I think Biden is a great choice for the Obama campaign!  His working class roots in Scranton, PA, foreign policy bona fides and deep Catholic faith- that you can just tell is in his bones- will be a great addition to the ticket.

There will be a lot more discussion on these topics in days to come, but in the meantime, check out this great Christian Science Monitor piece on Biden’s faith: “Joseph Biden: A Frank and Abiding Faith“. Read it here. 

Here are some of my favorite excerpts from the article:

“The animating principle of my faith, as taught to me by church and home, was that the cardinal sin was abuse of power,” he said in an interview with the Monitor. “It was not only required as a good Catholic to abhor and avoid abuse of power, but to do something to end that abuse.”

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Biden says he grew up feeling at home in the church. In the Irish neighborhoods in Scranton, Pa., where he spent most of his weekends, a majority of the kids were Catholic. Neighbors attended mass, and nuns and priests were a respected part of daily life. “Wherever there were nuns, there was home,” he writes in a new book on his life and politics.

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Biden is troubled, too, by ongoing sexual-abuse scandals involving children within the church. But he says his commitment to church remains unchanged. “This is my church as much as it is the church of a cardinal, bishop, or janitor, and I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I care a great deal about my faith.”

It gives us a taste of how well Biden’s tough talk and Irish Catholic roots will play on the stump as he travels to places like Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittsburgh, Toledo and Youngstown.

Great choice by the Obama campaign!  I can’t wait to watch.