Biden's letter to the Senate 2009

This to understand the way this man thinks as he became the vice president.

   Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, let me begin by thanking the leaders for

 their kind comments. It is true that I have been here a long time, I

 say to my friend from Kentucky. As a matter of fact, I say to my friend

 from Hawaii, I remember the first time I stood on the floor as a

 Senator of the United States. It was the desk directly to your left,

 SenatoSenator, the top row, second in. It was temporarily my desk. I remember

 standing and being told that the desk on my right was the desk of Henry Clay and on my left Daniel Webster because the senior Senators from the

 respective States got those desks. I say to my friend from California,

 itit was the only time I can remember being speechless when I stood

 there, as a 30-year-old kid, thinking: Oh, my God.

  Well, I never thought I would be standing here today. I never

 believed serving in this Chamber was my destiny, but it always was a

big part of my dreams.

  I remember vividly the first time I walked in this Chamber, I walked

 through those doors, but I walked through those doors as a 21-year-old

 touristtourist. I had been down visiting some of my friends at Georgetown

University. I went to the University of Delaware. I had a blind date

with a young lady from a school they used to call Visi Visitation--

which is now part of Georgetown. My good friend, a guy named Dave

 Walsh, was there. After the evening, staying at his apartment, I got up

 and--I shouldn't say this probably, but I will--I don't drink. Not for

 moral reasons, I just never had a drink. There is nothing worse than

 being a sober guy with a bunch of college guys who have a hangover the

 next morning.

  So I got up and decided to get in the car--this is a true story,

 Senator Carper--and I drove up to the Capitol. I had always been as fascinated with it. In those days, you could literally drive right upuptoto the front steps. I was 21 years old. This was 1963. I say to my

 riend from Iowa, I drove up to the steps and there had been a rare

 Saturday session. It had just ended. So I walked up the steps, found

 myself in front of what we call the elevators, and I walked to the

 ghght to the Reception Room. There was no one there. The glass doors,those French doors that lead behind the Chamber, were open. There were

 nno signs then. I just walked

through those doors. I walked into the Chamber and the lights were

still on and I was awestruck, literally awestruck. I don't know what in

God's name made me do it, but I walked up, I say to my friend from

Arkansas, and I sat in the Presiding Officer's chair. I was mesmerized.

The next thing I know, I feel this hand on my shoulder and the

Capitol Policeman picks me up and says: What are you doing? After a few

moments he realized I was just a dumbstruck kid. He didn't arrest me or

anything. That was the first time I walked onto the Senate floor. It is

literally a true story.

  By the way, just 9, 10 years later, I walked through those same doors

as a Senator. A Capitol Hill policeman stopped me walking in and he

said: Do you remember me? I said: No, sir. He said: I welcome you back

to the Senate. He was retiring. He used to be a Capitol Hill policeman.

He was retiring 2 weeks later. He said: Welcome to the floor, legally.

WellWell, it is sort of fitting to the way I started my career here. I

may not be a young man anymore, but I am still awestruck. I am still

awestruck by this Chamber. I think it brings my career full cycle, to

know that while I was once detained for sitting in the Presiding

Officer's chair, I will now occasionally be detained in the Presiding

Officer's chair as Vice President of the United States of America.

 The Senate has been my life, and that is not hyperbole; it literally

has been my life. I have been a Senator considerably longer than I was

alive before I was a Senator. I may be resigning from the Senate today,

but I will always be a Senate man. Except for the title ``father,''

there is no title, including Vice President, that I am more proud to

wear than that of a Senator of the United States.

  When I arrived here, giants--giants--loomed over the landscape of the

Senate, people with names such as Danny Inouye, Hubert Humphrey, Ed

Muskie, William Fulbright, Jacob Javits, Mike Mansfield, Stuart

Symington, Scoop Jackson, Sam Ervin, John McClellan, Warren Magnuson,

Claiborne Pell, and a few others who are still here: Bob Byrd, and the

lion of the Senate, Ted Kennedy. In those days, chairmen dominated.

Literally, as Senator Inouye will remember, if a chairman said he

wanted a vote, almost without exception, every other chairman voted

with that chairman on a vote on the floor of the Senate in 1973. But

the old ways of doing business and the old ways of thinking were, at

that very moment in the Senate's history, beginning to change.

 As my colleagues know, there is a longstanding tradition in the

Senate--I think honored in the breach now more than the rule--but when

I got here in 1973, it was mandatory that a new Senator would pay

respects to the ``old bulls of the Senate.'' I never dreamed I would be

an old bull of the Senate

.

You get the idea.

If you wish to read the entire remarks it is part of Sen record Jan 15th 2009 it was archived.

Such an incredible man this mr. Biden is...  I wonder if he remembers anything about this supposed letter! 

And you want to elect a man that has early symptoms of dementia.   I'm beginning to think maybe there should be a basic qualification test of cognitive skills for the presidency.   Let's give biden the wonderlic test.  

Better than electing a man who ape shit bat crazy...