Diamond Joe Biden: A heart of gold
By Nick Ragone | Related entries in Biden, Money
Joe Biden likes to make a point on the stump that he’s not part of the jet set crowd; that he hammers out an ordinary living like the rest of us.
Well Diamond Joe wasn’t kidding. He released his tax returns last Friday, and evidently he’s not a big believer in charity.
The numbers are uglier than the New York Yankees season:
Gross Income Charity
1998 $215,432 $195
1999 $210,797 $120
2000 $219,953 $360
2001 $220,712 $360
2002 $227,811 $260
2003 $231,375 $260
2004 $234,271 $380
2005 $321,379 $380
2006 $248,459 $380
2007 $319,853 $995
Total $2,450,042 $3,690
My math reveals that he gave approximately one-eight of one percent to charity; according to Justgive.org, the average American donates 3.1% of their adjusted gross income to charity, leaving Biden so far below the bell curve that he’s off the grid altogether. Maybe Diamond Joe can borrow some cash from his lobbyist son and sprinkle it on a few charities.
Actually, had he not released his taxes last week, I would have forgotten that he was in the election; somebody put him on a milk carton already so that we can find him.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 and is filed under Biden, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
And this is much more important than, say, Sarah Palin’s inability to articulate knowledge of basic American foreign policy?
September 15th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
No, it’s mostly just a reminder that Biden is still running for office, in case everyone had forgotten, like I had.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Thanks for the reminder. Now, are you going to post a similar post about Sarah Palin — oh, wait, she has so far refued to release her tax returns.
Hmm….
September 15th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
This doesn’t include his or his wife’s donated time, each of which is substantial.
There’s more than one way to be charitable.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Nick-
I just don’t see the logic here.
Given Fact: Joe Biden gives less to charity than the average American.
Therefore: Joe Biden is unfit to govern.
Is that right? I personally don’t see a huge connection between charitable donations and policy acumen.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Most people I’ve asked don’t report what they give to their churches which might be holding down his numbers. Others only count what they have receipts for, which again may hold down figures.
But really, is this as important as Palin’s serial fibbing? Has Biden lied repeatedly about a bridge and earmarks and whether he’s fired employees on a whim (Wasilla chief and librarian) or used his office to pursue a personal vendetta? Didn’t think so.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I don’t think Nick is saying that. Biden could obviously spare more change, but he hasn’t. However, to this point…
Agreed.
September 15th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Good one Nick!
As Abraham Lincoln once stated, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
September 15th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
So, Biden doesn’t like to give money to charity, substantially less than the average American. It’s not commentary on his ability to govern, just one small insight into his personality.
Personally, I think the VP debate is going to be hiLARious. Absolute opposite personalities, nearly opposite on the Experience-o-meter. There might even be a gender difference in there as well. While this election is a joke, it’s entertaining. And apparently that’s all America cares about. /cynicism_off.
September 15th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Meh, I don’t know, most people I know give only about a couple hundred a year if anything and its not like he makes millionaire money. If he was I might raise an eyebrow, but when you’re making 350K per year its very possible that one simply doesn’t have all that much money lying around. Yea its way above the national average but somehow my Parents who earn something +150K don’t ever seem to have any left over after helping relatives, paying mortages and car loans, and investing a proportion in Pension funds.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Given what Biden makes, the cost of living on the East Coast and the cost of his commute home every night I doubt there’s a lot of extra cash floating around that household. And my returns would show that I donate nothing. But that’s because I just don’t deduct it. That’s not the point of giving anything. I also admit that I have no idea how much I donate. Since I’m not itemizing that on my taxes I actually just don’t bother keeping track.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Jim S, hopefully his commute home every night doesn’t cost too much considering he takes public transportation ;)
September 16th, 2008 at 5:05 am
It’s not his failure to donate to charity that makes him unfit to govern. It’s his 35 year record of spweing knee-jerk liberal pablum that makes him unfit to govern. That, and his awful hair plugs. That should disqualify him from holding office, period.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:33 am
When it comes to helping those less fortunate then ourselves, the simple fact that we choose to give (money, time, talent, etc) is the most important thing.
Those who want to compare “how much”, and use the results as some sort of an “I’m better than you” thing, are Entirely Missing The Point.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Hey, Justin. Is there a way to block posts from one contributor when reading donklephant? I mean, come on.
Nick Ragone Says: “It’s not his failure to donate to charity that makes him unfit to govern. It’s his 35 year record of spweing [sic] knee-jerk liberal pablum that makes him unfit to govern. That, and his awful hair plugs. That should disqualify him from holding office, period.”
Is this really donklephant material?
September 16th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Wow … guys. I mean, do you have to check your sense of humor at the door when you log on to donklephant? Sorta sad. Lighten up folks. Take a deep breadth. Relax. I’m not going to bring down the Republic with a hair plug joke.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Even that national review, where Nick stole the chart and idea for this post
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTZiY2EyNjllZmI3MjBiODdiM2ViNjc5ZmYxNjI1Zjg=
offered a little balance.
My favorite part is going to be where Nick starts complaining that Joe is a plagerizer….that will be rich.
That said, Nick should be permitted to post whatever he wants, though he does kind of miss the starting from the center idea behind the site. After 8 years of Bush polarizing politics, it’s pretty clear that there is no longer any real center. We have left, right and disinterested.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Nick,
It’s not that people don’t have a sense of humor, it’s that you are taking Sen. Biden’s charitable donations as a means of making a generalized attack on his character, without either comparing his donations (given his reported income) to that of Sen. McCain, Gov. Palin or even Sen. Obama. What’s more, you fail in this post to articulate why this is relevant at all, given the problems we face, and the experience the senator has. I mean, he’s warned us about many problems, particularly in the international arena (Pakistan, Russia-Georgia) way before anyone else focused on them.
Additionally, I saw some joke about him taking public transportation, but Amtrak, particularly in the East Coast is far more expensive than elsewhere in the country, since (as I understand it) it is the systems cash cow. I mean, a cursory view of fares on the Amtrak website shows that a daily round trip fare (and the cheapest) from Wilmington to DC and back is $118.00. Multiply that by 7 and that totals to $826.00 a week, or almost $47,000 a year. That’s the cheapest fare. If he however travels business class, you could see that figure go up by at least another $5,000 or more.
My point is, taking your own formula of looking at just one indicator and making a broad based assumption based on that one indicator that given the fact that Amtrak’s east coast routes subsidize the rest of the nation, Sen. Biden actually contributes about $50,000 a year to that effort. Seen another way, that means that this public servant contributes about 1/6 of his overall public servant salary to subsidizing the national railway every year and has done so, for the last 30 yrs.
I don’t think that’s an accurate reflection of what Sen. Biden has done, much like I don’t think your numbers are, but my point is, looking at snippets of data, allows you to make partisan arguments one way or the other.
Finally, you also have to look at the fact that Sen. Biden seems content with his government salary, and has not sought to enrich himself during his 30 yrs career in the senate. Given how many of our senators, and congressmen and women go there with just such a purpose, maybe his lack of greed can also count as a public service. In other words, you can argue he’s been far more interested in serving the people of his state, than in enriching himself beyond the comfort that his job and salary provide him.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Nick,
Actually the hair plug joke was not what I was trying to criticize, and maybe I should have been clearer, and less dismissive. It’s actually the “record of spweing knee-jerk liberal pablum that makes him unfit to govern” that I was responding to.
The thing I like about donklephant is that it is a place where people can disagree on substance without getting into petty name-calling and character assaults, and where people on both sides take each other seriously.
Now maybe it’s my own knee-jerk reaction to your fox news background, but all I’ve seen from you over the past few days seems to me to be dismissive of those who lean left, and praising mccain without substance. I’m not complaining that you have a right-leaning outlook (I usually appreciate ASC’s posts), but that I kind of expect a more respectful tone since you’re a contributor.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:11 am
C’mon folks. Are any of you seriously going to argue that the level of charitable giving shown on Biden’s tax returns doesn’t reflect questionably upon him?
I’m living proof that you don’t need to be a GOP partisan to think that Biden is a bit of a clown. He is. He’s party-line, old-school, rote-repetition tedious. If you’re a centrist, you tend not be much of fan of old-school partisans like Biden.
Nick, for the sake of balance, could say something disparaging about one of the more embarassing GOP clowns? Sadly, there isn’t anyone on the GOP ticket this time, I know. But maybe make fun of Mitt Romney or Arlen Specter. Just to show you’re not, you know, an operative.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Look, MDgeorge … come on buddy, give me a break. I’m having some fun. I’m right leaning, yes. I make fun of Republicans, too — just go to my blog, and you’ll see. Honestly, saying that Biden is a reflexive liberal who is steeped in old school pablum is hardly petting name calling or character assaults. Come on already. I’m just trying to have some good humor. There’s plenty of funny lefty posts on this board … what’s wrong with a little righty humor every now and again. Ease up a little. This is all good fun.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Nick,
You’re a joke. You go for some muck raking, then you hide under “It’s a Joke, lighten up!”
September 16th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Ah yes, calling Biden a liberal is muck raking. I’m Upton Sinclair. How’d I miss that.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
No, Nick. You are a joke, because of your implication that Biden is not a good person or a good candidate because he doesn’t donate enough according to his taxes. And that he is a bad liberal because he doesn’t really care.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The ad hominem attack — the final resort of an unburdened mind.
October 26th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
It certainly would be more politically favorable for the Biden’s to give more to charity to be reported for all to see. However, I thought buying indulgences went out with the Middle ages! There are those of us out there that believe claiming a tax deduction for charitable giving diminishes the gift.