US VICE-PRESIDENT Joe Biden’s remarks that presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s regulatory policies would put middle-income Americans ”back in chains” has opened a war of words between the two presidential campaigns. Mr Biden said to laughter and boos from a crowd in Virginia that Mr Romney would ”let the big banks once again write their own rules – unchain Wall Street. They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”
He spoke before what appeared to be a racially varied audience of 900 people, and one prominent Republican suggested that his language could be interpreted as racially divisive.
Mr Biden also told the crowd that Mr Romney would keep tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs and that Republicans want to slash entitlements and social services.
Mr Romney used Mr Biden’s remark to level a harsh criticism at President Barack Obama.
”His campaign and his surrogates have made wild and reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency,” Mr Romney said on the campaign trail in Ohio.
”Another outrageous charge came a few hours ago in Virginia. And the White House sinks a little bit lower.”
The Romney campaign said the remarks showed that President Obama’s re-election campaign wanted to steer voters away from concerns about the economy.
”Whether it’s accusing Mitt Romney of being a felon, having been responsible for a woman’s tragic death or now wanting to put people in chains, there’s no question that because of the President’s failed record he’s been reduced to a desperate campaign based on division and demonisation,” said Andrea Saul, a Romney spokeswoman.
The Obama campaign’s deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, defended the Vice-President’s remarks, saying that Republicans Paul Ryan, Mr Romney’s running mate, and House Speaker John Boehner, ”have called for the ‘unshackling’ of the private sector from regulations that protect Americans from risky financial deals and other reckless behaviour that crashed our economy”.
At a later event Mr Biden referenced his earlier remarks and the Republican outrage.
”I got a message for them,” he said. ”If you want to know what’s outrageous, it’s their policies and the effects of their policies on middle-class America.”