And crazy old Joe does?

PHILADELPHIA – Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday gave an audience of firefighters his view of GOP rival Mitt Romney: “I don’t think he gets you.”

Biden offered the assessment in the context of the White House’s support of allowing the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans while pushing the “Buffett rule” calling for those in that income bracket to pay a higher percentage of their earnings in taxes.

“Wealthy people are just as patriotic as poor folks. They’re just as decent as any middle-class folk I know. The difference here is, no one asked them to do anything,” Biden told the 3,200 workers gathered for International Association of Fire Fighters convention. “This is about shared responsibility.”

In the next breath, Biden added that Republicans push for “top-down” policies because “they have to make room for more benefits and more opportunities for the very wealthy.”

Biden characterized Romney as “a good family man, a guy who means well,” echoing the approach that the former Massachusetts governor often takes before describing President Obama as clueless on the economy.

“Part of the problem is,” Biden said. “I don’t think he just gets you, I don’t think he really understands. I mean this sincerely–I don’t think he understands what you’re all about, what makes you tick, what makes you decide to go into this profession that you couldn’t pay enough to 90 percent of the population, including me, to do what you do every day.”