to the people who could insist, over time, that the government change course. They never hear our voice. America, whose greatest strengths are her ideas and ideals, has become afraid to talk. It's time to find our voice again.
JOE BIDEN
speech, Oct. 31, 2006
Public servants are obliged to level with everybody, whether or not they'll like what he has to say.
JOE BIDEN
Promises to Keep
Folks, talk is cheap. False promises are deceptive and talk and revolution isn't changing anyone's life.
JOE BIDEN
speech at Houston rally, March 2, 2020
The art of living is simply getting up after you've been knocked down.
JOE BIDEN
Promises to Keep
Democratic revolutions like the ones in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya -- and the ones still unfolding in Syria and Yemen --are imbued, literally imbued with entrepreneurial spirit, a spirit that requires risk and initiative, steadfast determination, and a unifying idea.... The revolution that gave birth to my own country was inspired by the same desire for freedom and ensured that from its earliest days America has been hard-wired for innovation. Back then, it was pamphleteers like Thomas Paine. Today, it's modern new technologies that connect us in an instant.
JOE BIDEN
remarks at Entrepreneurship Summit, Dec. 3, 2011
No one should be forced to stay with their abuser because they don't have the resources to leave.
JOE BIDEN
virtual town hall meeting, April 28, 2020
People were desperate to vent their anger, and if they could yell at a united States senator, all the better. Part of being a public servant, I came to understand in 1978, was absorbing the anger of people who don't know where to turn. If I couldn't solve the problem for them, I had to at least be an outlet.
JOE BIDEN
Promises to Keep
So now, on this hallowed ground, where just a few days ago violence sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation, we come together as one nation under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries. As we look ahead in our uniquely American way, restless, bold, optimistic, and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be.
JOE BIDEN
Inaugural Address, January 20, 2021
The Corona virus is shining a bright light on the inequities in our country and there's so much work to do but I have no doubt we can meet these challenges brought on by this virus if we work together. The American people have never, not a joke, I know you're tired of hearing me say this, have never, ever, ever, ever let the country down given half a chance. They're tough, there's no quit in America. They're prepared but we've got to do it together.
JOE BIDEN
virtual town hall meeting, April 28, 2020
A little thing we've begun to do is replace all the traditional light bulbs in our house with fluorescent light bulbs. I introduced a bill to promote compact fluorescent light bulbs. If every family in America changed just one bulb, we could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 7 million tons per year. There are a lot of little things we can do to make a gigantic change.
JOE BIDEN
interview, Grist
After 9-11, the President had a historic opportunity to unite Americans and the world in common cause. Instead, by exploiting the politics of fear, instigating an optional war in Iraq before finishing a necessary war in Afghanistan and instituting policies on torture, detainees and domestic surveillance that fly in the face of our values and interests, President Bush divided Americans from each other and from the world.
JOE BIDEN
speech, Jul. 15, 2008
It's not just the automobile industry is coming back, folks. Manufacturing is coming back. The middle class is coming back. America is coming back -- worker by worker, home by home, community by community, this country is coming back.
JOE BIDEN
speech, Mar. 15, 2012
Some of my friends in the current administration have little interest in alliances, international organizations and treaties. There's a logic to their disengagement. They start from the premise that America's military might is the single most important determinant in the international system. Because that might is so much greater than anyone else's they see allies and agreements as more of a burden than a benefit. It's Gulliver tied down by the Lilliputians.
JOE BIDEN
speech, Apr. 12, 2005
The system wasn't working, and I thought it was time to err on the side of a new model. What might work, I thought, was a system that promoted personal accountability, consistency, and certainty. Congress could say people who committed the same federal crime, under the same circumstances, were going to jail for the same amount of time. We could give judges a narrower set of sentencing guidelines to work with, and felons would be required to pay the same price. We'd be judging the crime, not the person.
JOE BIDEN
Promises to Keep
Deep in the heart of every American, I think there burns a flame. It's an inheritance from every generation of Americans that has come before us. That's why we have overcome every crisis we have ever faced before. It's what makes this nation so special, why we stand apart. That flame is not going to be extinguished in this moment. If our leadership does its part, the American people will do more than their part.
JOE BIDEN
speech on Coronavirus, March 23, 2020
Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.
JOE BIDEN
attributed, Social Policy for Effective Practice
I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days. I know that the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we all are created equal, and the harsh ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart.
JOE BIDEN
Inaugural Address, January 20, 2021
I wasn't built to look the other way because the law demanded it. The law might be wrong.
JOE BIDEN
Promises to Keep