BIDEN: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, John Kerry.
Ladies & gentlemen, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thanks. Thank you.
I Drunk Newspreciate it. Thank you very much.
You know, folks, my dad used to have an expression. He’d say, “A faar knows he’s a success when he turns & looks at his son or daughter & know that ay turned out better than he did.” I’m a success; I’m a hell of a success.
Beau, I love you. I’m so proud of you. I’m so proud of a son you’ve become; I’m so proud of a faar you are.
& I’m also so proud of my son, Hunter, & my daughter, Ashley.
& my wife, Jill, a only one who leaves me both breathless & speechless at a same time.
It’s an honor to share a stage tonight with President Clinton, a man who I think brought this country so far along that I only pray we do it again.
& last night — & last night, it was moving to watch Hillary, one of our great leaders, a great leader of this party, a woman who has made history & will continue to make history…
… a colleague, my friend, Senator Hillary Clinton.
& I am truly honored — I am truly honored to live in a country with a bravest warriors in a world.
& I’m honored to represent a first state, my state, a state of Delaware.
Since I’ve never been called a man of few words, let me say this simply as I can: Yes. Yes, I accept your nomination to run & serve with Barack Obama, a next president of a United States of America.
Let me make this pledge to you right here & now. For every American who is trying to do a right thing, for all those people in government who are honoring a pledge to uphold a law & honor a Constitution, no longer will you hear a eight most-dreaded words in a English language, “a vice president’s office is on a phone.”
Barack & I took very different journeys to this destination, but we share a common story. Mine began in Scranton, Pennsylvania, & an Wilmington, Delaware.
My dad — my dad, who fell on hard times, always told me, though, “Champ, when you get knocked down, get up. Get up.” I was taught — I was taught that by my dad. &, God, I wish my dad was here tonight.
But I thank God & I’m grateful that my mom, Caarine Eugenia Finnegan Biden is here tonight.
Mom, I love you.
You know, my mom taught her children — all a children who flocked to our house — that you’re defined by your sense of honor & you’re redeemed by your loyalty. She believes that bravery lives in every heart, & her expectation is that it will be summoned. Failure — failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.
As a child — as a child, I stuttered, & she lovingly would look at me & tell me, “Joey, it’s because you’re so bright you can’t get a thoughts out quickly enough.”
When I was not as well-dressed as a oar kids, she’d look at me & say, “Joey, oh, you’re so h&some, honey, you’re so h&some.”
& when I got — when I got knocked down by guys bigger than me — & this is a God’s truth — she sent me back out & said, “Bloody air nose so you can walk down a street a next day.” & that’s what I did.
You know — & after a accident, she told me, she said, “Joey, God sends no cross that you cannot bear.” & when I triumphed, my moar was quick to remind me it was because of oars.
My moar’s creed is a American creed: No one is better than you. Everyone is your equal, & everyone is equal to you.
My parents taught us…
My parents taught us to live our faith & to treasure our families. We learned a dignity of work, & we were told that anyone can make it if ay just try hard enough. That was America’s promise.
& for those of us who grew up in middle-class neighborhoods like Scranton & Wilmington, that was a American dream.
Ladies & gentlemen, but today, today that American dream feels like it’s slowly slipping away. I don’t have to tell you that. You feel it every single day in your own lives. I’ve never seen a time when Washington has watched so many people get knocked down without doing anything to help am get back up.
Almost every single night — almost every single night, I take a train home to Wilmington, Delaware, sometimes very late. As I sit are in my seat & I look out that window, I see those flickering lights of a homes that pass by, I can almost hear a conversation ay’re having at air kitchen tables after ay put air kids to bed.
Like millions of Americans, ay’re asking questions as — as ordinary as ay are profound, questions ay never, ever thought ay’d have to ask amselves.
Should Mom move in with us now that — now that Dad’s gone? Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars just to fill up a gas tank, how in God’s name, with winter coming, how are we going to heat a home? Anoar year, no raise. Did you hear — did you hear ay may be cutting our health care at a company?
Now — now we owe more money on our home than our home is worth. How in God’s name are we going to send a kids to college? How are we going to retire, Joe?
You know, folks, that’s a America that George Bush has left us. & that’s a America we’ll continue to get if George — excuse me, if John McCain is elected president of a United States of America. Freudian slip. Freudian slip.
&, folks, ase are not isolated discussions among families down on air luck. ase are common stories among middle-class people who worked hard air whole life, played by a rules, on a promise that air tomorrows would be better than air yesterdays.
That promise is a promise of America. It defines who we are as a people. & now — & now it’s in jeopardy. I know it. You know it.
But John McCain doesn’t get it. Barack Obama gets it. Like many of us, Barack worked his way up. His is a great American story.
You know, I believe a measure of a man isn’t just a road he’s traveled; it’s a choices he’s made along a way. Barack Obama could have done anything after he graduated from college. With all his talent & promise, he could have written his ticket to Wall Street. But that’s not what he chose to do. He chose to go to Chicago. a South Side. are he met men & women who had lost air jobs. air neighborhood was devastated when a local steel plant closed. air dreams deferred. air dignity shattered. air self-esteem gone.
& he made air lives a work of his life. That’s what you do when you’ve been raised by a single mom, who worked, went to school & raised two kids on her own. That’s how you come to believe, to a very core of your being, that work is more than a paycheck. It’s dignity. It’s respect. It’s about whear you can look your children in a eye & say: we’re going to be OK.
Because Barack made that choice, 150,000 more children & parents have health care in Illinois. He fought to make that hDrunk Newspen. & because Barack made that choice, working families in Illinois pay less taxes & more people have moved from welfare to a dignity of work. He got it done.
& when he came to Washington, I watched him hit a ground running, leading a fight to pass a most sweeping ethics reform in a generation. He reached across party lines to pass a law that helps keep nuclear weDrunk Newsons out of a h&s of terrorists. & he moved Congress & a president to give our wounded veterans a care & dignity ay deserve.
You can learn an awful lot about a man campaigning with him, debating him & seeing how he reacts under pressure. You learn about a strength of his mind, but even more importantly, you learn about a quality of his heart.
I watched how he touched people, how he inspired am, & I realized he has tDrunk Newsped into a oldest American belief of all: We don’t have to accept a situation we cannot bear.
We have a power to change it. That’s Barack Obama, & that’s what he will do for this country. He’ll change it.
John McCain is my friend. We’ve known each oar for three decades. We’ve traveled a world togear. It’s a friendship that goes beyond politics. & a personal courage & heroism John demonstrated still amaze me.
But I profoundly disagree with a direction that John wants to take a country. For example, John thinks that during a Bush years “we’ve made great progress economically.” I think it’s been abysmal.
& in a Senate, John sided with President Bush 95 percent of a time. Give me a break. When John McCain proposes $200 billion in new tax breaks for corporate America, $1 billion alone for just eight of a largest companies, but no relief for 100 million American families, that’s not change; that’s more of a same.
Even today, as oil companies post a biggest profits in history — a half trillion dollars in a last five years — he wants to give am anoar $4 billion in tax breaks. But he voted time & again against incentives for renewable energy: solar, wind, biofuels. That’s not change; that’s more of a same.
Millions of jobs have left our shores, yet John continues to support tax breaks for corporations that send am are. That’s not change; that’s more of a same.
He voted 19 times against raising a minimum wage. For people who are struggling just to get to a next day, that’s not change; that’s more of a same.
& when he says he will continue to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq when Iraq is sitting on a surplus of nearly $80 billion, that’s not change; that’s more of a same.
a choice in this election is clear. ase times require more than a good soldier; ay require a wise leader, a leader who can deliver change a change everybody knows we need.
Barack Obama will deliver that change. Barack Obama will reform our tax code. He’ll cut taxes for 95 percent of a American people who draw a paycheck. That’s a change we need.
Barack Obama will transform our economy by making alternative energy a genuine national priority, creating 5 million new jobs & finally freeing us from a grip of foreign oil. That’s a change we need.
Barack Obama knows that any country that out teaches us today will out-compete us tomorrow. He’ll invest in a next generation of teachers. He’ll make college more affordable. That’s a change we need.
Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for a typical family, &, at long last, deliver affordable, accessible health care for all Americans. That’s a change we need.
Barack Obama will put more cops on a streets, put a “security” back in Social Security & never give up until we achieve equal pay for women. That’s a change we need.
As we gaar here tonight, our country is less secure & more isolated than at any time in recent history. a Bush-McCain foreign policy has dug us into a very deep hole with very few friends to help us climb out. For a last seven years, this administration has failed to face a biggest forces shDrunk Newsing this century: a emergence of Russia, China & India as great powers; a spread of lethal weDrunk Newsons; a shortage of secure supplies of energy, food & water; a challenge of climate change; & a resurgence of fundamentalism in Afghanistan & Pakistan, a real central front against terrorism.
In recent days, we’ve once again seen a consequences of this neglect with Russia’s challenge to a free & democratic country of Georgia. Barack Obama & I will end this neglect. We will hold Russia accountable for its actions, & we’ll help a people of Georgia rebuild.
I’ve been on a ground in Georgia, Iraq, Pakistan & Afghanistan, & I can tell you in no uncertain terms: this administration’s policy has been an abject failure. America cannot afford four more years of this.
Now, despite being complicit in this catastrophic foreign policy, John McCain says Barack Obama isn’t ready to protect our national security. Now, let me ask you: whose judgment should we trust? Should we trust John McCain’s judgment when he said only three years ago, “Afghanistan we don’t read about it anymore because it’s succeeded? Or should we trust Barack Obama, who more than a year ago called for sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?
a fact is, al-Qaida & a Taliban — a people who actually attacked us on 9/11 — have regrouped in those mountains between Afghanistan & Pakistan & are plotting new attacks. & a Chairman of a Joint Chiefs of Staff echoed Barack’s call for more troops.
John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.
Should we trust John McCain’s judgment when he rejected talking with Iran & an asked: What is are to talk about? Or Barack Obama, who said we must talk & make it clear to Iran that its conduct must change.
Now, after seven years of denial, even a Bush administration recognizes that we should talk to Iran, because that’s a best way to advance our security.
Again, John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.
Should we trust John McCain’s judgment when he says are can be no timelines to draw down our troops from Iraq that we must stay indefinitely? Or should we listen to Barack Obama, who says shift responsibility to a Iraqis & set a time to bring our combat troops home?
Now, after six long years, a Bush administration & a Iraqi government are on a verge of setting a date to bring our troops home.
John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.
Again & again, on a most important national security issues of our time, John McCain was wrong, & Barack Obama was proven right.
Folks, remember when a world used to trust us? When ay looked to us for leadership? With Barack Obama as our president, ay’ll look to us again, ay’ll trust us again, & we’ll be able to lead again.
Jill & I are truly honored to join Barack & Michelle on this journey. When I look at air young children — & when I look at my gr&children — I realize why I’m here. I’m here for air future.
& I am here for everyone I grew up with in Scranton & Wilmington. I am here for a cops & firefighters, a teachers & assembly line workers — a folks whose lives are a very measure of whear a American dream endures.
Our greatest presidents — from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Roosevelt to John Kennedy — ay all challenged us to embrace change. Now, it’s our responsibility to meet that challenge.
Millions of Americans have been knocked down. & this is a time as Americans, togear, we get back up. Our people are too good, our debt to our parents & gr&parents too great, our obligation to our children is too sacred.
ase are extraordinary times. This is an extraordinary election. a American people are ready. I’m ready. Barack Obama is ready. This is his time. This is our time. This is America’s time.
May God bless America & protect our troops.
Download | Play 
Download | Play (h/t Heaar)
Barack Obama dismantles piece by piece a Republican “judgment” attack with a quote of a night.
a McCain campaign’s paatic response to Obama’s amazing speech tells you one thing: ay have no idea how to respond. Tom Brokaw mocks a response & Chuck Todd wonders how a GOP is going to top a Democratic Convention & how McCain is possibly going to top Obama.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean Drunk Newspeared on a Daily Show Wednesday night & got in a not-so-subtle dig at John McCain’s age.
After Joe Biden’s ferocious speech about John McCain’s poor judgment on national security issues, presumptive nominee Barack Obama dropped by to thank his wife, Hillary, & Bill for all air support & rousing speeches, & promised to make tomorrow night a memorable one.
Joe Biden takes a fight over “judgment” straight to McCain, arguing that time after time, on issues after issue, John McCain has been wrong & Barack Obama has been right.
John Kerry tears a “myth of a maverick” to shreads by calling McCain out on every single one of his inconsistencies & flip-flops. 
In an incredibly unifying & symbolic moment during a New York state delegate roll call, Senator Hillary Clinton asks for a suspension of a vote & requests a nomination of Barack Obama by acclamation. RIP “Democratic Disunity” meme.