Biden Blunders, Again

The remarkable thing about Joe Biden's botched announcement of his second presidential run is not that he said something outrageously inappropriate and, if we are to assume that Democratic caucus and primary participants retain even minimal standards with regard to the competence of contenders, electorally lethal.

The senator from Delaware has a very long history of lodging metatarsals in his oral orifice. And his reference to a more attractive and articulate senator and presidential contender, Illinoisan Barack Obama, as a "clean" African American was, while spectacular in its senselessness, oddly Bidenesque. This is not to suggest that the senior senator is a racist, nor even that he's some kind of neatness freak. (Biden says that, by "clean" he meant "fresh," which seems about right.) Rather, this is to suggest that Joe Biden is still Joe Biden, the linguistically lumbering, intellectually inelegant Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman whose "plan" for solving the Iraq mess is so convoluted that even he has trouble explaining it.

So, no, there was nothing all that astounding about the fact that the politician who got himself kicked out of the 1988 Democratic contest for plagiarism would, with another two decades of practice, come up with an even more sensationally disqualifying gesture this time around.

The remarkable thing about the Biden blow out is the notion that some pundits are actually discussing the extent to which the senator's "clean" comment may have harmed his chances – as if the guy's vanity candidacy ever had a chance.

Biden is, according to several recent polls from the first caucus state of Iowa and the first primary state of New Hampshire, having a hard time competing with Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich among the party faithful. In another early caucus state, Nevada, the Foreign Relations Committee chair is tied with 76-year-old former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. While it is true that Gravel – who says he would "raze (the) Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons to the ground" – is more frequently right on the issues than Biden, the Alaskan is not often identified as a frontrunner.

The truth is that, before the "clean" comment, Biden had about as much chance of winning the Democratic nomination for president as, well, Mike Gravel.

Now, Biden has a little less chance of securing the nod than Gravel.

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John Nichols' latest book is THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT: The Founders' Cure for Royalism.

Comments (22)

1. Old "Say it ain't so" Joe Biden strikes again..... I have to agree with Nichols that Senator Biden has no racist sympathies, only a bad case of foot in mouth disease. Problem is, that the more he talks, the more BS comes out....Amazing timing, though, these remarks will probably lead to a record for the shortest candidacy for president......Maybe Senator Biden can get in the history books for that.......

   Posted by davebarlett at 02/02/2007 @ 01:00am

2. On the other hand, maybe the republicans put him up to it...yeah, thats it.......Dick Cheney made him do it...yeah, thats the ticket....

   Posted by davebarlett at 02/02/2007 @ 01:05am

3. I don't think Joe is racist either...but to make such a dumb gaffe so early in the campaign is really the kiss of death. I say he's out by summer...still not ready for prime time.

   Posted by MCE337 at 02/02/2007 @ 04:50am

4. Posted by MCE337 02/02/2007 @ 04:50am

   out by summer? i like the guy but his campaign was over before he started.

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 02/02/2007 @ 06:55am

5. Seriously now....if Joe Biden didn't have the "shield" of a "D" after his name...

   wouldn't Mr Nichols and others be AUTOMATICALLY suspecting him of being (even calling him) a racist?

   Posted by Mask at 02/02/2007 @ 07:04am

6. "Seriously"?

   Posted by drhammer at 02/02/2007 @ 07:34am

7. Frankly, Bidens' condecending comments about Obama, like Howard Dean's comment about another "Michael Steele Problem" speaks volumes about, & confirms thinking Americans suspicion of, Liberal Democrats' REAL feelings about minorities, Blacks in particular. What will the Dems do if the downtrodden ever begin to take care of themselves, instead of allowing themselves to remain downtrodden by their "protectors". Obama and especially Steele make the Dems painfully aware of THAT question.

   Chip

   Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 02/02/2007 @ 08:00am

8. Wouldn't think him a racist, though. Thats a term thats thrown around far too easily and with far to little provocation in recent years.

   Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 02/02/2007 @ 08:41am

9. Posted by DRHAMMER 02/02/2007 @ 07:34am

   Yes Doc...seriously.

   Right now the only thing that separates Biden's "saying something outrageously inappropriate" and "Biden is a racist" is...

   the fact that he's a Democrat, and particularly a moderate, non-Southern one who (in general) opposes the Republicans.

   If he were Lieberman or CERTAINLY Zell Miller or any Democrat that was a "DINO"..."racist". If he was a Republican, Mr Nichols would probably be asking for his removal from any Party leadership and from his committee chairmanship if he was in the majority. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, rather than somewhat "laughing it off", would be seeking a formal apology. And the NAACP and others would be gearing up the ad campaigns for the Senator's next election.

   But...as he's Joe Biden (D-Delaware)...it's "This is not to suggest that the senior senator is a racist".

   Posted by Mask at 02/02/2007 @ 08:53am

10. oh i dont think he's a racist. he's the guy that appears on those sunday morning talk shows. and he's not going to be our next potus.

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 02/02/2007 @ 09:23am

11. PAGE 2,472 of the FOUNDING FATHERS JOKEBOOK defines "BI-POLAR" as a gay guy living in the Arctic.

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 02/02/2007 @ 09:27am

12. Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 02/02/2007 @ 09:23am

    He obviously has SOME problems that the Democrats just don't need in their next nominee. Back in '88 it was the "plagerizing Neil Kinnock" thing, now it's "backhandedly 'praising'" Obama in a way that would call for the head of Sean Hannity or some conservative if they tried it.

    Odd for a guy who's always lauded as "so smart" (especially on foreign policy) that he's ruined TWO shots at the Presidency with things so dumb????

    Posted by Mask at 02/02/2007 @ 09:40am

13. Posted by CHIP THORNTON 02/02/2007 @ 09:27am

    I'd return it to the "Christian Coalition" Bookstore, CT.

    It doesn't even make any sense, since if you're gay, you're not bisexual!

    Posted by Mask at 02/02/2007 @ 09:41am

14. Yes, I know Mask, it was a joke. Drink some decaf and lighten up

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 02/02/2007 @ 09:44am

15. And I wouldn't know about the Christian Coalition. I'm a real Christian, not a fanatical idiot

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 02/02/2007 @ 09:46am

16. No, Joe Biden IS a racist, racists are supposed to be all Republicans, what a disgrace.

    Posted by conshame at 02/02/2007 @ 10:07am

17. Apparently wouldn't have mattered if Biden called Obama "Macaca"...he wasn't going to get any MONEY to run for President, if Her Majesty has anything to say about it...

    link [huffingtonpost.com]

    Posted by Mask at 02/02/2007 @ 10:08am

18. IF

    I only had a dollar for every

    IF!

    Posted by drhammer at 02/02/2007 @ 10:10am

19. The Left has treated Al Sharpton horribly, saying Dennis Kucinich was the "only progressive Democratic candidate".

    Joe Biden needs to do more to show that he is the 1st white cracker racist who can still be "Cool".

    Now that your career is over Joe Biden, WE HAVE A LOOMING WAR WITH IRAN BASED ON LIES WHICH MUST BE PREVENTED, what does "Valor" mean to a man who can now forget about your career Joe Biden?

    Posted by conshame at 02/02/2007 @ 10:16am

20. WE HAVE A LOOMING WAR WITH IRAN BASED ON LIES WHICH MUST BE PREVENTED, what does "Valor" mean to a man who can now forget about your career Joe Biden?

    Posted by CONSHAME 02/02/2007 @ 10:16am

    Biden might not be your ONLY problem on that front, CS....

    Feb. 13, 2006 | WASHINGTON

    The always-square-in-the-middle-of-the-road Sen. Clinton ☼ declared in a foreign-policy address at Princeton last month, "We cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran -- that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons."

    In 2006 other top Democrats addressed the use of force against Iran. However ironic its intentions, GOP.com posted their comments: John Kerry: "[I]'ve said point blank that you leave that option on the table. . ." Joe Biden: "I think the President is going about it the right way." Evan Bayh: "The Iranians are hardened people. They've made a strategic decision that they want to acquire nuclear weapons. I don't think they will respond to words alone." Christopher Dodd: "I don't disagree that we ought to leave the military option on the table, but I don't think we've been working hard enough on the diplomacy side of this." Former Senator John Edwards (Dem.) tells Herzliya Conference serious political, economic steps should be taken against Islamic Republic; 'in order to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons, all options must remain on table,' he says, adding that Syria should be held accountable for its support of Hizbullah, Hamas

    ...

    "Iran is serious about its threats," former US Senator John Edwards told the Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center on Monday.

    "The challenges in your own backyard – represent an unprecedented threat to the world and Israel," said the candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, referring mainly to the Iranian threat.

    In his speech, Edwards criticized the United States' previous indifference to the Iranian issue, saying they have not done enough to deal with the threat.

    Hinting to possible military action, Edwards stressed that "in order to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons, all options must remain on table."

    On the recent UN Security Council's resolution against Iran, Edwards said more serious political and economic steps should be taken. "Iran must know that the world won't back down," he said."

    Series of quotes by Barak Obama on using military force against Iran

    http://blog.zmag.org/ee_links/american_power1

    January 30, 2007 12:08 PM ABC News' Kirit Radia Reports: This morning at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Barack Obama ☼ ☼, D-Ill., questioned Deputy Secretary of State nominee John Negroponte about Iran and at the same time outlined his own policy ideas. In his remarks, Obama said that the United States needs "transparency" to avoid repeating past policy mistakes in the Middle East. If U.S. troops are attacked by Iran, the U.S. can take, "appropriate action," to protects its forces Obama said. In regards towards Iran's nuclear program, Obama called for exhausting all diplomatic options but declared that U.S. must "keep all options on the table" and try to stop Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions, lest anyone listening think the presidential hopeful would be afraid to use America's military might should he become commander-in-chief.

    ObamaIran [tinyurl.com]

    Posted by Mask at 02/02/2007 @ 10:32am

21. Posted by ZERO 02/02/2007 @ 11:52am

    The TRUTH about "ZERO" will be revealed sometime in the Summer/Fall of 2008 when Hillary wins the nomination.

    If he says (like "The Nation" will), "Oh, all right. She is the LESSER of two evils and we can't allow McCain to keep appointing right-wing USSC justices....I'm voting for her, but reluctantly!"

    or if his head explodes.

    Posted by Mask at 02/02/2007 @ 12:53pm

22. In the 2008 presidential race...

    ...Biden's absence won't be missed.

    Posted by Lillian at 02/02/2007 @ 6:21pm