Biden blasts Romney on manufacturing at Iowa campaign stop

Vice President Biden returned to the campaign trail Wednesday, telling an Iowa crowd that "America is coming back" thanks to Obama administration policy and deriding Mitt Romney as "out of touch" with the American manufacturing sector.

"America is coming back," he told a crowd at manufacturing plant in Davenport, according to NBC. "It's not a political slogan, it's a reality."

The stop was one of four planned appearances for the vice president; Biden had previously spoken at campaign appearances in Ohio and Florida.

During his address, Biden mocked Romney, so is looking increasingly favorable as the GOP nominee, as consistently wrong on job creation.

"Mitt Romney has been remarkably consistent — as an individual investor, a businessman, as governor of Massachusetts, and now as a candidate for president," he said. "Remarkably consistent. And, I respectfully suggest, consistently wrong."

The remark was intended as a dig on the perception that Romney is politically opportunistic, a theme that reentered the political discussion last week when a senior aide said the campaign would "reset like an Etch A Sketch" after the primary.

Biden went on to suggest that Romney had a weaker record than his primary rival, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, on job creation.

"Sen. Santorum is the only one even claiming to support manufacturing," he said. "But he voted for loopholes to send American manufacturing offshore."

Biden went on to say that electing a Republican in November would slow the economic recovery.

“Conventional wisdom that manufacturing is dead in this country is dead wrong, and we’ve got to maintain this momentum,” Biden said. “But one thing that would bring this momentum to a screeching halt is turning over the keys to the White House” to Santorum or Romney.

The vice president also joked Romney had "chutzpah" for suggesting the president was "out of touch" with American's economic concerns.

"Out of touch? Romney?" Biden said. "As an old friend of mine says, that's chutzpah."

Romney's campaign said Wednesday that Biden was attacking Romney to distract from the administration's own record.

“Under President Obama’s leadership, over 800,000 fewer Americans have a job, home prices have plummeted, and gas prices have hit record highs. With that kind of record, it’s no surprise that the Obama White House has taken to attacking a proven job creator like Mitt Romney,” said spokeswoman Andrea Saul in a statement.

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