Jill Biden stumps in WC
Says ‘We must beat Trump’
WEBSTER CITY — “As a professor of writing, I always tell my students that words matter,” Dr. Jill Biden told a group of potential voters at Mornin’ Glory Coffee on Monday afternoon.
Biden, spouse of former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden, stopped in Webster City to campaign for her husband, who is running for the Democratic nomination for president.
“Donald Trump has always known the power of words,” Jill Biden said. “And he spent a lifetime attempting to talk his way into success and prestige and, most of all, profit.”
But beneath President Donald Trump’s rhetoric, Biden said, “what you have to see is that he doesn’t want to run against my husband. … He knows that no one is better suited to bring this country together than my husband, Joe.”
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are “complete opposites,” Jill Biden said.
“Joe knows more than anyone how to bring people together, to stand up for what’s right and get things done,” she said. “He will be a steady — and I want to emphasize that, steady — and strong commander in chief, who will lead with vision and experience from the moment he walks into the Oval Office. And he has the character and the courage to lead us forward.”
With 63 days until the Iowa Caucuses, Iowans have a choice to make, Biden said, a choice of what the voters want for the country’s future.
“A commander in chief you can trust,” she said. “A leader who brings people together instead of tearing families apart like we’ve seen at the borders of our country. A president we can feel proud of, who believes that our best days are ahead of us. And there’s only one candidate in this race that has the experience to do that. There’s only one candidate who can bring people together who’s proven over and over again, and there’s only one candidate who can beat Donald Trump in places like Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania. And that candidate is Joe Biden.”
Many Iowa caucusgoers are not decided on which candidate they will support, Biden said, and with the caucuses just two months away, now is the time to commit to caucusing for Joe Biden, she said.
“I think that this election is a referendum on character, and I think that they’re looking, I think Iowans and Americans are looking for a strong leader who has the resilience and the integrity and the experience,” Jill Biden said. “Joe’s ready on Day 1. And most importantly, the polls are showing that Joe is the one who can beat Donald Trump in states like Ohio and Wisconsin and Florida and Pennsylvania. … It’s proven that Joe is the one to beat Donald Trump. That’s our bottom line — we must beat Donald Trump.”
Diane Breen Burch drove all the way over from Fort Dodge to see Biden speak.
“I thought she was terrific, I really did,” she said. “My father was in politics years and years and years ago. Wives never went out, never.”
Breen Burch is already planning to support Joe Biden in the caucuses.
“I’ve been following him for a long time, when he was with Obama, and I just think he’s the guy,” she said. “He’s going to beat Trump because he’s honest. He knows everybody in the political field in Washington … he’s not ignorant.”
Jill Biden also fielded a few questions from some of the 40 or so people at the event.
LuAnn Garvey, of Webster City, asked Biden about her husband’s policies on immigration.
“Our Hispanic population is growing in Webster City. What is Joe’s policy on immigration, like the 11 million who are here illegally? What does he want to do with those people?” she asked.
Jill Biden explained her husband wants a “responsible pathway to citizenship” for immigrants.
“We need immigrants here,” Garvey said, to add to the local workforce.
Biden wanted her message to the voters — undecided or otherwise — to be clear.
“No matter what, we must beat Donald Trump,” she said.