There's one advantage in having been around as long as I have. Everybody in the Senate knows me, and - I'm going to say something presumptuous, to repeat myself - I think most respect me.
— Joe Biden
Presumptuous for me to say, but at least - at a minimum - I've been able to influence the direction of the Democratic Party on foreign policy. And I've been relatively - presumptuous to say - relatively successful legislatively in the Senate, being able to win a lot of Republican friends, and being able to cross the aisle.
My recollection is - and I'd have to confirm this - but I don't recall paying any money to go to law school.
I always wonder when it was that I was embraced.
We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.
Except for the title 'father,' there is no title, including 'vice president,' that I am more proud to wear than that of United States senator.
In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking.
Well, I was 29 years old when I came to the United States Senate, and I have learned a lot.
When we wrote the Constitution, the intention was to give the commander in chief the authority how to use the forces when you authorize him to be able to use the forces.
It's presumptuous to say you know how somebody feels.
I know what I believe, I know what I want to do, and I'm just comfortable saying it, and laying it out there.
I was not an activist.
The White House isn't the place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power, war and peace, and the economic future of the next generation.
Over the objections, where they sound like squealing pigs, over the objections of Romney and all his allies, we passed some of the toughest Wall Street regulations in history, turning Wall Street back into the allocator of capital it always has been and no longer a casino. And they want to repeal it.
The Recovery Act is working, but it's going to continue to work. It's not over. A lot's going to happen this summer. And even after the summer, there's more to come with the act.
This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power.
When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'
I have never left another senator out to dry. Never.
I guess every single word I've ever said is going to be dissected now.
I graduated from the University of Delaware with a double major in history and political science.
For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community.
The American public's a lot more sophisticated than we all give them credit for. And on complicated issues, I'm going to give them straight answers. And if it takes more than three minutes, I'm going to do it.
Remember, no one decides who they're going to vote for based on the vice president. I mean that literally.
Barack Obama is probably the most exciting candidate that either the Democratic or Republican party has produced at least since I've been around. He's fresh, he's new, he's insightful.
Social Security's not the hard one to solve. Medicare, that is the gorilla in the room, and you've got to put all of it on the table.
The Iraqis have become invested in their nationhood.
I believe the American people have a genuine and justifiable fear of government intrusion in what they instinctively know is going to be an ever more intrusive world.
I'm not big on flak jackets and tie-dyed shirts. You know, that's not me.
During the 60's, I was, in fact, very concerned about the civil rights movement.
There's a lot of revisionist history that goes on these days about Iraq.
In the middle of a recession, where we're just climbing out of it, where the economy -unemployment is still at 9.7 percent, the idea of raising taxes and reducing spending is a prescription for disaster.
You know we're going to control the insurance companies.
Now, people when I say that look at me and say, 'What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?'. The answer is yes, that's what I'm telling you.
Just talk to me as a father - not what the Constitution says. What do you feel?
In my neighborhood, when you've got something to say to a guy, you look him in the eye and you say it to him.
I exaggerate when I'm angry, but I've never gone around telling people things that aren't true about me.
The American people have not become heartless.
In this world, emotion has become suspect - the accepted style is smooth, antiseptic and passionless.
It is no secret that I believe my son, Attorney General Beau Biden would make a great United States Senator - just as I believe he has been a great Attorney General. But Beau has made it clear from the moment he entered public life, that any office he sought, he would earn on his own.
I know I'm not supposed to like muscle cars, but I like muscle cars.
Well, I thought the deal was, when you went to work for the government you weren't supposed to make money!
America doesn't have health insurance.
Foreign policy is like human relations, only people know less about each other.
Most liberals think of civil liberties as their Achilles heel. It isn't.
You're looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am.
There's no political point worth my son's life.
As a matter of fact, I didn't make a political speech outside of my state for 20 years.
Life is a matter of really tough choices.
You get a lawyer whether you're in a military tribunal or whether you're in a federal court, number one. The attorney general decided that the court with the biggest - with the greatest venue, with the best jurisdiction was the New York court. That was the right decision to make.
No one making less than $250,000 under Barack Obama's plan will see one single penny of their tax raised, whether it's their capital gains tax, their income tax, investment tax, any tax.
