Kind of weird since it is in the Scaiffe owned Pittsburgh Tribune Review, but still really nice:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/zito/s_600626.htmlJoe Biden, gritty guy
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In an interview by e-mail last week, John Kerry stated that he has great respect for his longtime colleague: "Joe and I have been in the trenches, and I really think that's when you learn the measure of a guy. He's resilient and he's determined. There's grit there. This is a guy who learned the ropes in the Senate from some real giants."
Biden ran two of the most contentious Senate committees with rare bipartisan skill, Kerry says, adding: "That tells you a hell of a lot about him. That he was asked to deliver the eulogy for (South Carolina Republican) Strom Thurmond tells you just how much Joe is and was respected across the aisle."
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During the presidential campaign, Scranton, Pa., became a mini-epicenter of the political world because Biden once lived there, as fellow Sen. Bob Casey still does. Casey credits Biden with making sure that he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a feat even John Kennedy was not able to pull off in his freshman year.
"That was all Biden," Casey says.
Last February, Kerry was stuck with Biden and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., in a chopper that made an emergency landing in the mountains of Afghanistan. A snowstorm had forced them down and they played cards to pass the time.
"I think between the cold and the conversation, Joe and I forgot who was winning," Kerry recalls. "But I think the smart money is on him."
Very classy of Kerry.