CBS Covers Biden's 'Controversial' Rape Remark; ABC, NBC Punt
CBS's Early Show on Thursday stood out as the only Big Three network program that covered what anchor Jeff Glor labeled as Vice President Biden's "controversial comments linking rape and the jobs bill," where he attacked the GOP for opposing the legislation. ABC and NBC's morning shows on Thursday didn't air anything on the story, and none of the networks' evening news shows on Wednesday reported on it.
Despite correspondent Bill Plante's full report on Biden's attack on the GOP, which included a sound bite of the Democrat standing by his comments after a question from Human Events editor Jason Mattera, Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer all but defended the Vice President's remarks: "I think the Vice President is just drawing things in the starkest possible terms...it is a little bit difficult to argue with the logic. If you have fewer police on the streets, you're probably going to have more crime."
Schieffer even went so far to reference the recent incident where an owner of exotic animals in Ohio released his menagerie before taking his own life:
SCHIEFFER: Republicans are going to try to make the most of it, just like the Vice President has been trying to make the most of- if you don't pass this bill, bad things are going to happen. I mean, it's another way of saying, I guess, if they had more cops up there in Ohio, maybe they could have had- you know, saved some of those animals. But I think basically that's what it is.
Earlier, fill-in anchor Jeff Glor trumpeted that "Vice President Joe Biden is under fire for controversial comments linking rape and the jobs bill" and stated in his introduction to Plante's report that "Biden is getting a lot of attention over some tough language." Co-anchor Erica Hill added that "critics say references he made to murder and to rape were insensitive." The correspondent later highlighted that the politician "really took off the gloves" and that he "reacted angrily" to Mattera's question.
The full transcript of Bill Plante's report, which began nine minutes into 7 am Eastern hour, along with Schieffer's comments, which immediately followed:
JEFF GLOR: Meanwhile, this morning, as President Obama pushes Congress to pass key parts of his jobs bill, Vice President Joe Biden is getting a lot of attention over some tough language.
ERICA HILL: Yeah. Critics say references he made to murder and to rape were insensitive.
CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante has more for us this morning. Bill, good morning.
PLANTE: Good morning, Erica. Well, you know, the President and Vice President have been out there pushing Congress to vote more money for police, firefighters, and teachers. But the Vice President really took off the gloves. In Flint, Michigan last week, Biden argued that fewer police mean more rape and murder.
[CBS News Graphic: "Biden's Tough Talk: Controversial Remarks Over GOP & Crime"]
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN (from October 12, 2011 speech in Flint, Michigan): In 2010, when Flint had only 144 police officers, the murder rate climbed to 65, and rapes- just to pick two categories- climbed to 229. God only knows what the numbers will be this year for Flint if we don't rectify it.
PLANTE (voice-over): After the complete jobs bill was voted down last week, the White House set out to get the legislation passed piecemeal, including $35 billion for jobs, some of them for first responders. Some Republicans in the Senate are pushing back.
SEN. DAN COATS, (R), INDIANA (from October 13, 2011 press conference): Well, the President's plan creates jobs- temporary jobs. Our plan creates policies that allow for economic growth.
PLANTE: In Philadelphia Tuesday, Biden hit back heatedly at Republican charges that the bill is a one-time fix, which would provide only temporary jobs.
BIDEN: It's not temporary. To the guy whose store is being held up and there's a gun pointed at his head- if a cop shows up and he is not killed, that's not temporary! I wish they had some notion what it's like to be on the other side of a gun, or a 200-pound man standing over you telling you to submit.
PLANTE: Republicans are taking issue with the Vice President's language, saying that Biden's focus on rape and murder goes too far.
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO, (R), WYOMING: The Vice President, through his recent comments, are trying to use scare tactics against the American people.
PLANTE: Late Wednesday, when a conservative blogger confronted Biden about his policy, he reacted angrily.
BIDEN (from Human Events video): Let's get it straight, guys. Don't screw around with me. I said rape was up three times in Flint. They're the numbers- go look at the numbers.
PLANTE (on-camera): Well, the Vice President is famous for shooting from the lip, and sometimes has had to backtrack. But not this time, and that encounter you just saw with reporters- he doubled down, saying that if Republicans don't pass this bill, incidents of rape and murder will rise because there are fewer cops on the beat. Erica?
GLOR: All right, Bill, it's Jeff. I'll take it- thanks very much. Joining us now is CBS News chief Washington correspondent and host of 'Face The Nation,' Bob Schieffer. Bob, good morning to you.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Good morning, Jeff.
GLOR: Let's start with the Biden flap. What do you make of it?
SCHIEFFER: Well, I think the Vice President is just drawing things in the starkest possible terms. But when you come right down to it, it is a little bit difficult to argue with the logic. If you have fewer police on the streets, you're probably going to have more crime. So all sides are, you know, trying to draw the other side's position in the worst possible terms. But I think basically that's what the Vice President did. I don't see any long-term fallout from all of this, but, you know, Republicans are going to try to make the most of it, just like the Vice President has been trying to make the most of- if you don't pass this bill, bad things are going to happen. I mean, it's another way of saying, I guess, if they had more cops up there in Ohio, maybe they could have had- (Glor laughs) you know, saved some of those animals. But I think basically that's what it is.
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Comments
Of Course....
Submitted by GeneralAl on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 12:43pm.
"SCHIEFFER: Well, I think the Vice President is just drawing things in the starkest possible terms. But when you come right down to it, it is a little bit difficult to argue with the logic."
Of course its difficult if your a liberal!
"Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away"!
Now
Submitted by grammajane on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:00pm.
the GOP will be responsible for all committed crimes? Bieden has got to be the most ignorant and disrespectful "person" in office this country has ever elected. These radicals have no knowledge to the fact, that people are responsible for their own behavior and to blame others, is the main purpose of the liberal play-book. Bieden is and will always continue to make a complete fool out of himself not realizing, Americans are way to smart to listen to anything coming from his uneducated mouth.
Biden's comments
Submitted by Ashrak on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:21pm.
are the very points people in the Second Amendment advocacy arena use when trying to make the point that folks have a right to carry a firearm.
A real "journalist" would put the question to him about that reality the next time he talks about gun control.
Better yet, when the eventual vice presidential debate comes about, opposing candidate(s) ought to put it to him when that topic is discussed.
Just like the Occupy protests, the progressives try to take pieces and parts of what they see working and apply them as their own. Too bad for them that they leave out the most important part. The "genuine" part.
That is why Biden gets himself into so much trouble with all of his "gaffes". I am laughing at Biden trying to use what has long been employed as a justification for carrying a firearm as if it is somehow now justification for more government spending.
If these cities would stop
Submitted by ricklail on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 2:57pm.
If these cities would stop denying people their 2nd Amendment right, then that lady that is about to be raped could pull out her Desert Eagle 50 caliber and put a fist sized hole in the rapist. Problem solved. Is a Desert Eagle .50 a bit of overkill? NAH
I heard this crap
Submitted by Franksam on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:36pm.
Joe the VP said that when you have a gun held to your head there won't be a police officer there to help. They are not there to help in time anyway, Joe, Very few crimes in progress are interrupted by police, excepting speeding tickets, of course. Usually people call the police after something bad has happened, and they show up for the aftermath.
That's why I have deputized myself, in a manner of speaking.
My biggest question to Plugs
Submitted by ricklail on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 3:32pm.
My biggest question to Plugs Biden would be, why should I pay for cops in Flynt Michigan? It is not my fault they wasted their money on something else.
Loss of police protection?
Submitted by CobraMan on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:54pm.
Since when are local police departments funded through the federal government? We pay property taxes, and local sales taxes, for that protection. The federal government doesn't have anything at all to do with it, much to the chagrin of people like Biden, I'm sure. If you want your local government to play for more police , and other "first responders," well, tell them to raise your property and/or sales taxes to cover that additional cost. I mean, really, how hard is it to figure out?
The federal government shouldn't be making decisions like how many police should be in a given force, for that is a LOCAL decision based upon LOCAL need. Biden, stay the hell out of it.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
The Rainman Returns!
Submitted by lotr on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:56pm.
Joe FREAKING Biden! (Featuring Rainman)
"256 hairplugs."
That was pretty funny
Submitted by Blonde on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 3:06pm.
That kid is great.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
I agree
Submitted by lotr on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 5:00pm.
And when it comes to something like this, sometimes the only fitting response is scathing satire.
Good evening lotr
Submitted by cocodrie on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 5:09pm.
Thanks
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
The media have painted Biden as wacky and harmless
Submitted by frank14 on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 2:44pm.
This outrage shows how dangerous this moron is. He is a two bit lawyer with no ethics or common sense and he is a heartbeat away from being president!
If you are in trouble call
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 2:49pm.
If you are in trouble call the Fire Department and worry about the BS later.
When seconds count, the police are just minutes away.
Oh, it's just Joe...
Submitted by kata on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 3:07pm.
Good thing we have the entire American Press corps covering for our national embarassment.
People just don't understand
Submitted by buddyc on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 4:31pm.
People just don't understand that police, teachers, school costs, fire fighters, prison guards and the like are PAID BY THE STATES not the federal government. What Biden and Obama are demanding is the people in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Utah, New Jersey, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada who managed their financial affairs pay for grossly overapid public employees in California and Illinois and a few other states in trouble and laying public employees off? Those states should deal with their own problems.
For 30 years the liberals in California have claimed that tax increases were needed for "police protection", "better schools" and "better teachers" and for "firefighters". The unions have diverted that increased tax revenue to higher salaries and pensions and NOT to MORE employees. ENOUGH is NEVER ENOUGH. The schools suck. The teachers suck. The firefighters and police are great but are over paid and you could find 10,000 qualified and phsycially fit people who would take their jobs at half their current compensation. California is shutting down programs for those in need, the poor, to pay these outrageous salaries and benefits.
Please don't fall for this absolutely STUPID Biden and Obama argument. Their biggest contributors are the public employee and teacher unions. They are merely taking your money to pay back the people who paid to get them elected.
Agree, somewhat, in principal, buddyc, ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 8:44pm.
and granted, it is not done 24-7; but try, as a firefighter, dragging a charged hose line into an extremely hot structure with flames in various spots, having had reports that there is someone inside who is unable to help themselves - or - as a law enforcement officer, unholstering your weapon and proceeding into a "man with a gun" situation in a large, uncleared building; and then tell me more about how firefighters and police are great but OVERPAID.
This is America, where once it was considered a good thing to achieve a decent, even great working wage and comfortable retirement, by preparing yourself, and then going for and earning a position that provided just that.
"The firefighters and police are great but are overpaid and you could find 10,000 qualified and physically fit people who would take their jobs at half their current compensation".
That is quite likely true, but wouldn't it be interesting, if that were to happen, to note just how long before the "new" people working for half the wages and benefits, forgot to be grateful; and started saying, "Hey wait a damn minute here. We are only getting half what the prior group got, and this job can be damn dangerous at times. We DESERVE MORE."
I understand human nature, and that is exactly what would happen.
MD
Real rapists - or Biden?
Submitted by Slyrr on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 7:23pm.
So what choice are the people being offered here? Either we get raped by real rapists, or we get raped by the Obama administration. Either way, the American people are screwed.
At least against actual rapists, a US citizen can arm himself under the protection of the 2nd amendment and fight off the rapist or kill them in self defense. But who will protect the people when the government are the rapists? When the government rapes our paychecks, they expect us to just close our eyes and take it.
What Biden, Obama and his whole sorry crew are doing to the people is nothing less than government/state sanctioned rape.
So we either get attacked by real rapists, or get raped by Joe Biden. Which would YOU prefer?
Biden Shoves Foot in Mouth... Again
Submitted by lotr on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 9:24pm.
Biden Shoves Foot in Mouth, Again
Americans could have taken little comfort when the man a heartbeat away from the nation's nuclear launch codes predicted, in another context, "If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there's still a 30 percent chance we're going to get it wrong." This week, however, Vice-President Joe Biden increased his probability of error to 100 percent, making and repeating statements indicating that he's just about the only elected official in America that doesn't know that violent crime has been declining for the last 20 years.