I feel like people can watch all this Biden stuff and hear about him giving out his cell number and consoling random folks, and maybe wonder if it’s possibly true. I have a lot of Biden stories from my years as his driver in the senate, but here’s one.
If Senate business ran late - Senate late - and Biden missed the 10 pm train, he didn’t just grab a hotel room. His DC driver drove him up the GW Parkway to Maryland House, where the Delaware driver met us and took him home.
Thing is it wasn’t always clear he’d not make the 10 pm train. One night we made a mad dash. I thought we made it. But, PER PROTOCOL of being 23 and terrified of leaving Joe Biden at Union Station, I hung around. He called a couple minutes later and asked where I was.
When he emerged from Union Station, he was with another gentleman. They were laughing. I figured he’d spotted and old friend. Then they both got in my Jetta. “This is John,” Biden said. “He’s grabbing a ride back to Delaware with us. We both missed the train.”
What became clear over the next five minutes as Joe Biden asked the man about his life was that they were total strangers and that the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee just invited a random person to ride with us for 90 minutes in the dead of night.
A total stranger. Not because he knew him or thought him important. But just because he was a person in need - a person who missed the last train and needed a ride home. Question that judgment, SURE, but don’t question the sincerity or desire to help people.
CORRECTION: The Baltimore-Washington Parkway connects Baltimore to Washington and is the route we took - not the GW Parkway. I regret this embarrassing mistake.
ALSO, because a lot of people are seeing this, although I don’t have a SoundCloud, Joe Biden does! It’s vote.gov. Then head to your state’s board or elections for details on requesting a mail-in ballot: usa.gov/election-office
