Biden Speaks In Benton Harbor

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Former Vice President Joe Biden has issued an appeal for a commitment to shared American values.

At a Tuesday engagement of the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan in Benton Township, Biden examined the current political climate in the United States and offered his solutions.

Biden said over the past ten years, Americans have seen a gradual breakdown of their system, and in the past ten months, a politics not seen since the Civil War. He decried phony populism and “half-baked nationalism,” but said it can be fixed. His recommendation — “We gotta start talking to one another again.”

Biden said both parties desperately need men and women of character who can recognize common values even in disagreement. He pointed out the late Senator John McCain as someone who understood those ideas, and closer to home, Biden called Congressman Fred Upton “one of the finest guys I’ve ever worked with.”

Biden ended with a call for all to “remember who you are.”

Biden kicked off this 75th season of the Economic Club’s Speaker Series. Up next will be Wes Moore, an author and combat vet who runs an anti-poverty non-profit. He’ll speak on November 14.