Biden Thanks Bush On The Colbert Report: 'You Deserve A Lot Of Credit' (VIDEO)

Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Stephen Colbert Wednesday night and took the opportunity to directly commend former President George W. Bush for his part in helping to usher in the end of combat operations in Iraq.

"Mr. President, thank you," Biden said of Bush during his interview in a "Colbert Report: Been There Won That" special. "You've honored these guys, you've honored these women, you've honored these troops. And I've known you your entire eight years as president. I've never known a time when you didn't CARE about happened. We disagreed on policy. But you deserve a lot of credit, Mr. President."

Asked why the Obama Administration hadn't explicitly said "we've won" the war in Iraq and had a subsequent victory parade, Biden explained that they'd shied away from using such terms because they hadn't yet fully accomplished their goals in the country.

"There's 50,000 troops still there," Biden said. "And until they're home, until we keep President Bush's commitment that he signed with the Iraqis that all the troops would be out of there by the end of next year -- this is a significant milestone, but we're not there yet."

Earlier in the show, Biden also appeared on set to hand out hot dogs to the returning veterans in the audience, which he explained as his only other constitutional duty beside "breaking ties in the Senate."

Watch Vice President Joe Biden on "The Colbert Report":

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Joe Biden
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

Comments

[ChampLessFuzzy]

09:37 PM on 09/11/2010

"Folks, many of you have missed the point with your comments. Biden is reminding everyone that this is Bush's war, not Obama's and that the follow-through that Obama is doing is just honoring Bush's deal with Iraq. I thought he was very effective but you need to see through some of the words, folks."

Worth repeating...

[SparkyDash]

05:24 AM on 09/11/2010

Hey HP, why not change the misleading headline?

Afraid people will see that Biden did not give Bush credit and won't bother commenting???

Check the video people...you're being jerked around by HP....again.

[BravoFoxtrotDelta]

05:37 AM on 09/11/2010

Too late. Biden did a great job, as did Colbert. This was a good show with a lot of heart for our military. Too bad most commenters comment on perceived notion rather than fact. That's gotten old real fast.

Have you read some of the ridiculous comments on this post, all pretty much based on the headline rather than watching the clip or the show? This is what has become of the whiners, especially Democrats who are allowing themselves kneejerk reactions rather than thinking or research.

Pathetic. Conservatives I expect such tripe, Dems are the disappointment here.

[bboyy]

02:49 PM on 09/10/2010

if you look REAL close-- Biden is giving us a wink when he states this.

[MollieinATL]

02:04 PM on 09/10/2010

C'mon, Biden and Colbert, of all people gets the irony. I think its a back-handed way of reminding America who started this clusterf*** in the first place. Seriously.

This is a tactic I've seen in business where you give someone a really weak acknowledgement for a failure...and everyone gets the joke. I guess we expect politicians to not play those games - but I think they are very effective. Kill them with kindness.

[magggs]

01:26 PM on 09/10/2010

Watched this last night, and while I don't agree with this new revisionist trend about Bush, I have to say what Colbert and Biden did here was something no one else is doing--actually putting the troops into the equation as human beings. This show was for them, not us, and we should be non-idealogues enough not to fasten on one sentence we may not like and make it all about that. Colbert is the Bob Hope of his generation, and Biden is a politician who at least tried to be genuine for five minutes, even if he couldn't pull off an entire half-hours.

[BocaMom]

01:05 PM on 09/10/2010

Good for Joe.

[PrincipiaChamp]

06:19 AM on 09/11/2010

He did a great job on the show. I agree with other posters who tagged the HP headline as another attempt to get clicks and highly misleading. The whole show was great at honoring our military, of which my family has several. We loved it.

[PrincipiaChamp]

06:42 AM on 09/11/2010

...and we absolutely love Vice President Biden and his support of U.S. military and families. Families get sidelined many times and we appreciate and love Joe.

[FogBelter]

12:03 PM on 09/10/2010

Please.

[Edward Standley]

08:48 AM on 09/10/2010

Big fan of v.p. Biden, but I think that thanking prez Bush was terribly misguided. Guess I have to chalk it up to Joe's general decency and desire to "reach across the aisle." Could read a lot into it, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Troops out now.

[joeblow]

07:37 AM on 09/10/2010

Instead of listening to the post-Bush love letters coming from this administration, people ought to really reconsider the post 9/11 actions undertaken by our country.
We committed thousands of lives, many of which were either lost or unretrievable, to attack a gang! A freaking gang!!! A bunch of misfits living by century-old mores and folkways. We spent more than a trillion-freaking dollars attacking a G-A-N-G! And now, we are stuck!
To paraphrase Casey Stengle (look him up): 'Can't anyone here play this game?!'

[Elyriaohio]

05:14 AM on 09/10/2010

It wasn't an endorsement of Bush. Mostly a tongue-in-cheek olive branch to the nutty GOP. You think dressing-down Bush on national TV with an audience of veterans would be a entertainment?
(It would be, in a different venue.)

[PrincipiaChamp]

06:22 AM on 09/11/2010

It was a great dressing down. Biden was classy while slapping the GOP at the same time.

[lmab]

04:31 AM on 09/10/2010

Insulting to all those who helped Obama get elected......and the Democrats still hope for enthusiasm come November. They are all the same.

[BlueNothing85]

03:20 AM on 09/10/2010

Yes, Bush deserves a lot of credit.

Sort of like the kid deserves some credit for cleaning the room he trashed. Only instead of toys, it was the lives of people. But hey, he deserves credit, if at the very least to permanently attach his name to that whole disaster.

[DanoX]

02:28 AM on 09/10/2010

Politicians, regardless of party, ultimately protect their own.

[realitycitizen]

02:24 AM on 09/10/2010

George Bush to President Lula: "War is great for the economy."

George Bush is a butcher. He loves dead American soldiers because the more dead American soldiers there are the more money his cronies in the military industrial complex make.

Obama/Biden aint any different than Bush/Cheney. They work for the same devils.

[lizr]

11:31 PM on 09/09/2010

Oh GAG me again.. there will be NO REHABILITATION of the worst president in my lifetime, who started unnecessary wars, killing hundreds of thousands, and did not support vets either!

Tell it Rachel! Govt officials, please start telling the truth!