G-man's source behind his accusations...
Quote:

Biden charms local GOP
By LEE BANDY
lbandy@thestate.com

It was unlike most Columbia Rotary Club luncheons.

The speaker was U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a likely candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

The chief topic: the Iraq war.

The audience: predominantly Republican.

Biden humorously took note of that in his opening remarks.

“I want to thank you all for allowing me a trip here to speak to only Republicans. It’s like my hometown. I just won every district in my state except the one I live in,” he quipped.

The crowd howled.

The senator then pounced on a member’s announcement that the club would hold its annual Christmas party at the state Department of Archives and History where members could view the original copy of the state’s Articles of Secession.

Biden asked, “Where else could I go to a Rotary Club where (for a) Christmas party the highlight is looking at the Articles?”

Biden was on a roll.

Delaware, he noted, was a “slave state that fought beside the North. That’s only because we couldn’t figure out how to get to the South. There were a couple of states in the way.”

The crowd loved it.

This Yankee senator quickly disarmed his conservative audience, many of whom came expecting partisan attacks on President Bush and Republicans in general.

It didn’t happen. As they say at Fox News, the address was “fair and balanced.”

Biden devoted much of his speech to the war in Iraq.

“America needs, and I need, for the Republican Party to get back up,” he said.

“There’s not a single problem out there that cannot be solved without a bipartisan coalition,” said Biden, the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He held the audience sway for more than an hour, roaming the floor like an evangelist.

Members said afterward they had never seen anything like it.

“I’ve been a member of this club for 31 years,” said Jim Covington, a media specialist. “I’ve never seen so many Republicans staying behind.”

Retired Army Gen. John Blount said he was impressed, and “I’m a Republican.”

“I could vote for him,” commented Gayle Averyt, a retired insurance executive and major contributor to the GOP.

“The mid-term election may have been a rejection of the policies of this administration,” Biden said. “But it was not an embrace of the Democratic program or the Democratic Party. We’re in a state of flux right now and have a lot of problems that need to be resolved.”

Biden says he doesn’t know any Republican who wants to run for re-election in 2008 with Iraq hanging around his neck.

Biden also says the Democrats don’t want to assume the presidency saddled with a war and have to be responsible for pulling the plug.

“We can choose to hang together or choose to hang separately on Iraq. There is every incentive for us to hang together,” he added.

Crawford Clarkson, a retired account executive, said Biden’s speech “was outstanding. He had something to say. Right now, I would say he’s the best the Democrats have to offer in 2008.”

The first question after the speech was direct.

“Senator, will you please do me a favor and run for president?” pleaded Debbie Yoho with the Greater Columbia Literacy Council.

The Rotary discourages discussion of politics at its meetings.

Contacted later, Yoho said she was “blown away” by Biden’s speech. “I think he is the man of the hour. ... He’s mesmerizing.”



The State
What we have here is a rave review of Biden from several Republicans. I'm unsure how anyone could sincerely believe Biden was trying to brag about pro-slavery?

Fair play!