Gannett News Service - Biden: "Big Nations Can't Bluff"
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Gannett News Service - Biden: "Big Nations Can't Bluff"
By Nicole Gaudiano
Sen. Joe Biden said an amendment that passed the Senate designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization emboldens President Bush to move against Iran and has "incredible consequences for Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Speaking during tonight's ongoing Democratic debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Biden said, "We have now driven underground every moderate in Pakistan and Afghanistan."
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only senator running for president who voted for the measure. Biden said he wasn't just directing his criticism at her, noting that 75 other senators who voted for it "don't understand."
Biden said the measure plays into the urban legend that America is on a crusade against Islam.
"All it has done is hurt us," he said. "Even if not another single action is taken, actions have consequences. Big nations can't bluff."
Biden said that he would do "all in his power" to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, but "an out of control Pakistan" was a greater threat to America when compared to the 2.6 kilograms of highly enriched uranium the Iranians may get.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is leading in the money race, national polls and in polls in Iowa, is considered the one to beat tonight during the two-hour debate that began at 9 p.m. on MSNBC.
Biden, meanwhile, remains in the single digits in polls and ended the last fundraising quarter with only a little more than $800,000 he can use for the primary campaign.
Known for his locquacity, Biden drew laughs tonight in one of his final answers. Moderators had imposed a 30-second time limit, and Biden was observing that medical students need to be helped with educational costs when he stopped himself. "I stay within my time,'' he quipped.''
But mostly, Biden steered answers toward his knowledge of world affairs.
On the topic of higher heating oil costs, Delaware's senior senator said America must stop digging a hole that leads to increased prices by "rattling the saber with Iran.''
Asked if he would advise against buying toys imported from China, he said to applause: "If I were president, I'd shut it down. Flat shut it down any imports from China in terms of toys. Imagine if Morocco sold those toys, we'd have shut them down.''
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