Biden Slammed on the Colbert Report for Amtrak Article

[Spokker]

Biden got slammed hard on the Colbert Report and I don’t even think he was being his usual sarcastic self. He opened the show with a serious message about how great Obama’s piece on why Haiti matters was. Then he compared Biden and Obama.

He said, “This is the difference between a president,” holding up Obama’s Newsweek cover article and then said, “and a vice president,” holding up Biden’s cover article in Amtrak's Arrive magazine. Haha it was hilarious.

Trains are great but Biden's affinity for them makes the rail movement a laughing stock.

 

[Steve4031]

No it's not. This just shows how ignorant most Americans are about rail travel.

 

[haolerider]

Biden got slammed hard on the Colbert Report and I don’t even think he was being his usual sarcastic self. He opened the show with a serious message about how great Obama’s piece on why Haiti matters was. Then he compared Biden and Obama.
He said, “This is the difference between a president,” holding up Obama’s Newsweek cover article and then said, “and a vice president,” holding up Biden’s cover article in Amtrak's Arrive magazine. Haha it was hilarious.

Trains are great but Biden's affinity for them makes the rail movement a laughing stock.

I fail to see why Biden's affinity for rail makes it a laughing stock. You, like many TV viewers confuse comedy/entertainment for news. Biden's article is well thought out and represents his true view on the value of passenger rail. The article has gotten great exposure - something Amtrak cannot afford to purchase with print media budgets - and it has real value.

 

[jcl653]

Colbert and Stewart love to pick on Vice Presidents. It's a running joke. It's not commentary on the issue of rail transportation. Colbert's producers noticed how Biden's article was shadowed by Obama's article on the Haiti quake and thought it was a great metaphor for their perceived roles in American politics.

Watch the clip here.

 

[acelafan]

Biden got slammed hard on the Colbert Report and I don’t even think he was being his usual sarcastic self. He opened the show with a serious message about how great Obama’s piece on why Haiti matters was. Then he compared Biden and Obama.
He said, “This is the difference between a president,” holding up Obama’s Newsweek cover article and then said, “and a vice president,” holding up Biden’s cover article in Amtrak's Arrive magazine. Haha it was hilarious.

Trains are great but Biden's affinity for them makes the rail movement a laughing stock.

I fail to see why Biden's affinity for rail makes it a laughing stock. You, like many TV viewers confuse comedy/entertainment for news. Biden's article is well thought out and represents his true view on the value of passenger rail. The article has gotten great exposure - something Amtrak cannot afford to purchase with print media budgets - and it has real value.

I enjoyed the Arrive article - I think it's great Amtrak is finally getting some exposure from The White House. It's about time.

 

[Spokker]

I fail to see why Biden's affinity for rail makes it a laughing stock.

I love rail but he lost me when he wrote, "I would look out the window and hear their questions, feel their pain."
He felt their pain through the window in first class on Acela.

"Those moments looking out the window and seeing the lights on, they told me things that the briefing folders in front of me never could. They gave color and meaning to the problems I've spent my career trying to solve."

Clearly the local public utility is working so there's one problem solved.

You, like many TV viewers confuse comedy/entertainment for news.

Biting social satire can be as poignant as any newscast. Colbert/Stewart have more credibility than TV news these days.

 

[TVRM610]

Maybe this is just me but it seems like the joke was a bit more about Biden than amtrak. The fact that the President appears on the cover of newsweek and that the vice-president appears on the cover of a Railroad magazine. I think the joke would have been played off just the same if instead of ARRIVE it had been some airline magazine or whatever. I don't know.. it made me laugh!

 

[Kramerica]

Trains are great but Biden's affinity for them makes the rail movement a laughing stock.

For all we know, Biden's affinity for trains is the reason we have more than $10 billion being allocated to medium-to-high speed rail this year. If rail needs to be a laughing stock to get $10 billion, then I hope rail continues to be a laughing stock.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Comedians like to pick on vice presidents. Having Biden as a rail backer is the best thing that has happened to the passenger train movement in years. It doesn't matter what anybody says about you as long as they spell your name correctly.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

Well I found the story humorous, I did not feel Amtrak, Obama, or Biden, were treated as laughing stock, or slammed. Just good fun.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

I think the point was more about the juxtaposition of Biden and Obama, it had nothing to do with Amtrak.

Obama is the President of the United States, I would expect him to be on the cover of Newsweek every so often, Biden not so much...

Mind you Newsweek does cover Biden too-- they did a great piece on him after he was announced as the running mate.

 

[amamba]

I watched that entire clip last night (I almost always watch both Stewart and Colbert in bed before falling asleep) and it was definitely poking fun at the perceived importance of the position of the VP - it really was not making fun of rail travel at all.

 

[the_traveler]

Trains are great but Biden's affinity for them makes the rail movement a laughing stock.

If it were not for "Biden's affinity with ... the rail movement" , I doubt Colbert (or any news organization) would be talking about Amtrak! Except maybe a story about how "An Amtrak train hit a car" or "Amtrak is losing $xxx this year" or "An Amtrak derailment injured 1 person" or etc...!

I bet if Biden was with IBM or GE or Ford before, they would be mentioned and not Amtrak!

 

[caravanman]

The view from a train is there for all to see, one cannot expect the vice president to be driven by limo through deprived area's to soak up the vibes from the street.. I was honestly shocked by what I saw from the train windows when I visited America, I was amazed at the levels of housing deprivation around Phillidelphia, seen from the tracks. I think this is what the VP is refering to, when he talks of hearing their questions, feeling their pain.

The problem with Colbert is that he is too convincing, remember, it's all an act!

Ed