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BY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Calling for the re-election of Gov. Jon Corzine Monday, Vice President Joe Biden told a crowd of hundreds of supporters who packed a gymnasium at Middlesex County College that the governor was one of the key people he and then-President-elect Obama turned to before they took office on how to confront the worst national economic crisis since The Depression.
Noting that Republican gubernatorial challenger Chris Christie has attempted to blame New Jersey's economic problems on Corzine, Biden said he telephoned the governor from Chicago in January to seek his advice on what the vice president described as an international recession.
"The president and I were not blaming Jon Corzine, we were on the phone calling Jon Corzine and asking what do you think we should do,'' said Biden. "The reason we called Jon was we knew he knew about world markets and how to respond. He had been in the pits, we trusted his judgment and we needed an economic plan. The fact was Jon was leading the Legislature and already moving on an economic stimulus package before anyone else was but there is no state big enough to be the economic engine for national growth.''In a 22-minute speech, Biden also found time to criticize Christie for, among other things and as Corzine charges, refusing to accept federal education aid, planning to eliminate health coverage mandates, and opposing pre-school education.
"Where do these guys live?,'' Biden said of Chris Christie. "They are talking aobut lowering property taxes while turning away stimulus money.''
Biden concluded by urging Democrats to get out the vote on Election Day, Nov. 3 and not to become over confident that Corzine has the election won.
"You know the deal,'' he said. "It gets down to the simple and basic proposition of getting out the vote, knocking on doors, making phone calls, providing people rides to the polls. I have no doubt in my mind that New Jerseyans have figured out the alternatives to Jon. People are down, but a lot of people in the state are, in fact, are getting back up now because of the job Jon has been doing. A lot of people are thinking Jon has got this won and you know when people start thinking that way it's a disaster.
By the time Jon's second term is over,'' Biden concluded, "people will not only be talking about him as a great New Jersey governor, but one of the greatest governors in the country.''
The crowd included college students, public employees and firefighter, police and teachers' union activists and Corzine spoke to them for 21 minutes.
Corzine said Christie favors a constitutional ban on a woman's right to have an abortion, that the Republican opposes stem cell research and a ban on armor-piercing bullets, stands against collective bargaining and the prevailing wage, and has vowed to layoff 20,000 public employees.
"We stand with our teachers,‘' Corzine said. " We need to respect our firefighters, our police officers, our teachers. They are our role models, not our enemies. Chris Christie will fight you, I will stand with you on every important concern — taxes, education, health care labor.
"Yes we can. Yes we can,'' the governor shouted. "Isn‘t it great that we have Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House?‘'
Biden is the first is four national Democratic figures who will appear in New Jersey for Corzine this week and the Christie campaign is describe the visits as "calling in some heavy hitters to help bail out his failing campaign.''
"While we welcome anyone who wants to come to New Jersey, the reality is these heavy hitters will soon leave and New Jerseyans will still be stuck with the fallout of Governor Corzine's failed policies: the highest taxes in the country, unemployment near 10 percent — and rising — and an $8 billion budget deficit,'' said Brittant Bramell, a Christie spokeswoman.
Biden's appearance, the fourth with Corzine since May, proceeded President Obama who is scheduled to make his second appearance for Corzine at a rally late Wednesday afternoon at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack.
Former president Bill Clinton will appear with Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Sen. Loretta Weinberg Tuesday in Collingswood and with Corzine Tuesday evening at Rutgers University in New Bunswick.
Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, will campaign with Corzine and former Gov. Brendan Byrne on Wednesday night at a dinner "to honor New Jersey's Irish-American mayors'' at The Barclay in Belmar.
All garbage, all criminals, all socialists.
Vote the pigs out, one at a time.
Forget Dem's and Repub's. They are ALL criminals.
Vote INDEPENDENT. Vote with reason and logic-
NOT rhetoric and party lines. NJ is EIGHT BILLION in DEBT,
NJ is headed for a massive breakdown in services and faces bankruptcy
in 2 to 3 years. STOP pandering to the parties, FAT cat wealthy pigs
who have been STEALING tax dollars over and over again. Vote
for a better future, not one run by the same old CAREER politicians
who ONLY care about their bank accounts and political futures.