The Campaign So Far – He Always Says What?

During the vice presidential debate, Joe Biden uttered what may be the most terrifying words ever spoken in any debate. Midway through the exchange with Paul Ryan, Biden said, “I always say what I mean.” My first reaction was – he couldn’t possibly have meant that!

The man who always says what he means said this in 2008: “After the stock market crash in 1929, FDR got on television to reassure the American people.” In October 1929, Herbert Hoover was less than a year into his presidency. And had Franklin Roosevelt gotten on television that year, the only person reassured would have been some lonely engineer in New Haven, the one person in the country who may have had a television.

The man who always says what he means said this in 2010: “We had to spend money to keep from going broke as a nation.”* Clearly, this logic was lost on the likes of the Borders Books chain or (insert favorite failed “green” company here).

The man who always says what he means said in 2011 that he understands and wouldn’t second guess China’s one-child-per-family policy. Could he have meant that it worked out well for Yao Ming’s parents, who ended up with a 7’7” professional basketball player, instead of two 3’9” rice farmers? Only Joe knows that.

A vice presidential debate, of course, features the two running mates squaring off against each other. The two sidekicks, if you will. Nevertheless, throughout most of the debate, it appeared that Joe Biden was auditioning for the job of another sidekick – that of Ed McMahon. McMahon was the long-time sidekick to Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. If you recall, McMahon’s job was to laugh at even the lamest of Carson’s jokes as if he had just told the “greatest joke in the world.” The laugh-fest began when Paul Ryan said his first words, “We (audible giggles from Biden) mourn the loss (Biden snickers) of these four (more giggles from Biden) Americans who were murdered (Joe chuckles).” It continued throughout. Iran – lots of giggles from Biden, Afghanistan – belly laughs, the deficit, he rolls on the floor. At one point, I think he laughed so much he popped a couple of hair plugs.

Biden pulled off a rare “Triple C” threat during the debate, he was crass, condescending and creepy. These are all the things that women find unappealing in an ex-husband, let alone a vice president. Forget the Republican “war on women”, I think now women may start a war on Joe Biden.

Regarding the attack on the Benghazi consulate, Biden claimed they didn’t know about any requests for more security. Wait, isn’t the State Department part of the executive branch? That is usually the tradition. What then is this “we” he was referring too? According to Jay Carney, “we” meant Joe Biden. Apparently, per Carney, Biden does not necessarily speak for the administration. Wonder if Carney will say the same thing about Obama following the next presidential debate?

In contrast to Biden, Paul Ryan was calm, informed and articulate. In fact, he was a tad boring. Of course, that could be just a perception as he was sitting next to someone so overly animated it looked like Cirque du Soleil was in town.

Unfortunately, I did not fare well in the Scranton, PA, over/under pool during the debate. I had Biden mentioning Scranton within the first eight minutes of the debate. It didn’t happen. He was, perhaps, too far into his Ed McMahon mode. Surprisingly, it was Paul Ryan who first brought up Scranton. I did not see that coming.

Most pundits believe that few, if any, minds were changed during the debate. I disagree. I think at least one mind was changed – Barack Obama’s. Even he has to realize that we can’t have four more years of Joe Biden.

*This statement was made during the Recovery Summer tour. Remember the economic recovery in 2010? Me neither.

Curtice Mang is the author of the new book, The Constitution – I’m Not Kidding and Other Tales of Liberal Folly. He can be contacted at www.mangwrites.com, where one can also purchase his book; or contact Curtice at mangwrites at cox.net.