I’ve never had a strong reaction to Joe Biden’s politics or style. <\/p>\n
His personal story – his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash while Christmas shopping in 1972, not long after Biden won office — is heartbreaking. <\/p>\n
But other than that poignant personal detail, and his weird decision to plagiarize a line or two from British Labour leader Neil Kinnicock, he’s never struck me as a terribly colorful character.<\/p>\n
Competent, centrist — you either like his politics or not, but it kind of ends there.<\/p>\n
But for years, the media has trotted out the notion that Biden is gaffe-prone. Late night comics still dine out regularly on jokes about the VP’s tin ear.<\/p>\n
The latest supposed misstep was admitting that he encouraged Barack Obama not to run for president last year. Yawn.<\/p>\n
And before that, he used the words “heck of a job!” — to praise officials in Georgia responding to flooding. <\/p>\n
George W. Bush used those same words to praise former FEMA director Michael Brown, who was rather flamboyantly not doing a great job at the time.<\/p>\n
But given that the Georgia folks were, in fact, doing a heck of a job, that’s hardly a zinger.<\/p>\n
Slate.com actually has a “Bidenisms”<\/a> page, purporting to collect the most delicious examples of the Veep’s missteps. Here’s a sampling:<\/p>\n “These guys are smart. Some of the guys Chuck and I have campaigned for are turkeys. Not all Democrats are created equal, while most Republicans are.”\u2014complimenting three Democratic nonturkey congressmen at a fundraiser in the home of former Sen. Chuck Robb, Alexandria, Va., Sept. 24, 2009<\/p>\n “You heard it in the debate, John McClain. John McClain, excuse me\u2014John McCain. I don’t recognize him anymore. I used to know him well. \u2026 Bad joke.”\u2014Charlotte, N.C., Oct. 24, 2008<\/p>\n “The idea that we’re not building these new Humvees with the V-shaped things is just crap, man. Kids are dying that don’t have to die. Second thing is we’re going to shove it down his throat.”\u2014proposed response to then-President Bush’s decision to veto Iraq funding bill, Columbia, S.C., April 27, 2006<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I mean, that’s thin gruel. <\/p>\n Reminds me a bit of the old “Gerald Ford is clumsy” gag, a myth that Bob Schieffer <\/a>acknowledged was a media-created put on.<\/p>\n\n