Biden praises Rhode Island’s senators, says he offered Whitehouse Supreme Court nomination
Philip Marcelo
The Providence Journal
2/23/2012
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Addressing more than 200 guests, Biden said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse continued a long tradition of strong Rhode Island senators, who he said have represented the “finest and most consequential” members of the U.S. Senate in recent years.
That list included Governor Chafee’s father, the late U.S. Sen. John Chafee, a Republican who Biden called a “man of character.”
Chafee, who was in attendance Thursday, lost his U.S. Senate seat in 2006 to Whitehouse in a hard-fought campaign.
Biden joked that among Rhode Island’s delegation, Whitehouse was the “Irishman” of the bunch for his passion.
“This guy feels it,” Biden said. “People across the country know who he is. They know about Sheldon and they know about his passion.”
He said he had approached Whitehouse to be a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the junior senator had declined, saying that he had a “commitment to the people of Rhode Island.”
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