"Nobody messes with Joe" Biden warns governors

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Jake Turcotte
Vice President Joe Biden discusses the new website "Recovery.gov" intended to track all government spending to ensure proceeds from the economic stimulus package is not wasted.

Vice President Joe Biden pledged that he would not be another Dick Cheney. So far, that seems to be accurate.

If today's appearance on the Early Show is any indication, it looks like he'll be a cross between a watchdog, customer service rep, and webmaster.

Sure, he forgot the website. But that's not worth mentioning.

Nobody messes with Joe

What's important is that he's in charge of ensuring that every last penny in Obama's massive $787 billion spending package will be spent correctly. No waste.

And he's the one doing it because "nobody messes with Joe," Obama said last night in his address to a Joint Session of Congress.

Don't mess with Texas Delaware

What if someone does "mess with Joe?" Biden issued a warning shot to elected officials who might stash the cash instead of using it correctly.

"If governors were to take the money and put it in a rainy day fund instead of creating new jobs, we will expose that," he said stating that he will go on TV and call them out.

Public

How can the public know that the money is allocated correctly? That's the question CBS's Maggie Rodriguez asked.

"We're going to put every bit of this transparently up on a website. You're gonna know. You'll be able to go on a website. Every single bit of this will be on a website," he explained.

What website?

"You know, I'm embarrassed. Do you know the website number?" he asked looking offstage. "I should have it in front of me and I don't. I'm actually embarrassed."

He was able to get the website "number" from someone off camera.

"Recovery.gov. It's Recovery.gov. It's up and running," he said with newfound confidence.

Small biz

Ordonez also asked him about the plight of a small businesswoman who had to lay some people off due to the bad economy.

The woman, identified as Lisa Hendrickson, wondered specifically what in the spending package will help small business.

He told Ordonez that Hendrickson should call his office directly and he personally "will be able to guide her on what pieces of this package will be directly helpful."

That's customer service.

He also demonstrated some clairvoyancy skills theorizing that perhaps customers aren't able to get to her business because a bridge over a creek somewhere is destroyed.

No problem though. The stimulus package will repair that bridge. If there is one. And it's destroyed. And if they can find it.

The GOP

As for Republican opposition to the spending package, Biden there could be some legitimate concerns - except if you're Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (who, coincidentally, gave the Republican response).

He said Jindal was pursuing the course of inaction "while people are just sinking into the abyss."

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