Biden Lets the Love Flow

I just left Greene Square Park, where Vice President Joe Biden campaigned alongside our re-election seeking Gov. Chet Culver.

If you're hoping for major breaking news developments, move along, move along. Nothing much to see here.

Culver gave a stump speech nearly identical to his announcement speech Monday and finished in about 11 minutes. Culver is doing a great job and will do even  better in his second term, Culver said.

Biden topped out around 28 minutes, which as Joe B speeches go, is a mere morsel, a wafer-thin mint.

To say Biden heaped praise on Culver would be an understatement. To say there was any understatement, would be a misstatement.

Samplings to follow.

"The president and I know Chet Culver," Biden said in a booming microphoned voice that bounced off nearby buildings and may have startled more than one office worker. "I've known Chet, I hate to admit this, since he was 7 years old, sitting in my front lawn in Willmington, Del., with his dad and mom. I know his dad well." And I can say, with absolute certainty, Chet Culver has the gumption to handle the job at this time. This man has taken on disasters, both economic and natural. He stared them down. Confronted them. Made sure the people of his state come out of this struggle better than they went in. And that's no hyperbole..."

" And I can say, with absolute certainty, Chet Culver has the gumption to handle the job at this time. This man has taken on disasters, both economic and natural. He stared them down. Confronted them. Made sure the people of his state come out of this struggle better than they went in. And that's no hyperbole..."

Wait, are you sure?

"We really need men and women who are bold. Who think big. This is no time for small-bore solutions....In circumstances like this...I put a great deal of trust and faith in people whose instincts start in their gut, move to their heart, and then to their intellect. These are the people who get it."And the reason I do is that folks who live it, who smell it, who taste it, who know it, these are the ones, when things get tough, who don't walk away. These are the ones, when things get tough, have the gumption to stand and say, 'I stand here...."

"And the reason I do is that folks who live it, who smell it, who taste it, who know it, these are the ones, when things get tough, who don't walk away. These are the ones, when things get tough, have the gumption to stand and say, 'I stand here...."

Wow. We should totally find someone like that to be governor. Or maybe we should find lunch, speaking of my gut.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Chet is that guy. That's why I'm here."

Oh. Well. Sure, that makes sense I guess.

This sort of thing went on for much of the speech. The subject turned to flooding, which was appropriate. In June 2008. the Cedar River was lapping at the spot where Biden and Culver stood.

And no, Biden did not claim Culver walked on the floodwater. Quite the opposite.

"The floods that so ravaged your beautiful town along the river," Biden said, dubbing it the fourth largest natural disaster in U.S. history, up from five, evidently. "And once again, this big guy with broad shoulders, he didn't flinch. He weighed in, and sometimes, he waded into the water, to make things happen.

Wait, I don't remember..no matter, Joe's on a roll.

"First, along with you, he tried to rescue and save his fellow Iowans. And then to lead the restoration and rebuilding after the disaster. He means what he says when he says build it back better than it was before. That's what's happening right here in Cedar Rapids."If I'm going to paint a picture of Iowa, I'm looking at it. This guy is Iowa. This guy is Iowa belt buckle to shoe sole," Biden said.

"If I'm going to paint a picture of Iowa, I'm looking at it. This guy is Iowa. This guy is Iowa belt buckle to shoe sole," Biden said.

No one asked Biden what Culver is from the belt buckle up. Pity.

OK, so I know this is what big time politicians do when they swoop into town to campaign for someone down the food chain. They seek to build them up, big time. The reflected glow of POTUS-ness or veepness shines down. Mission accomplished.

And Biden especially is known for being an over-the-top politician. Irish poems, tears, f-bombs etc. He apologized today for his most famous health-care's-a-big-beeping-deal f-bomb, by the way.

But if I were Culver, I might have leaned forward at one point and said politely, "Take it down a notch, for cripes sakes. These peopke know me."

But Culver seemed to enjoy it and Biden certainly did and so did the crowd that got to spend a sunny hour or two in a park in springtime. As political shows go, it was certainly one more.