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Biden’s embarrassing U.K. connection

LONDON: Joe Biden, the vice-presidential running mate of the U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama has a rather embarrassing British connection, which the media on Sunday gleefully dug up to spice up his CV.

It goes back to 1987 when, during his unsuccessful presidential campaign, Mr Biden made a passionate speech to highlight his social justice platform; and in a moving passage recalled his own family’s working-class background and their struggle to overcome the odds.

The problem was he had lifted the entire passage from the then Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock’s election speech, provoking allegations of plagiarism and as the controversy spread he was forced to abandon the race. Mr. Biden tried to laugh off the episode saying: “In my zeal to rekindle idealism, I made some mistakes.” Since then, the two men have become friends and Mr. Biden jokingly calls Mr. Kinnock his “greatest speechwriter.”

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