After his feisty debate performance, Joe Biden hit the campaign trail today, hammering Republicans on their controlling, cynical, sexist attitudes toward women.

He didn't pull any punches, either. He called them out for imposing their private views on women, and was very specific about the shape of the U.S. Supreme Court if Romney wins this election. This, by the way, is what should give every progressive, Democrat, liberal or independent a reason to vote for Obama -- the idea of having Mitt Romney nominate the next two Supreme Court justices is the kind of nightmare we really don't need to have.

At the end, he really gets passionate about his anger over VAWA being held hostage, too. It's like Biden took all his energy and anger out and is putting it where it can do the most good. More like this, please.

Transcript below the fold.

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There were quite a few offensive Supreme Court rulings this year, but one of the more surprising decisions was in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, in which the court ruled 5 to 4 (natch) that workers who face wage discrimination only have 180 days to challenge the initial discrimination in court. (Slate’s Richard Thompson Ford explained the case quite well a couple of months ago.)

Goodyear Tire intentionally shortchanged Lilly Ledbetter, a female employee, for two decades. The court majority (Justices Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy) said if Ledbetter wanted to challenge the discrimination, she needed to sue within 180 days of her first unfair paycheck — even though she continued to receive unfair paychecks for 20 years.

Today, the House took up legislation — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — that would put into law a clarification — wage disparity based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, and disability is not a one-time occurrence. Every discriminatory paycheck represents an ongoing violation. Employees would still have 180 days to challenge the discrimination, but from the last check, not the first.

The good news is the House passed the measure. The bad news is Bush plans to veto.

We've discussed this before, but PfAW wants to energize the campaign as Sen. Kennedy is introducing legislation this week.

The decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear involved the interpretation of a federal statute-not the Constitution. That's why Congress has the authority, and the responsibility, to correct the Court's error and strengthen Americans' ability to recover wages that they have been unfairly denied. Will you join the petition calling on congressional leaders to support legislation to correct Ledbetter v. Goodyear?

The Ledbetter legislation, the "Fair Pay Restoration Act," will be introduced in the Senate as early as tomorrow by Sen. Kennedy. The House legislation, the "Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act," was passed by the Education and Labor committee at the end of June.