Drunk Joe Biden

Five days before the 2000 elections, an eleventh-hour story erupted as breaking news: George W. Bush had a DUI arrest in 1976. Bush acknowledged he had a drinking problem in the past but that he hadn't touched a drop in years. Still the mainstream media asked questions about whether this meant he was unfit to serve as President. The issue hung over Bush's head for much of his Presidency.

Is Joe Biden an alcoholic? There seems to be no definitive proof. As a regular on the Washington to Delaware Amtrak over the past 35 years - a DUI isn't likely to be on his record.

In an interview a few before the 2008 election Biden is speaks of, seemingly out of the blue, alcoholics from his childhood.

Though Joe Sr. was not a heavy drinker, alcohol flowed freely in the Finnegan house and in the neighborhood. Joe Jr. saw the toll it took on his family, his neighbors and, later, on his little brother Frankie. “Every family had it,” said Tom Bell, one of Senator Biden’s childhood friends from Scranton who remains close to him. “But the Finnegans had more than their share.”

Senator Biden does not drink at all, and he is frank about the reason. “There are enough alcoholics in my family,” he said last month as he sipped cranberry juice on a train ride from Washington to Wilmington.

Apparently the reporter was treading lightly into the rumors of Biden and drinking. The notation of cranberry juice? Was the reporter expecting Biden to whip out a fifth of vodka while being interviewed on a train?

So how long has Biden been able to honestly say he doesn't drink at all? When did he go dry?

This video was posted on YouTube August 22, 2008. The date it was actually filmed is unknown.

This YouTube is of CNN news footage from August 29, 2008 - two days after he was nominated to be the 2008 Democratic candidate for Vice President.

Is Joe Biden a drunk? Judge for yourselves.