WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) - Former Vice President Joe Biden is offering assurances that the country's current divisiveness brought on by a presidential election that "churned up some of the ugliest realities" of American life will be temporary.
Biden spoke Sunday to graduates at Maine's Colby College, urging them to resist the impulse to throw up their hands after an election that played to society's "baser instincts."
The Democrat who served two terms alongside President Barack Obama expressed his own disbelief, saying he thought "we had passed the days where it was acceptable for politicians ... to bestow legitimacy on hate speech and fringe ideologies."
He told his audience they have a role to play in making things better, and said it's time for Americans to "regain our sense of unity and purpose."