Joseph Biden Quotations

What happens when our ambassador has to stand up and make the case on intelligence relating to Iraq and North Korea? ... Do you think John Bolton is going to be believed? And do you think it matters? I think it matters a great deal.

Ultimately, all the federal government does is not going to be able to get the job done without your aid.

We're rolling the dice with you, judge, ... because you won't share your views with us. You've told me nothing in this Kabuki dance. The public has a right to know what you think.

We need a strong voice in New York who knows the U.N. and who can advance our reform agenda. But we don't need a voice which people may not be inclined to listen to, ... And I fear that, knowing your reputation -- and your reputation known well at the U.N. -- people will be inclined to tune you out.

September 11 indicated our country is vulnerable, ... The thing we remain the least vulnerable to is an ICBM attack from another nation.

One of the things that's been amazing is you are one of the best witnesses that I think has come before this committee and I've been here 30-some years.

Persuading the people to let you win -- that's exactly what they've lost,

No. 1, on the police training, we've wasted 17 months,

If we get to the point and vote witnesses, we will have approved a process by which we will ensure that they have a chance to depose those witnesses first and so on, ... It will be a process that gives the president's lawyers ample time to depose that witness first and be able to be treated fairly.

If we do not enforce that, with the world along with us, then what we do is we make a mockery of the efficacy of the U.N. in the future,

If we do not act ... by the time the snow falls next winter, there will be genocide documented on a large scale in Kosovo.

I believe the federal government should stamp out discrimination wherever - wherever - it occurs, ... If I look only at what you've said and written. . . . I would have to vote no. You dismissed the constitutional protection of privacy as, quote, 'a so-called right.' . . . You dismissed gender discrimination as...'merely a perceived problem.'

But the end result is, I think we should end up shutting it down,

I look forward to working with Gen. Powell and President-elect Bush in a bipartisan manner to ensure that America's foreign policy objectives are met.

If, at the time the United States withdraws its combat forces the Europeans all pull out, it is going to be a very difficult sell in the United States of America,

If the European countries that are there in Bosnia now all decide to pull out ... when we take out the land forces, I think it will make it very difficult to get the vote to expand NATO in the Senate.

God love you, please do me a favor, ... Start to tell us the whole deal.

He said he was 35 when he wrote that.

He didn't say who's going to send more troops,

Judge, if I look only at what you've said and written ... I would have to vote 'no,'

Judge, if I looked only at what you've said and written in the past, I'd feel compelled to vote no.

It acknowledges that the Security Council fully understands that this is the world's problem -- Iraq is the world's problem -- not just the United States problem, and that failure to secure the peace in Iraq would have significant consequences and ramifications for the region and the world,

It comes down to a simple bet we're making. It's a bet that India appreciates, as much as we do, that the two nations have the potential to be the anchors for stability and security in the world going into the 21st century.

I think the probability is that will happen, ... This Week.

I think the American people are a lot smarter than that. They've figured this out.

I think we have two national emergencies: one relates to our interest in Iraq and the other in the Gulf, and I don't think you can take from one to deal with the other, ... Late Edition.

People are going to have to make choices. How it all plays out I'm not smart enough to know, but I'm worried.

rivals in the bureaucracy, both inferior and superior to him.

Relations with many of our oldest friends are, quite frankly, scraping the bottom right now,

Staying the course is clearly something the American people will not follow ? will not follow. So tell us, what are the standards?

Look, Kenneth Starr is no box of chocolates,

I think he's got a lot of explaining to do, and depending on how he does, I think will determine whether or not he has a problem or not.

We need a civilian commitment in Iraq equal to our military one.

The American public must become engaged on this issue,

The American people must have a say in decisions that will affect their well-being for decades to come,

That will require the ( President George W. Bush administration) not to stay the course, but to change course, and to do it now.

Who do you think will be more likely to yield to national pressure, Helms or Lott? ... There's only one person who can break the logjam. That's the majority leader.

Well, I think based upon that job application where he said he strongly held these views, yes.

We don't expect the general to come with a detailed plan of the administration's priorities, but to get a sense of what their concerns are.

We can't keep the peace in Iraq anymore than the Iraqis want it. We can't want it more than they want it. And if they don't step up to the ball, we're going to be gone.

You know there's this tradition in the United States Navy that if a captain of a ship goes up on the shoals, almost regardless of whether it's his fault or not, he loses command.

We all operated on bad information. But the only ones who took the information that was most questionable and asserted it as fact were the administration.

We're losing them because they look over there and they think ? there's this giant gap between what they see and the rhetoric they hear.

We are rolling the dice with you, Judge. It's kind of interesting, this Kabuki dance we have in these hearings here, as if the public doesn't have a right to know what you think about fundamental issues facing them.

We are rolling the dice with you, judge, ... It's kind of interesting, this Kabuki dance we have in these hearings here, as if the public doesn't have a right to know what you think about fundamental issues facing them.

We discussed...in broad strokes, the aid that's already going to help the Afghan people, ... the need to put together a broader coalition, probably under the mandate of the United Nations, but with our strong support of follow-on after this undertaking to take out Mr. bin Laden and his associates happens.

The question is whether we trade dictatorship for chaos.

The degree of difficulty has been exponentially increased by Katrina.

We should not focus on the issue of whose scalp should be delivered. We should be talking about what we are going to do quickly, dramatically and graphically about the circumstance we find ourselves in at this moment,

With all due respect, you've told me nothing, ... It's kind of interesting, this kabuki dance we have in these hearings here, as if the public doesn't have a right to know what you think about fundamental issues facing them.

We have been stonewalled from the beginning, ... The main question is: Did Bolton attempt to badger or attempt to change the views of intelligence officers?

We quite frankly have no policy now; there is no policy. I would not call it benign neglect; I would call it malign neglect.

Why can't the president do that? We're losing the American people, and that is a disaster,

Why aren't we able to outsmart the French, in terms of the world stage and get the control of this issue, by bringing the responsibility back to the world, so we don't pay the whole freight?

Why aren't they asking for it? They don't know? We already know it's going to cost at least a minimum of $60 billion to keep the troops there,

This seems to me to be the perfect ploy for Saddam Hussein, ... Late Edition.

the question on the minds of most Americans.

This was all about whether or not those who had access to intelligence information in this administration used it appropriately, not just whether or not the agency was right.

This shouldn't be a game of 'gotcha,' you know. We shouldn't be playing a game. The folks have a right to know what you think. You're there for life,

The president is too smart for this. We should not all play into Saddam Hussein's hands and break up this coalition,

You better examine your conscience and figure out whether or not this is just a little slip, or that we're about to send a man who lacks credibility, I would argue, with half of us on the Hill,

There is not a controversial issue in this country that does not have the prospect of coming before the court.

What everybody tells me here is, 'Don't think the fight against the Taliban is over,'

What's the plan, Stan? Tell us, ... We are not setting timetables and saying cut and run. We are saying give us a plan.

We have to do more to reach out and get the rest of the world in on the game,

We should be looking at that very closely. It appears to me that this is, if not abused, being close to abused.

between the rhetoric here in Washington and the reality on the ground.

Eliminating these weapons of mass destruction would make Americans more secure and the world a safer place.

Is the announcement of our intent to withdraw from the ABM treaty a real action, or is it a White House Christmas present for the right wing who dislikes arms control under any circumstances,

I still believe we can preserve our fundamental security interests in Iraq as we begin to redeploy our forces,

It was to say to the United Nations, 'By your standards ... you have not done your job relative to Saddam Hussein,'

The sooner we make security the top agenda item, and utilize sufficient American and international resources to achieve it, the faster we can help Iraqis improve their lives and bring home our troops.

are playing a game here, a gambit here, but that doesn't mean we can't out-negotiate them.

As a practical matter, I don't think the president has left us with any choice, ... Meet the Press.

The Bush administration was right to reverse course on North Korea and stop letting ideology get in the way of results.

That's if we do it to you, ... Go ahead and continue to not answer.

That's malarkey, ... You are obliged to comment. That's your judgment we're looking at. ... We're looking for candor.

This is, if not abused, being close to abused.

This is poppycock that Iraq will be able to pay its way out.

This interim government needs an infusion of a modest amount of capital in days, not weeks, not months,

This has become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world, and it is unnecessary to be in that position, ... This Week.

This guy should not be going to the U.N., ... I wish the president had taken another look at this and found us someone (else).

This may be the most significant vote any of us cast this year, in terms of America's security interests.

This is your chance to explain what you meant,

This is your chance, judge, to explain what you meant by what you have said and what you have written.

This is your chance, judge, to explain what you mean by what you have said and what you have written.

They have squandered about every opportunity to get it right. The bottom line is they are significantly lowering expectations.

Ask any of the people making over 360 grand, would they forgo one year of the 10 years beginning in 2005 in order to win this? I've not found anybody who's said no, ... Fox News Sunday.

It is unreasonable to ask the president of the United States to say that he will oppose bringing up this treaty during the duration of his presidency, ... If that's the price that has to be paid, then we'll have a vote.

For a government to maintain any credibility, it has to have the ability to pay people's salaries, turn on the lights, be able to have desks, telephones ... etc.

It is time the president tells us how he plans on getting us out of the hole he has dug us so deeply into. And just to stop digging, as the old saying goes, is not enough. He needs to tell us what his plan is,

It is time for a little grace and dignity here, ... It is time for someone to step forward and take a hit for the team. It is time for us to demonstrate that this is in fact a consequential undertaking.

does not appear to share the same expansive view of fundamental rights of previous nominees I have supported. I'm unwilling to take the constitutional risk at this moment in the court's history.

DOJ (Department of Justice) has told us repeatedly that there's a formal response working its way through red tape channels, but still nothing,

The new Violence Against Women Act provides a comprehensive approach to combating domestic violence and sexual assault, ... It stiffens penalties for repeat offenders, provides more money for vital services and will help battered women get the assistance and support they need. It also focuses on breaking the cycle of violence through education and helping rural victims in under-served areas.

The administration has got to get its act together. Don't give me this amorphous malarkey about we'll stay there until the job is done.

The administration has got to get its act together,

Talk to me as a father, ... Just philosophically, what do you think? Not what the Constitution says, what do you feel?

It's time for him (President Clinton) to stop saying he won't put them on the table,

It's time the president leveled with the American people, because no foreign policy can be sustained without the informed consent of the American people, ... They have not been informed of that fact.