Vice President Joe Biden was on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Monday and the “Big Three” networks seem to be all about it on their news programs that evening. “It is Biden's first time of the campaign trail, side by side with the woman he publicly pondered running against,” reported ABC’s Cecilia Vega on World News Tonight, “The two now united in their fight against Trump, and their friendship.”
Both ABC and NBC hyped Biden’s stature in the Scranton community, with both praising him as the “hometown hero.” “A hometown hero here in Scranton, Biden hoping to win over those blue collar voters Trump is counting on,” remarked Vega. And on NBC, reporter Andrea Mitchell noted something similar, “Clinton today bringing along Scranton's hometown hero to make her case, even stopping at his childhood home.”
Mitchell even requested that Biden speak to his people:
MITCHELL: What do you say to white, not college educated men in Pennsylvania, in Scranton?
BIDEN: Just what I said here, take a look at the facts. Take a look at what he's talking about. Take a look at what we’re talking about.
On CBS Evening News, Nancy Cordes spoke about how Biden was an attack dog for Clinton against Donald Trump. “Vice President Biden, campaigning with Clinton, had a score to settle after Trump called President Obama the Founder of ISIS,” she stated, “Biden went so far as to say that if his son had been deployed by a President Trump, he would have thrown himself at his feet to prevent him from going.”
Transcripts below:
ABC
World News Tonight
August 15, 2016
6:41:20 PM EasternDAVID MUIR: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have both been courting voters in the rust belt, where jobs and factories have been lost. Tonight Clinton with help from a native son in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the vice president. And Joe Biden did not hold back about Trump or about how he helped Clinton navigate what President Obama was trying to say while they were both inside the White House. ABC’s Cecilia Vega on the Clinton campaign.
[Cuts to video]
CECILIA VEGA: Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in Pennsylvania today, taking turns taking swipes at Donald Trump.
HILLARY CLINTON: Friends should not let friends vote for Trump.
JOE BIDEN: He can’t be trusted.
VEGA: The vice president going on the offensive, saying he doesn't trust Trump with the nuclear codes.
BIDEN: No major party nominee in the history of the United States of America, has -- now don't cheer or -- just listen -- has known less or have been less prepared to deal with our national security than Donald Trump. He doesn't seem to want to learn it.
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VEGA: It is Biden's first time of the campaign trail, side by side with the woman he publicly pondered running against. The two now united in their fight against Trump, and their friendship.
BIDEN: During her years as secretary of state, once a week we’d have breakfast at my home. I became the Obama whisperer. She' at me and say, what did he mean by that? He loves her.
VEGA: A hometown hero here in Scranton, Biden hoping to win over those blue collar voters Trump is counting on.
...
...
NBC
Nightly News
August 15, 2016
7:11:05 PM Eastern
ANDREA MITCHELL: This is Andrea Mitchell in Scranton, where Hillary Clinton is going after Donald Trump where he's strongest, with white working class voters. Trump is counting on them to give him his best and perhaps only shot at the White House. Clinton today bringing along Scranton's hometown hero to make her case, even stopping at his childhood home.
JOE BIDEN: If you lived in a neighborhood like I grew up in. If you're worried about your job, then there's only one person in this election who will possibly help you and that is Hillary Clinton.
HILLARY CLINTON: We're going to make the biggest investment in new good paying jobs since World War II.
MITCHELL: Joe Biden telling me Trump's economic plan doesn't add up.
BIDEN: He has no notion of what he's talking about. And just look at his budget.
MITCHELL: What do you say to white, not college educated men in Pennsylvania, in Scranton?
BIDEN: Just what I said here, take a look at the facts. Take a look at what he's talking about. Take a look at what we’re talking about.
...
...
CBS
Evening News
August 15, 2016
6:39:08 PM Eastern...
J
OE BIDEN: He can’t be trusted!
CORDES: Vice President Biden, campaigning with Clinton, had a score to settle after Trump called President Obama the Founder of ISIS.
BIDEN: Let me tell you why it’s a dangerous statement. Why, as he might say, the bad guys are listening.
CORDES: Biden pointed out that leader of terror group Hezbollah had seized on Trump’s accusations over the weekend.
BIDEN: If my son were still in Iraq, and I said to all those who are there, the threat to their life has gone up a couple click. It’s gone up a couple clicks.
[Cuts back to live]
CORDES: Biden went so far as to say that if his son had been deployed by a President Trump, he would have thrown himself at his feet to prevent him from going. He's hoping that statements like that get some attention here in working-class Scranton, Scott, which is the town where he grew up.
