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SCRANTON — Calling himself “a guy from Scranton,” Vice President Joe Biden, shared stories about his childhood home and his grandfather’s kitchen table on Sunday while stumping for democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Biden said values centered upon hard work and positivity he assimilated at that table are the same values fundamental to the Democratic Party.
He said support for the financially challenged and providing opportunities for growth that are fundamental for the success of the nation are ideologies he shares with Clinton.
Clinton, he said, is the only real choice on election day.
Paula Roos, 84, a Clinton volunteer and supporter, agreed.
Carrying a tote bearing the words “Grandmas for Hillary,” Roos said not only was Clinton the best choice for president, the alternative was unthinkable.
“Mike Pence (the Republican vice presidential candidate) doesn’t even believe in science,” she said, referring to Pence’s denial of global warming and his disbelief in evolution.
As Roos made her way through the parking lot, she carried pro-Clinton bumper stickers she said she would be giving out in the final days of the election.
“This is really important,” she said.
Biden challenged republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s assertion that he would “make America great again.”
“We are already a great country,” said Biden. “We went from crisis to recovery and now we are moving toward resurgence.”
Biden said that “when Hillary is elected,” she would implement sound economic policy ensuring success for those of every economic and social class by raising the minimum wage and supporting women in the workforce.
Biden also voiced his support for democratic U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty, who is challenging incumbent republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
McGinty, who introduced Biden, said that as the mother of two young girls, she was offended by Trump’s disrespect for women and by Toomey’s refusal to address it.
“What’s he waiting for?” she asked the crowd. “The next poll, that’s what he waiting for.”
Biden said of McGinty, “Two things I know about her — she has a backbone like a ramrod and she’s smarter than you.”
In an email to the Times Leader following the rally, a source from Toomey’s campaign said, “President Obama and Vice President Biden attack Pat Toomey during campaign season and praise him when they try to get things passed in the senate. Voters get that.”
The email continued, “The difference in this Senate race is between having Pat Toomey, an independent voice who opposes bad ideas and supports good ones from either party, and Katie McGinty, who is an ethically challenged rubber stamp for the far left of the Democratic Party.”
U.S Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., also addressed the crowd at the rally, reflecting on the long history of the Kennedy family as it related to the area. He looked back on the support Scranton gave to his uncle, John F. Kennedy, during the election of 1960, and his grandfather Robert Kennedy’s visit to the area, also during the early ’60s.
“You have supported a steady stream of Kennedys,” he said. “And there have been a lot of us.”
U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, asked rally attendees, “Do we love Uncle Joe?”
The crowd reacted with enthusiastic applause.
Many attendees said they it had felt like a long election season, and they couldn’t wait for it to be over. But they were determined to bring home a Clinton win.
“We can’t afford to lose,” said Helen Joyce, of Scranton.
