Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Are you Indian? Biden asks on campaign trail in Florida

Last updated on: November 01, 2012 15:41 IST

United States Vice-President Joe Biden on a campaign trail in Florida mixed with people in a restaurant to win them over and even asked a man if he was Indian.

Biden, wearing his trademark aviators and a blue blazer, casually chatted with people at the restaurant in Florida.

Biden, out of the blue, asked a man at the restaurant, "Are you Indian?".

The conversation happened when a woman at the restaurant was telling what her brother -- a Republican, told her last night after she posed for a picture with the vice president.

The woman told the vice president, "You know what he said to me? He said you've got to watch '2016' and we watched it last night. He said if you watch that, he said you're going to vote Republican."

The woman was referring to the anti-Obama movie '2016 Obama's America' which has been made by Dinesh D'Souza, an Indian-American, and has become very popular among the Republicans.

At that point a man angling for Biden's attention shouted, "You've got to get a picture with some guys!" Biden did turn to a group of guys then. To one of the men, he asked:

"Are you Indian?"

"American!" the man responded, according to a White House pool report.

"No, I mean first generation," he said, with the further explanation of what he was saying being inaudible to the pool.

Then one of the women passed her phone to Biden, with her mother on the other line.

"Mom I'm with your daughter down in Sarasota at a very cool restaurant", Biden said. "No I'm not kidding," he said.

"I can tell by the accent you're not from Florida. God love you."

After a few moments, Biden finished the conversation by saying he enjoyed talking to her and hoped she would "look us over" and consider voting for the Democratic ticket, the report said.

Biden, then spoke to the Republican brother of the woman who he was talking to earlier.

Biden joked that his sister talked about him being Republican and he asked her to call him, so "we're bound to lose his vote for sure."

The conversation quickly got serious with the man seemingly talking to Biden about the health law, the report said.

"I think he met his match," one man standing nearby said, as Biden got into a detailed explanation of the law's mechanics.

"Look, I'm not trying to talk you into voting for me, I just wanted to say hi to you. And after it's all over when your insurance rates go down, then you'll vote for me in 2016. I'll talk to you later," Biden said.

Lalit K Jha in Washington
© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.