Biden tells liberal base: ‘Stop whining’

Vice President Joe Biden on Monday urged Democrats to overcome their differences and support their candidates at the polls by telling them to “stop whining.”

During a fundraiser for New Hampshire Democratic candidates for the House and Senate, Biden said that Democrats should “remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives. This president has done an incredible job. He’s kept his promises,” according to a pool report.

{mosads}Democratic leaders have hit the campaign trail hard in anticipation of reductions to their majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections, encouraging their supporters to head to the polls and vote.

Political observers have pointed to poll data showing there is a large enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Democrats over voting in the midterms as a sign that Democrats could be in trouble. 

Biden said he understands the frustration among the electorate over the struggling economy, but  Republican majorities in Congress would make matters even worse. “They should be able to be angry with us,” he said. “If we make this a referendum on the current state of affairs, we lose, and so that’s why we’ve got to make this a choice.”

Other fissures have shown in the Democratic Party heading into election season, namely the tension between the White House and political activists on the left, who are frustrated about the lack of progress on issues such as repealing the military’s ban on gay service members and closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Matters came to a head in August when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told The Hill that some members of the “professional left” would not be happy until the U.S. had “Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon.”

Still, Biden predicted Democrats would maintain their majorities in the House and also turned his fire on Republicans.

He ridiculed the House GOP’s agenda as articulated in its “Pledge to America” released last week, saying it “calls for the elimination of everything from the FBI to child care and everything in between, literally,” according to the report.