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Biden speech avoids politics, expressess sympathy for Colo. shooting victims

In a speech at the annual convention of the National Association of Police Organizations, Biden recounted the actions of multiple individuals who put themselves in harm's way to help others inside the theater.

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Lynne Sladky/AP
Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the annual convention of the National Association of Police Organizations, Monday, July 23, 2012, in Manalapan, Fla. Biden spoke about the recent Colorado movie theater shooting which killed twelve people and injured dozens more.
  • By Matt Sedensky Associated Press

| MANALAPAN, Fla.

Vice President Joe Biden said Monday the country weeps for the victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting, but that the stories of heroism that have emerged from the rampage "remind us of the goodness" of the American people.

In a speech at the annual convention of the National Association of Police Organizations, Biden recounted the actions of multiple individuals who put themselves in harm's way to help others inside the theater.

"There's a hell of a lot more good out there than the evil you're sworn to take on," he said. At another point,Biden said: "We must sing of the courage and the heroism that was on display."

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Biden devoted nearly all of his 18-minute address to Friday's shootings in Aurora, Colo., which killed 12 people and injured dozens more. He said it didn't "seem appropriate" to talk about policy, as he originally had planned.

He never mentioned the man accused in the shooting, focusing instead on the victims and on law enforcement officers he said understood what it is like to experience tragedy. He got a standing ovation from the several hundred people gathered, and offered words of comfort to those who lost a loved one.

"Although the pain will never vanish, there will come a moment," Biden began. "I promise those who have been hurt, there will come a moment where the memory of your daughter, your son, your husband, will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye."

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