The Biden Crime Wave

Don't screw around with Joe or he will smother you in twaddle.

Nothing says classy like vice president Joe Biden, a man who is on the campaign trail trying to scare parents, single women and others into believing that high crime rates will ravage the nation if Republicans do not pass President Barack Obama's union bailout package.

“It’s not temporary [the administration’s stimulus] when that 911 call comes in and a woman’s being raped, if a cop shows up in time to prevent the rape. It’s not temporary to that woman,” explained Biden. Sadly, the American public didn’t show up in time to prevent this guy from being on my television.

Failure to prevent the rape of a woman, according to Biden, is a responsibility that now falls on the political opponents of Obama - since they have other ideas about how to fix the economy. You’ll notice that this theoretical crime won’t be thwarted because congress refuses to pass Obama's entire spending bill and has nothing to do with Democrats throwing $500 million away on Solyandra or hundreds of billions away on the last stimulus plan and other bailouts.

Democrats allocate the flow of money and the morality attached to it.

When challenged by Human Events editor Jason Mattera -- hey, we can all get a bit fiery during a political debate -- this happened:

"Do you regret using the rape reference to describe Senate opposition" to the bill, Jason Mattera asked Biden as he left a rally with police unions and others who have faced the budget ax in recent months.

"I didn't use ... no, no, no," Biden responded. "Let's get it straight, guy. Don't screw around with me. Let's get it straight."

"You didn't use a rape reference," said Mattera, of the conservative news organization Human Events.

"No, let me explain," Biden said, pointing toward Mattera. "I said rape was up three times in Flint. Those are the numbers. Go look at the numbers. Murder is up; rape is up; burglary is up. That's what I said."

"And if the Republicans don't pass this bill, then rape will continue to rise?" the reporter asked.

"Murder will continue to rise; rape will continue to rise; all crime will continue to rise," Biden said.

Asked by Mattera whether it was appropriate to use such language, Biden scoffed and walked away.

Actually, not true. Crime rates have been falling sharply for many years -- for the most part, even in Flint one of the most dangerous cities in the nation.

The incidence of crime nationwide decreased again, according to our just released Crime in the United States report. Overall, the estimated volume of violent crimes in 2010 dropped 6 percent compared to the 2009 figure, the fourth consecutive year it has declined. For the eighth consecutive year, the volume of property crimes went down as well—2.7 percent.

And rapes?

There were an estimated at 84,767 forcible rapes reported to law enforcement in 2010. This estimate was 5.0 percent lower than the 2009 estimate and 10.3 percent and 6.7 percent lower than the 2006 and 2001 estimates, respectively.

(Hey, remember when electing a Republican meant rape would be legal?)

There may be number of factors that contribute to this -- prosperity, societal changes and technological advances – but for most of those years, we didn’t have any Federal stimulus programs.

In any event, do more cops always mean less crime? It’s arguable. Crime rates are unpredictable, even in tough economic times, but no doubt another short-term Obama "jobs" plan will do for crime fighting what the first plan did for the economy. The question is will Biden's ridiculous attacks be effective politically? I doubt it for a few reasons.

1. No one, thankfully, takes Joe Biden seriously. Rhetoric so transparently political and nasty might even backfire.

2. The vast majority of citizens have anecdotal evidence that crime is not the problem it once was and there is no evidence that it will be. "Crime" never shows up on polls as a major concern for voters. And it is unlikely that there will be a sudden spike in the fourth year of a terrible economy.

3. Moreover, crime, you might remember if you’re old enough, was most often a crisis of big cities run by gigantic union-backed bureaucracies and liberal politicians. Is there a perception among the electorate that Republicans are soft on crime? I doubt it.

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