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September 16th, 2008 at 7:05 am

Video & Photos: Joe Biden Speech “Bush 44″ St. Clair Shores, Michigan 9-15-08

Joe Biden delivers his Bush 44 speech in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, September 15, 2008

Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden delivered his much anticipated “Bush 44″ speech on September 15, 2008, at South Lake High School in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. The speech was a hard-hitting response to the John McCain campaign’s increasingly negative tone, a tone criticized even by some McCain supporters such as Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen (See: Richard Cohen: The Ugly New McCain), and Republican strategist Karl Rove (See: Rove: McCain went ‘too far’ in ads) A recent Obama-Biden campaign ad, “Honor” also addresses the McCain campaign’s controversial tactics.

”If you’re ready for four more years of George Bush, then John McCain is your guy,” Biden said in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. “You know, just as George Herbert Walker Bush was nicknamed ‘Bush 41′ and his son was nicknamed ‘Bush 43,’ John McCain could easily become known as ‘Bush 44.’”

Joe Biden delivers his Bush 44 speech in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, September 15, 2008

With his rhetoric ratcheted up in comparison to his first few weeks on the campaign trail, Biden urged voters not to be fooled by McCain’s pledges to bring reform to Washington, reminding the crowd of Bush’s campaign promises when he won the White House in 2000.

“Eight years later we have another Republican nominee who’s telling us the exact same thing,” Biden said. “He’s saying this time will be different, he says it really will. This time he’s going to put country before party, to change the tone, reach across the aisle. He’s going to change the Republican Party, he’s going to change the way Washington works. Folks, we’ve seen this movie before. And we know, the sequel is always worse than the original.”

Joe Biden delivers his Bush 44 speech in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, September 15, 2008

Biden, who the campaign believes has “unique standing” to argue against McCain due to the two senators’ long-term friendship dating back over 30 years, not only hit out at McCain’s record as a lawmaker but also his current “Rovian” campaign tactics.

“The campaign a person runs tells ya everything about the way they’ll govern,” he said. “The McCain-Palin campaign decided to bet the house, decided to bet the house on the politics perfected by Karl Rove. Those tactics may be good at squeaking by in an election, but they are very bad if you want to lead one nation, indivisible.”

Joe Biden delivers his Bush 44 speech in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, September 15, 2008

Biden recalled that it was these same tactics that proved fatal to McCain’s bid for the GOP nomination in 2000.

“Now some of the very same people and the tactics that were used against John and deplored by him, his campaign is now employing against Barack Obama,” said Biden, who frequently notes on the campaign trail that he offered to help his “good friend John” during the 2000 fall-out. “The same campaign, the same campaign that once called for a town hall a week is now launching a low blow a day in this campaign and I’m tired of it, [but] folks, Barack and I can take it.”

“But what really bothers me,” he continued, “is that for every punch that’s thrown at us it’s an attempt to distract you, to distract the American people, from the very important issues that face this country.”

Biden’s speech focused primarily on McCain’s domestic record, with no fewer than two mentions of McCain’s running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Joe Biden delivers his Bush 44 speech in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, September 15, 2008

“And now, Governor Palin, his running mate, his running mate, she made a statement: “All senators do is vote. That’s all they do.” Well, just imagine what America would look like if John’s votes over the past 20 years had become the law of the land,” Biden said. “All I can say is, to Sarah Palin, thank goodness John McCain’s votes didn’t count in the majority on all of those issues.”

Source: Biden Dubs McCain ‘Bush 44′