In a moving speech, Biden advises military families on how to deal with death

The trolls on the Fox News website have engaged in a despicable stream of comments about the death of Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden.
Apparently these Obama-haters and partisan warriors cannot -- even under these circumstances -- set aside politics and acknowledge the fact that the young Biden, who succumbed to brain cancer on Saturday at age 46, was an Iraq War veteran and the former attorney general -- the top law enforcement officer -- for the state of Delaware.

Yet, one Republican with a lot of class stepped up this morning. Gov. John Kasich appeared on NBC's Meet The Press to talk about his upcoming presidential campaign. But he deflected the first political question from moderator Chuck Todd to talk instead about the vice president, a "stand-up guy who ... has experienced a lifetime of tears."

Beau Biden and son, Hunter

That was a reference to Biden's son's passing but also to the heart-wrenching story of how his wife and young daughter were killed in a car crash just after Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972.

Three years ago, the VP used that awful experience to help those who had lost loved ones in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars cope with their losses. Three years later, that speech still brings tears.    

This is what I posted on May 30, 2012:


In case you missed it, Joe Biden delivered an amazing speech the other day to families of U.S. troops killed in action. Not a political speech but rather a deeply personal one. Regardless of your opinion of Biden – and with Biden, the opinions are all over the map – you should take a few minutes to watch this video. If you’re not choked up or in tears while watching this, you need to check your priorities.


Joe Biden, reluctantly taking the oath of
office as U.S. senator, at the hospital
bedside of his son, Beau, who
 survived the crash that killed his mother.

In deeply personal, hushed tones, the vice president relates to his audience by recounting the painful loss of his first wife and baby daughter in 1972 just after winning his first Senate election. The grief has never gone away.

 

On the blogs and on Facebook, the speech received rave reviews for its tender manner in talking the families of the fallen. And No TelePrompTer. No cue cards or text. Former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough thoroughly praised the speech on “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. Scarborough told his TV audience that one longtime acquaintance described Biden's remarks as the "heartfelt, most moving political speech" he had ever witnessed. "This is why Joe Biden is Joe Biden," Scarborough said.

Take a look here.