Lord knows I hate sticking up for Joe Biden, but too many people are making way too much of his latest verbal mishap. Especially annoying are those who say he somehow ruined what should have been a momentous occasion:
Experts weigh in:
- The Biden brouhaha marred an otherwise historic day and "sullied" the passing of landmark health legislation, the editorial staff at the Hartford Courant blogs. Biden's remark deflated "a significant moment for the president," the Courant staff writes. "Oh, Joe. Way to mark the occasion," they blog. "That quote may be forever linked with the Obama administration's finest moment."
- The VP's battle with foot-in-mouth disease could mean he'll go down in the history books as another bumbling second-in-command, Richard Adams writes for the UK's Guardian. "Biden should remember the words of John Nance Garner, vice-president under Franklin Roosevelt," Adams writes, "who said: 'The vice-presidency isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss."
Geez. Lighten up, everybody. Anybody reading this post who never used the f-word? Anybody reading this post shocked to know our politicians might have potty mouths, too? Anybody remember the stories about Lyndon Johnson's vocabulary in private moments?
That's the thing -- private moments are becoming a thing of the past. Almost anything we say or do under almost any set of circumstances could end up recorded by somebody and playing on YouTube 24 hours a day. That's the really (expletive) scary part of this.
Besides, those of us on all sides of the health care debate have to acknowledge that Biden was exactly right. I hate everything about this ugly mess they have the gall to call reform, and to me it is a very big (expletive) deal.
(Funniest thing I've heard so far about it: A comedian on the radio this morning said that, with the passage of the health care bill, Biden having his foot in his mouth no longer counts as a pre-existing condition.)
