Captain Beau Biden Declined an Offer to Replace Joe Biden as Senator
By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers.
Even before his pop became vice president-elect, Delaware's Beau Biden was on the rise. He was elected attorney general at 37, and the whole Delaware Democratic establishment expected him to be the easy choice to replace his dad in the Senate once Joe Biden takes his new job at the White House. But a higher calling entered. It seems that Beau Biden is one dedicated soldier. Already dispatched to Fort Bliss, Texas, for training with his 261st Tactical Theater Signal Brigade of the Delaware Army National Guard before a year tour in Iraq, Captain Biden spurned an offer to be an absentee senator by taking his dad's spot in Washington. And, family friends say, that isn't all he declined. Before departing for training, National Guard officials raised the issue of security for a vice presidential son in Iraq, clearly aware of other high-profile cases like that of former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's son, who is now serving in Iraq, and that of Prince Harry in Afghanistan. Their offer: Do his tour in Delaware instead. But we hear that Biden, in the judge advocate general's corps, responded with a firm "No Sir!" and has even gone out of his way to avoid interviews and photographers eager for his story. "Beau asked to be treated like any other member of the guard," says a family friend. That was no surprise to daddy Biden, who recalled that in Beau's 2006 attorney general's race, pollsters suggested that he be shown in campaign brochures wearing his uniform. Beau refused because he didn't want to change the easy rapport he had with his fellow guardsman. The VP-elect's reaction to all of this? He was heard telling friends, "I'm prouder of Beau than I am of any title."
Illustration by Joe Ciardiello for USN&WR
Tags: Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
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Beau Biden
The Beau Biden story really struck me as I first heard he was about to deploy to Iraq. I was a not-so-firm supporter of Senator McCain, mainly because I felt he was one of us, those of us who are serving our country and have been serving for many years.
What struck me the most was his commitment to his job as a National Guardsman was equal in fervor to his job as Delaware AG. Then, as I began to research his life even further, I realized that Beau was a natural citizen soldier, just like hundreds of thousands of us currently serving here and abroad.
The vast majority of us Guardsmen and women are contributing citizens of this nation: police, state troopers, firefighters, correctional officers, EMTs, nurses, armored vehicle drivers, school teachers, UPS, FEDEX, DHL drivers, postal carriers, train conductors, public transportation drivers, auto mechanics, locksmiths, vacuum cleaner salespersons, carpenters, plumbers, steel workers, picture frame store workers, newspaper or bread truck delivery drivers, meat department butchers, restaurant and bar managers, accountants, bank tellers and managers, airport TSA screeners, commercial airliner baggage employees, among hundreds of other careers.
But the moment we slap on our uniform, we are all alike, members of the same team, and everything else takes a back seat until the weekend or yearlong mission is completed succesfully.
I agree with you that Beau Biden is probably going to be not only the next U.S. Senator from Delaware, but probably a governor of that state, too. Let's just wait till he comes back safely from deployment.
Beau Biden
However, don't count Beau Biden out as Senator in the future. The out-going Governor (Miner- a friend of Joe Biden) appointed Joe Biden's long time assistant-advisor as a 'place-holder', rather than leaving it to the in-coming Dem Governor to make the appointment.
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