Speaking to an audience in Virginia on Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden told a crowd of about 1,000 – half of whom appeared to be African American – that Republican Mitt Romney would unleash Wall Street and put people “in chains.” The comment drew an immediate response from the Romney campaign, saying the comment was a “new low.”
Biden’s comments came after he took a swipe at what he said would be Romney’s policies during his first 100 days in office if he were to be elected in November. “[Romney] said in the first hundred days, he’s going to let the big banks write their own rules – unchain Wall Street.”
Then the vice president offered an even greater prediction. “They’re going to put y’all back in chains,” said Biden.
Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul jumped on the comments, referring to them as “slanderous” and demanding that President Obama confirm if he indeed supports the vice president’s remarks.
“After weeks of slanderous and baseless accusations leveled against Governor Romney, the Obama campaign has reached a new low,” Saul said in a statement. “The comments made by the Vice President of the United States are not acceptable in our political discourse and demonstrate yet again that the Obama Campaign will say and do anything to win this election. President Obama should tell the American people whether he agrees with Joe Biden’s comments.”
Other notable Republicans were quick to criticize Biden’s comments and suggested that a double standard persists between what Democrats and Republicans can say on the campaign stump.
