Vice presidential candidate rallies Pa. voters.

    Langhorne, Pa. - A sometimes angry Sen. Joe Biden on Friday railed against the "abject failure" of Republicans to help middle-class Americans cope with shrinking wages, job losses and the rising cost of gas, groceries, health insurance and college.

    The Delaware senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee brought a crowd of 1,200 people at Maple Point Middle School to their feet by pointing out "what I didn't hear" from Republicans at their nominating convention this week.

    "The silence of the Republican Party was deafening on jobs, on health care, on all the things that matter!" Biden shouted over the din.

    "What do you talk about when you have nothing to say?" he said. "What do you talk about when you can't explain eight years of failure?"

    Biden said he and his presidential running mate, Sen. Barack Obama, want to give families an extra $1,000 tax incentive to help them through the recent economic downturn.

    "We're going to give [oil companies] $4 billion in tax breaks but we can't give you a thousand bucks?" Biden shouted.

    Less than 18 hours after Sen. John McCain accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president, Biden and his wife, Jill, came to this suburb north of Philadelphia to rally supporters and sway undecided voters. They also campaigned at an invitation-only gathering Friday morning at the Ironworkers Local Union 401 in Philadelphia.

    White, blue-collar voters in battleground states such as Pennsylvania are considered crucial to winning the race to the White House.

    "The American people are looking for a government that will help them get back up on their feet," Biden said. "I'm ready, Barack Obama is ready, so let's go win this thing!"

    Biden and Obama also face the task of attracting voters who supported Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries -- voters like Lois Lambing, of Fairless Hills, Pa., and Nicole Fields, of Langhorne.

    "We're former Hillary girls," Lambing said. "The day after she spoke at the [Democratic] convention, I walked around in a state of depression. Everything she said is why I was for her in the first place."

    They said, though, that true Clinton supporters will embrace Obama and Biden.

    "If they take a good hard look at the issues of the country and why they supported Hillary, they'll understand that Obama is going to represent them," Lambing said.

    But nothing Biden said Friday was going to sway the opinions of Gerry Young, of Warminster, Pa., and Kathleen Metzler, of Richboro, Pa.

    "We're pro-life Catholics, and we're disgusted by him," said Young, who kept a white rosary wrapped around her right hand during the event. "It's so heinous, his view."

    Biden's support of abortion rights is contrary to the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. His Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is staunchly anti-abortion, a position that convinced Young and Metzler to vote for McCain.

    They said Biden's stance is "a deal-breaker" for faithful Catholics.

    For Arthur Cohn, who came to the event from Lower Makefield Township with Doreene Kaplan and Jeanne Bray, Biden's abortion-rights position is one aspect that makes him appealing.

    "He's always for progressive legislation, like giving women the right to choose," Cohn said. "He's one of the good guys with the white hats."

    Kaplan said Biden's penchant for putting his foot in his mouth belies his ability to think his way through complex problems.

    "He can shoot from the hip sometimes with what he says, but he's very thoughtful when he makes decisions," Kaplan said.

    On stage Friday, Biden quickly shed his jacket, loosened his tie, rolled up his sleeves and paced the stage while answering questions from the audience and a few people chosen to tell their stories to the crowd.

    David Zaiser, of Quakertown, Pa., said he's an information-technology professional who is dealing with the high costs of health insurance and other necessities.

    "I should not be struggling in this economy, but I have to borrow money all the time to pay my bills, fill my gas tank," Zaiser said. "We don't know how we're going to heat our home."

    Biden talked about fixing Social Security by raising the cap on taxes for people making more than $250,000. McCain, he said, wants to privatize the program, an idea that drew boos from the crowd.

    "How would you like to be getting Social Security based on the market right now?" Biden said.

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