Vice President Joe Biden Says Sandy Victims Have Homeboy Who Gets It in the White House

Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Robert Matthies, tour Seaside Park, N.J. , Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012, as they tour damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. (Photo: AP)

Vice President Joe Biden appeared to call himself a “homeboy” Sunday while touring the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

The remark was presumably meant to be reassuring, or maybe part of a larger effort to connect with a younger, more diverse audience.

Saying he grew up on the East Coast and has spent countless hours on the now-devastated New Jersey shore, the white-haired statesman reassured a crowd that the federal government isn’t “going anywhere.”

“You’ve got a homeboy in the deal who gets it,” he promised.

It should be noted that Biden could technically be referring to President Obama as the “homeboy in the deal,” and this is what The Weekly Standard has concluded.  Most reports, though, including Politico, believe Biden was referring to himself.

If you want to read Biden’s remark in its full context, the Washington Post relates:

“If you’re not an Easterner it’s hard to understand that the ocean to us is the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park and everything else combined. It is a gigantic part of not only our economy but who we are. It’s a gigantic part of the culture as well.

“And every time the rest of the country is in real trouble, New Jersey and Delaware and New York and Connecticut, et cetera, we respond, we respond. And it’s going to be a heavy lift. These are difficult times in terms of budgets but the president has made it clear that we are going to do everything we can to make sure that the Corps is fully funded, that FEMA has their needs and that all the programs that exist under the auspices of the federal government not only continue to exist but are funded so that we can make sure that this area of the country is fully fully fully restored.

“So as the president said when he was up here with the governor, we’re not going anywhere. We’re not not going anywhere. And you’ve got a homeboy in the deal who gets it.”

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