The pundits seem to be focusing their attention on Joe Biden as the Obamessiah's choice for Vice-Messiah, and that's surprising. Biden has been in the Senate for nearly 40 years, which doesn't seem to represent much in the way of "change". He was run out of the 1988 presidential race after charges of plagiarism, and at the beginning of his campaign for this year's nomination he famously has this to say about Barack Obama:
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
He's got a history of other nutty statements too, such as his statement that Southern voters would be more inclined to vote for him because Delaware (Biden's home state) was at one time a "slave state", and his comment that "you cannot enter a 7-11 or Dunkin' Donuts unless you have an Indian accent". Biden loves to hear himself talk and he's likely to get his candidate in trouble.
Biden was also one of the harshest and unfair critics of Clarence Thomas during Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and replaying some of his comments from that time could help motivate conservatives against him. Obama thinks Biden will give him some needed "gravitas", but I think he'll regret saddling himself with a senator who is in love with his own voice.
UPDATE: Another Biden quote, this time from his 1988 presidential run:
A classic Joe Biden ad from 1988, which begins: "The White House isn't the place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power, war and peace, and the economic future of the next generation. A President has got to know the territory, but that's not enough."He could have been running against Obama.
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