Vice President Joe Biden urged Democrats on Wednesday not to underestimate Tea Party candidates, saying that if progressives didn't get energized for the November election, there would be serious consequences for "the things we care most about."
In an interview on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on msnbc, Biden said he was taking victories by Tea Party-backed candidates in GOP primaries "very, very seriously."
"I wouldn’t sell short these candidates," Biden said, adding that he expected money to pour into such races as the one for his old Senate seat in Delaware.
In that GOP primary, Christine O'Donnell defeated veteran Rep. Michael Castle. O'Donnell was backed by Tea Party activists and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but the Republican establishment had publicly fretted that she would be a liability in the general election, in which she'll face Democrat Chris Coons.
Biden had a message for Democrats and progressives: "Get in gear, man."
"You better get energized, because the consequences are serious for the outcome of the things we care most about."
He said that the Obama administration's accomplishments on such issues as health care overhaul, hate crime laws and tobacco regulation would be at risk if the party didn't turn out voters.
"It’s time for our base to say, 'Hey, man, take a look. This opposition is real,'" Biden said.
Biden pointed to tax cuts as the marquee issue of the campaign, one that would give Democrats the chance to sharply delineate their differences with Republicans. He said voters would respond when the impact of middle-class tax cuts versus tax cuts for the wealthy is explained.
"I want this fight," Biden said.
Asked if President Barack Obama would go to the mat on the issue — possible with the use of a veto — if the Bush-era cuts for the wealthy were included in a bill, Biden said: "Yes, absolutely."
On the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays, Biden said it should not only be repealed, but "everyone who was fired should be able to reinstated if they wanted to.
"There’s 20 nations in the world that are our allies that allow openly gay and lesbian people to be able to, to function," he said. "I mean, here we have fired hundreds of translators, when we’re out there trying to figure out how under God’s name to find enough people to speak everything from Farsi to Urdu."
Asked why the administration hadn't suspended discharges pending a Defense Department review of the policy and possible congressional action, Biden said, "Because that is the compromise we basically had to make to get the votes to finally repeal it."
"The truth of the matter is, we had to build a consensus for this. ... It’s resulted in us getting over 55 votes, I think we’ll get 55 votes, to flat repeal it."
