The Biden gaffe machine

NY Times:

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate, is an experienced, serious and smart man. But, boy, does he say some curious things. A day on the campaign trail without some cringe-inducing gaffe is a rare blessing. He has not been too blessed lately.

Just this week, he mused that Senator Barack Obama might have been better off with Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate.

“Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America,” Mr. Biden said Wednesday in Nashua, N.H. “Quite frankly it might have been a better pick than me.”

Earlier in the week, in Columbia, Mo., Mr. Biden urged a paraplegic state official to stand up to be recognized.

“Chuck, stand up, let the people see you,” Mr. Biden shouted to State Senator Chuck Graham, before realizing, to his horror, that Mr. Graham uses a wheelchair.

“Oh, God love ya,” Mr. Biden said. “What am I talking about?”

But it was the Clinton remarks that touched a potentially sensitive spot for the Obama-Biden campaign. With Gov. Sarah Palin’s addition to the Republican ticket potentially energizing some female voters, Mr. Biden’s remarks raised anew a legitimate question: Would Mr. Obama have been better off picking the former First Lady as his running mate?

One could imagine Senator John McCain’s campaign even using Mr. Biden’s remarks in their own ads to exploit female misgivings about the Democratic ticket.

Shortly after Mr. Biden was named to the Democratic ticket, the Republican National Committee started a “Biden gaffe clock” to keep track of his slips.

Mr. Obama knew what he was getting when he picked Mr. Biden as his running mate: A veteran of six terms in the Senate, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, an Irish Catholic with working-class roots, a guy who had twice been tested in the arena of presidential politics.

And a human verbal wrecking crew.

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There is much more. I had been wondering when the big media was going to catch up with these remarks. The NY times style is such that when showing Democrat gaffes they have to preface the remarks by saying the "candidate, is an experienced, serious and smart man." It is unlikely that Dan Quayle's verbal miscues would get that preamble.

It is sort of the opposite of an op-ed that praises some aspect of the Bush administration that must have a paragraph near the closing assuring readers that the Bushies are still horrible. It will be interesting to see if Palin gets this treatment.