Joe Biden

Transcript: Joe Biden during the second Democratic 2008 presidential primary debate (June 03, 2007) in New Hampshire

Senator Biden...

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D) DELAWARE: Yes, sir.

SPRADLING: Question for you on Iraq: You are the only person standing on this stage tonight to recently vote to continue funding the troops in Iraq. My question is this. Why were Senators Obama, Clinton, Dodd, and Congressman Kucinich wrong to vote against the funding?

BIDEN: I'm not going to make a judgment on why they were wrong. I'll tell you why I was right. No one has fought harder to change this president's policy. Matter of fact, the very language that was vetoed in the bill was language that I, along with Senator Levin, put in, and I've suggested over a year ago in a proposal I laid forward. That is to start to draw down troops immediately, have them all out by '08.

But, you know, the fact of the matter is: It's about time. We've not been told the truth about this war from the beginning by this president. And the fact is, we got to tell the truth now. The truth now is, there are 160,000 forces in Iraq. They're in harm's way. Seventy percent of all the injuries are caused by land -- those IEDs.

We know that if we put in these mine-resistant vehicles, the V- shaped-hull vehicles, put them in now, we could save two-third of the lives and two-thirds of the injuries. My colleagues joined me when I proposed fast-forwarding the funding for that so we could get 2,500 of them into the field by August. If we had voted no and stopped this, it would have delayed that. Lives are at stake. And I knew the right political vote, but I tell you what: Some things are worth losing elections over.

BLITZER: Senator Biden, why are you reluctant to say now: They were wrong, and you were right?

BIDEN: Because I don't want to judge them. I mean, these are my friends. We have worked together. We've worked hard to try and end this war. We have people telling everybody: Just stop the war, Congress. We have 50 votes. We're busting our neck every single day. So I respect it.

But look, I cannot -- as long as there is a single troop in Iraq that I know if I take action by funding them, I increase the prospect they will live or not be injured -- I cannot and will not vote no to fund them.

BLITZER: Senator Biden?

BIDEN: Wolf, look, the Republicans and this president have not told us the truth about this war from the beginning. The last thing we Democrats should do is not be telling the truth. We have 50 votes in the United States Senate. We have less of a majority in the House than any time other than the last eight years.

Ladies and gentlemen, you're going to end this war when you elect a Democratic president. You need 67 votes to end this war. I love these guys who tell you they're going to stop the war. Let me tell you straight up the truth. The truth of the matter is, the only one that's emboldened the enemy has been George Bush by his policies, not us funding the war.We're funding the safety of those troops there until we can get 67 votes...

BLITZER: Senator Biden, let me let you weigh in. You voted last year to support this immigration legislation, including the construction of an approximately 700-mile fence along the border between the United States and Mexico. Governor Richardson doesn't think there needs to be such a fence. Why is he wrong?

BIDEN: Well, he's not wrong. There doesn't need to be a 700- mile fence. But there does need -- look, we ought to start -- we all love this phrase: Start talking truth to power.

Fourteen million illegals: Now, you tell me how many buses, carloads, planes -- they're going to go out and round up all these people, spend hundreds of millions and billions of dollars to do it, with the whole world watching, while we send these folks back.

Rather than get a background check on all of them, take out the criminals, get them back, and provide for a means by which we allowed earned citizenship over the next decade or so.

Folks, being commander in chief requires you to occasionally be practical. (LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: If you don't think there needs to be a fence, why did you vote for that legislation?

BIDEN: Well, that fence was -- the reason I voted for the fence was that was the only alternative that was there. And I voted for the fence related to drugs. A fence will stop 20 kilos of cocaine coming through that fence. It will not stop someone climbing over it or around it. And so -- but this bill has a much more reasonable provision in it. It has much -- a shorter fence. It does have the Border Patrol requirements. And it is designed not just to deal with illegals, it's designed with a serious drug trafficking problem we have.

BLITZER: But you know, Senator Biden, there are still a lot of military commanders out there, including the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, who say keep the current policy, 'don't ask/don't tell,' it would be demoralizing, it would be bad for military readiness to change that policy and let gays and lesbians serve openly in the U.S. military.

BIDEN: Peter Pace is flat wrong. I've been to Afghanistan, I've been to Iraq seven times, I've been in the Balkans, I've been in these foxholes with these kids, literally in bunkers with them. Let me tell you something: Nobody asked anybody else whether they're gay in those holes, those foxholes, number one.

Number two, our allies, the British, the French, all our major allies, gays openly serve. I don't know the last time an American soldier said to a backup from a Brit, 'Hey, by the way, let me check, are you gay, you straight?' This is ridiculous. And by the way, we got a war on our hands we're trying to end. In the meantime, we're breaking the military. Nine thousand of these people have been kicked out.

This is not a rational policy.

BLITZER: What about that, Senator Biden? You're the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. If you got word from the U.S. intelligence community that Ahmadinejad and his government were on the verge of having a nuclear bomb capable of hitting targets in the region on missiles, what would you do?

BIDEN: Well, first of all, I would do away with the policy of regime change. What we're saying to everybody in Iran is: Look, by the way, give up the one thing that keeps us from attacking you and after that we're going to attack you, we're going to take you down. It's a bizarre notion, number one.

Number two, understand how weak Iran is. They are not a year away or two years away. They are a decade away from being able to weaponize with exactly what the question was, if they put a nuclear weapon on top of a missile that can strike. They are far away from that.

Number three, in fact, we have to understand how weak that government is. They import almost all of their refined oil. By 2014, they are going to be importing their crude oil. There are much better ways if we had to get to the point of real sanctions of doing economic sanctions on them forcefully that way. But at the end of the day, if they posed a missile, stuck it on a pad, I'd take it out.

QUESTION: I would like to address the crisis in Darfur. At this time, as many as 400,000 people have been killed, millions or more are without food and shelter. If you were elected president, would role do you think the United States should play in addressing this terrible tragedy?

BIDEN: Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes?

BIDEN: I just was there.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Senator.

BIDEN: You know, we have to stop talking about it. A lot of talk goes on about it. The United Nations has already said they're prepared to put in a 21,000 force, including the African Union. In fact, you have in the capital of Sudan the government saying, 'We're not going to allow that to happen.' They have forfeited their sovereignty by engaging in genocide.

We should impose a no-fly zone if the U.N. will not move now. We should impose a no-fly zone, and we should commit 25,000 -- 2,500 NATO troops. You could take out the Janjaweed tomorrow. I went there. I sat in the borders. I went in those camps. They're going to have thousands and thousands and thousands of people die. We've got to stop talking and act.

BLITZER: All right.

BIDEN: That's why last Monday I went to see the president of the United Nations at the General Assembly, as well as the secretary general, to make that point.

BLITZER: Senator Dodd says he doesn't think that's a good idea. If you agree that it might be a good idea, raise your hand -- if necessary.

BIDEN: Wolf, the reason we have no moral authority is we're not acting. I heard the same argument with Milosevic. I went over there, found out there was genocide going on, came to your husband. I said, 'We must act.'Now, look, we acted. Not an American was killed. We saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

By the time all these guys talk, 50,000 more people are going to be dead. They're going to be dead. And I tell you, I guarantee you, we have the capacity by setting up a no-fly zone to shut down the Janjaweed. That's our moral authority. Exercise it. (APPLAUSE)

( GRAVEL: Listen, they've been raiding the Social Security trust fund to $200 million a year, and they're all involved in this. Now what do they say about -- you balanced the budget by raiding the Social Security fund to $200 million a year. And they're doing it now. )

BIDEN: Ten seconds. If you want to do away with the interest groups, go to public financing of elections. Let's cut through all this malarkey. (APPLAUSE)

That is the bottom line. As long as there are massive contributions pouring into the system, you're going to get these earmarks in the middle of the night that have nothing to do with the people's interest.

So you want to do this, reform the system. Make a public financing system. That will change the earmarks.

Senator Biden, your top priority in the first 100 days?

BIDEN: I would end the war in Iraq and immediately move to defuse the possible war in Iran and immediately defuse what's going on, on the Korean Peninsula. They're the three most important things that the next president is going to have to deal with.

And by the way, when power is handed from this president to the next, the next president is going to be left with no margin for error. They better be smarter than their advisers.

Read Joe Biden's transcript from the first primary debate here

2008 Democratic Candidates:

Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson