Joe Biden Defends Controversial Rape Comments (VIDEO)

Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday offered a defense of his provocative claim that if Republicans didn't support the president's jobs bill, rapes and murders would increase.

He also argued that Democrats and Republicans "just have a different set of values" when it comes to helping people in need.

"Here's what my point is: It is a fact ever since I wrote the crime bill 20 years ago, we've put to rest the notion that if you had more cops there is less crime," Biden said in a taped interview on CNN's State of the Union. "When you drastically cut the number of police in cities, which is happening all across the America, crime goes up. That is a fact."

After saying that police forces in some struggling cities have been "cut in half" in recent years, Biden added, "The more cops that are laid off, the more crime that occurs. So the question is, We have an answer. What's their answer, or do they think the federal government has no obligation?"

Pressed on whether his reference to vile crimes was introducing unfair politics into a complicated legislative issue, Biden replied, "No, this is reality. It's a little like saying we have a major flood, we think we should go in and help people rebuild their homes. They may say, 'No that's not the federal government's responsibility, or, if you do that, we ought to cut their aid to education or something.' We just have a different value set, that's all."

In a speech last week before a group of firemen rallying in Washington, Biden told them -- not for the first time -- that unless more money is provided to urban police forces, "Murder will continue to rise. Rape will continue to rise. All crime will continue to rise."

Comments

[Cat9]

08:13 PM on 10/25/2011

LOL Biden stepped in it and can't get it off his shoe!

[Always Conservative]

02:07 PM on 10/25/2011

We need to give Joe the benefit of the doubt. He got several stories confused. The NBA lockout will be the cause of the rise in r a p e s.... Thuggers got nuttin else to do.

[sergal stew]

08:29 PM on 10/24/2011

This guy is an idiot. Cops aren't body guards..the Supreme Court already ruled that cops have no obligation to protect anyone. I fear cops more than crime..Thomas Kelly..

[Dunkleberger Karl]

03:29 PM on 10/24/2011

When the peaple are treated Badly, when the peaple suffer those with the most give the most! Those in the Towers , instead of throwing bread, ar ethrowing rocks and proclaimin­g not "Work or thyne shall not eat, Oh No, they Scream "STARVE, FOR THERE WILL BE NO WORK" "THe Money is Ours, how dare you dream, How dare you think yourselves our equils, Police , be ride of these scum , or you shall be the next to feel the heel of our Boot!, If you the police are good , you may lick our Boots" Are the police the Tools of Billionair­s and millionair­s? are the NYPD and the FDNY not all 4 paychecks away from being homeless, and living in zuggulie Park, holding a sign and voting on Proposals? Come March with us brothers,,,we are your freinds, we are the 99% we are strong,WE are United ,we are the 99%, we are union, we are Diverse,We are the "99" we are Legend, and we shall not go quietly into the night! One Heart, One Voice, One Vote!

[JubalTHarshaw]

07:41 AM on 10/25/2011

If you are the 99%, you are responsible for the mess we are in. The rest of us are tired of the really bad electoral choices that you people have been making. Please stop now.

[wdw808]

08:28 AM on 10/26/2011

unions represent only 11.9% of the workforce.........not 99%.........you don't represent me and never will

[Dunkleberger Karl]

12:53 PM on 10/26/2011

Republicants are very into Boot straps and belt Buckels, they argue they need no Help! Till they find they do! Even the richest man in the world needs family and at least one friend who will tell the truth! I may not represent you! But I have ,without haveing meet you, Defended You! You wdw808 have never met me and already have dished me!

[TheLibraryOfCodex]

11:05 AM on 10/24/2011

He's correct.

Cut the police = more lawlessness = more crime.

[wdw808]

08:29 AM on 10/26/2011

cut the benefits down and more police can be afforded

[GoFig]

12:56 AM on 10/24/2011

Face the facts. CRIME is related to POVERTY. Less jobs, more crime. Period.

[Toonguy]

01:15 PM on 10/24/2011

And doing nothing about either will solve neither.

[paradoc2]

11:33 PM on 10/23/2011

Biden is a typical Democrat using fear tactics to scare enough dopes to keep his cradle to the grave nanny-knows-best administration in power. Violent crime is dropping more each year according to statistics put out by the FBI. As more states adopt concealed carry laws the violent perps get less arrogant because they never know who may be able to shoot back -- except in Biden's Boss home states, Illinois, the only state in the nation yet to keep a death grip on the carry ban due to all the crooked Chicago politicians hoplophobic tendencies. Aldermen can carry but honest citizens can't be trusted or were never that important to Mayors like Daley and the present one Manuel, the ex- congressman. Meanwhile the Administration in Washington DC is reeling from the backlash from the scam gunwalking project "Fast and Furious" that was supposed to help drum up support for more gun control for Obama and wound up costing a bunch of Mexican citizens and a US Border Patrol agent their lives at the hands of illegally armed [sanctioned by the ATF and DOJ] Mexican drug cartel thugs. Thankfully I don't reside in Illinois so when some lowlife puts me in imminent danger, I'll be able to take care of the situation OBAMASELF without asking the perp for a timeout 911 call for a cop and the calvary to come save my day. Sorry Mr. Biden, we simply can't afford a cop for every subject. Kingdom over 2012......

[shineonbluemoonk]

12:10 AM on 10/24/2011

Where did he ask for a cop per each citizen?

What he stated was that cities are slashing their police forces. The dropping crime rate will not drop for long, it will rise sharply.

The next year will show the early effects of the Republicans' rampant hatred of government and of anything not conservative, ala budget slashing by Scott Walker, Kasich, Christie et al.

[NELLIEGREY]

11:22 PM on 10/23/2011

Joe Biden is usually the man of a million words with nothing of importance to say but lately he has been doing standup comedy. Come on Joe, no one should ever take you seriously. Glad you are not in the Senate any more.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

03:32 PM on 10/24/2011

NellieGrey: the Vice-president is part of the senate-He (as al Gore did) breaks ties, and allows legislation to go through!

[ecurbwl]

10:48 PM on 10/23/2011

Joe Biden using "Fear Tactics" and "Gutter Politics"-------------------still.

[Jayjaybe]

11:16 PM on 10/23/2011

Lot of that going around! Just listen to the Republican Debates.

[bd7769]

12:01 PM on 10/25/2011

that all he knows

[westytx]

10:47 PM on 10/23/2011

Biden is right. When you have a wide gap between "The Have's" and "The Have-Not's", you get more crime. The crime against Dr. Petit and his family in Connecticut proved that. In 2010, the two "have-nots" wanted to burglarize and extort money from "Dr. HAVE". Even after they got Mrs. Petit to withdraw money from their banking account, they still sexually attacked her and her daughters, then killed them. This is what "class warfare" resorts too. And we all now the Republicans have a good track record at "winning wars".

[OWSoros]

11:44 PM on 10/23/2011

Insightful analogy. This what the President has been encouraging with his rhetoric.

[Toonguy]

01:18 PM on 10/24/2011

Excuse me? These guys were just sitting around and they heard the president say something and decided it was time to commit some violent crimes?

What I think you're thinking about is the guy who listened to so much TP stuff that he decided to fly his plane into the IRS building - some members of the TP consider him a "hero."

[Dunkleberger Karl]

03:35 PM on 10/24/2011

The crime against Gabbie gifford was also a "have not" , attack the "Haves" The haves being a democratic congress woman, the have not being a Anti-abortionist, anti-gun legislation, anti-goverment agenda individual! (That would make him a republican )

[mikiebagles]

10:07 PM on 10/23/2011

now you say this .now you want to fix this .please go away in 2012

[jondekonkeroo]

10:26 PM on 10/23/2011

and bring back 2007. or 1929. or both.

[mikiebagles]

07:45 PM on 10/25/2011

why not it will teach people today how we made it then. we stuck together

[Toonguy]

01:18 PM on 10/24/2011

And do what? What is your solution? Fewer teachers and first responders?

[golfnpaz]

10:01 PM on 10/23/2011

Poor Joe.... the last time he made sense was when he said in the debates 4 years ago the Barak Obama didn't have enough experience to be president. He was right then... and that was his limit. He doesn't have the ability to be right any more.

[RobD407]

10:49 PM on 10/23/2011

You're forgetting he also said Hillary was better qualified to be Vice President.

[bigmikeatchicago]

09:53 PM on 10/23/2011

I just don't see how anyone that earns less than $2,000,000 a year could vote Republican. Can't you just read and see what they have done to this country?

[Oil Can 2]

09:55 PM on 10/23/2011

New _sock.

[jondekonkeroo]

10:01 PM on 10/23/2011

so is the colonel going to make you regular recipe or extra crispy? or will you be nuggets?

[westytx]

10:35 PM on 10/23/2011

Do yourself a favor and RESEARCH who the 47% of Americans are that pay owe no income tax. They are the retired and the working "poor" now. They don't EARN enough above the poverty level to OWE taxes. Doesn't mean they don't work...they just aren't MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS anymore. Get it? For the past decade, the MIDDLE CLASS has been vanishing - becoming the working poor. You are one layoff away from it yourself....

[megabob]

09:36 PM on 10/23/2011

He is using the ploy of class hatred taught him by Obama and the left wing in general. Fear tactics will only work on a few. And this job bill, which is stimulus bill #2, is only to feed the Obama unions for their votes. Teachers, police, and firefighters are all unions! And most of the police and firefighters are turning against the left.

[jondekonkeroo]

09:44 PM on 10/23/2011

wishful thinking. Occupy America is coming to get you. Unions are on their side. Sooner or later even police will be on their side.

You have absolute unmitigated hatred for anyone you think is worse off than you. You all have that. It defines the greed generation as much as anything else. and it's your undoing. master/slave societies are not stable.

[sebackpacker]

02:48 PM on 10/24/2011

Conservatives donate to charities more than liberals by a 2 to 1 margin.

Try again.

[bigmikeatchicago]

09:54 PM on 10/23/2011

There is only one class of people in this country.

[Oil Can 2]

09:35 PM on 10/23/2011

Oct 7, 2011 CBO

CBO released a cost estimate for S. 1549, the American Jobs Act of 2011, Harry Reid on 9/13/11. It corresponds to obama plan. Also released a cost estimate for S. 1660, the obama plan, introduced by Reid on 10/5/11

What Additional Spending Would Be Provided Under the Bills?

CBO estimates that both bills would increase spending by a total of $175 billion over the 2012-2021 period. More than 80 percent of that total spending would occur from 2012 through 2014. Specific amounts of funding include:
$50 billion for programs administered by the Department of Transportation, including $36 billion for highway and transit construction and $14 billion for programs to build rail and aviation projects;
$10 billion for a so-called infrastructure bank, the American Infrastructure and Financing Authority, which would provide federal loans and loan guarantees to certain transportation, water, and energy infrastructure projects. CBO estimates that the funding would be sufficient to support $60 billion to $100 billion in loans;
$44 billion as the estimated cost of extending emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) and special provisions for extended benefits for one year and financing reemployment services for people who receive EUC;
$30 billion for grants to states to pay salaries and other related expenses for employees in early childhood, elementary, and secondary education; and
$30 billion for grants to renovate and repair elementary and secondary school buildings and community college facilities.

Joeeeeeee -- where are police mentioned anywhere in this bill?

[westytx]

10:40 PM on 10/23/2011

Where did it say in any bill that $1.5 TRILLION would be spent on purple fingers in Iraq? Oh, I forgot. GOPERS think it is grand to spend money on 3rd world countries that STILL hate us, but don't you even THINK ABOUT spending any money on grandma, grandpa, your kids, your grandkids, your neighbors, or your co-workers. THAT would be socialist. And THAT would be bad...

[Jayjaybe]

11:14 PM on 10/23/2011

Local police and fire departments aren't a federal jurisdictions--yet. In California, easily the most populous state, down-sizing of police and fire departments is old news, history. It's been happening, even in well-to-do towns, for a couple of years. Lots of griping about how we can spend billions in Iraq and Afghanistan to be safer--while our local streets have fewer police and fire staff. How is that safer?