(CNN) – Frustration with the economy led to an incarcerated man winning 40% of votes in the West Virginia Democratic primary earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday.
In an interview with WTOV, Biden said he doesn't "blame people, they're frustrated, they're angry."
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"When you're out of work, man, it's a depression," Biden told the CNN Ohio affiliate. "And a lot of people are still hurt because of this Godawful recession we inherited that cost 8.4 million jobs before we could really get going."
The vice president was speaking in Martins Ferry, Ohio, on Thursday, touting the improving auto industry and relating his own middle-class background to experience of many in this battleground state.
But while voters may be frustrated now, Biden said he believes voters will decide he and President Barack Obama are better suited for the White House than GOP candidate Mitt Romney.
"They're going to decide, is the way back to their employment, is the way back to them being able to have a job and raise a family - is it under the values set and the ideas of Romney, or is it under ours?" he said. "And we feel confident we'll do just fine."
Keith Judd, inmate #11593-051, is serving a 210-month sentence in a Texas jail for extortion. He met all the parameters for getting on the West Virginia ballot and received 73, 138 votes to Obama's 106,770 in the primary held on May 8.
Also see:
Romney to start airing first general election campaign ad Friday
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My sister and I went to the polls together and we both voted for the prisoner. Then went we home to our kids.
@Sick of republican phonies: "They probably figured Keith Judd was Wynonna's brother and sang country music."
You've offered the most plausible explanation. I'd love to seea survey of how many people who voted for Keith Judd knew he was a prisoner ...
You can only blame the Bush Administration for so long. If a struggling football program fired their coach and four years later the next one was still placing blame on his predecessor, he would look like an idiot. Obviously a football program is a lot different from running a country, but 4 years is still time to enact a lot of change. Look at FDR and what he was able to accomplish in just four years. Obama lacks leadership, plain and simple. A leader owns up to his faults and makes the necessary changes. He doesn't just merely point across the aisle and place the blame on everyone else but him.
@Melvin Painter: "You liberals are pathetic. You can't come to the defense of your first black racist, race-baiting dictator and his court jester with facts, so you resort to name-calling, lies, and plain stupidity."
Do you even read what you type? You are a typical Repub who accuses your opponents of your own bad behavior.
Here are some FACTS about President Obama's successes:
- We've had 25 straight months of private sector job creation
- The stock market is 5,000 higher than when President Obama took office
- GM, which no private companies wanted to back (including Bain Capital, Mittens' group), was saved because of President Obama's intervention and is now the top car company in the world
- Osama bin Laden is dead
- We're out of Iraq
- The Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act is law
- Meaningful health care reform was passed and millions of Americans are enjoying the benefits
The list goes on and on and on ... and what do Repubs have to offer us in the person of the puppet Mittens? Nothing except the same-old, same-old economic, military and foreign policies that are PROVEN FAILURES!
Obama/Biden 2012
Obama is really worried now because the whole nation looks to up to West Virginia as a beacon of intellect and reason. Mrs. RMoney might as well start getting First Lady outfits picked out.
Biden and Obama just can't help themselves; it continues to be all Bush's fault. This recession "we inherited." Sorry to tell you, Veep, but you've now owned the economy for 3 1/2 years. It's getting harder to blame Bush for your administration's fecklessness.
It's West Virginia. Enough said.
You can only blame President Bush for so long....Americans are obviously growing very tired of Obama always pointing backwards and blaming someone else for everything that is bad, but taking credit for everything that is good. Obama will be crushed in November, thank goodness.
Stupid states, stupid results. What would you expect?
For all right-wingers who can't understand why Democrats blame Bush,
This economy has replaced all of the private sector jobs lost while Obama has been president. Unfortunately, the public sector is still down 600,000 jobs. Yes, conservatives, you read that right. There are fewer people working for the government than there were when Obama took office. Obviously, the economy has not completely recovered. The recession started in late 2007. For the jobs that were lost before Obama became president, of course we blame Bush.
It was "West Virginia", and voters are not all that bright and a lot of them are completely brainwashed by the constant droning of Reichwing Propaganda Radio and TV.
Beautiful, anyone can get on West Virginia's ballot so long as they have a rap sheet to fulfill the state's requirements to run.
I guess criminality is a plus to run for office because unindicted felons "Mr. 9/11" Bush and "Mr. Halliburton" Cheney ran for office in 2004.
Roger Ogilvy Thornhill said "Obama is really worried now because the whole nation looks to up to West Virginia as a beacon of intellect and reason. " ,,,,, No, not really. Remember, 60% of them still voted for Obama, so they proves that not all of them are that amart after all.
For those thinking that an economy that has been in a slow downward spiral for the past EIGHT years can be turned around in 3-1/2, I want some of what you're smoking. Are you forgetting that we had a war that wasn't even IN the budget?? We were paying billions a DAY to fund an illegal war! To expect President Obama to fix that in 3-1/2 years is insane and if you can't see that there HAS been an economic turn-around....well, I don't know what to tell you...
Here are some FACTS about President Obama's successes:
- We've had 25 straight months of private sector job creation....and the lowest number of people in the job market since the depression
- The stock market is 5,000 higher than when President Obama took office....obamas rich friends will make money no matter what
- GM, which no private companies wanted to back (including Bain Capital, Mittens' group), was saved because of President Obama's intervention and is now the top car company in the world....GM still owes the taxpayers almost $30 BILLION and if they were paying income taxes they would not be making a profit.
- Osama bin Laden is dead....and all good intelligence from the raid was made useless when obama bragged about the raid a day after it happened
- We're out of Iraq....that deal was signed by George Bush not obama
- The Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act is law....why do the women in the obama administration make less than the men doing the same jobs?
- Meaningful health care reform was passed and millions of Americans are enjoying the benefits.....the Supreme Court will shut down this illegal program
Sounds like voters do not like Obama. Should be no surprise there.
14% is the real unemployment number – 22.3 million out of work
frustrated and angry are not adequate to describe what people are feeling
something MUST change because there damm sure is no HOPE
Think Again.
Those Loans to GM, And Chrysler were given to them in Dec of 2008...Now if Memory serves me correctly, Obama took Officer On January 22, 2009.
So which President gave those loans out and was bashed for it?
That's West Virginia for you.
More like they voted in the best man for the Job.
Bush inherited a recession. Ask him for help Biden.
Bush had massive issues with the end of the revenue from Y2K (caused over employment and pay in all IT sectors) and the Internet Bubble (again, exacerbating the problems) which caused massive layoffs and major distribution of capital that was just wasted. Only a handful of companies made it.
It's always odd to hear politicians say things that don't even make sense and expect people to accept it.
Biden says people are angry with the state of the economy and country and that he and Obama are the best choice? Did he get the memo that THEY have been in charge for 4 years? They're only defense is that they "inherited" this mess (which Biden said again) and I love when they do – the dog can only eat your homework so many times. And no, another 4 years of the same is not going to make anything better.
West Virginia
Seeing Obama isn't a dictator I can't blame this on him. Keep in mind that the congress which would rather try to score points than do any real work is to blame for the slow recovery.
Some people posting today must be eating paint chips lol. Lets see if I got this right ! ! They don't want 4 more years of Obama so they want to go back to the EXACT same policies that crashed the economy? There's logic for you.