Is Joe Biden dragging Obama down?

With a new 'super PAC' ad that mocks Joe Biden for all manner of verbal slips, it’s almost as if Republicans are mirroring the way Democrats attacked Sarah Palin in 2008.

|
Steven Mantilla/The Register & Bee/AP
Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Institute for Advanced Research and Learning in Danville, Va., Tuesday.

Is Joe Biden going to be a particular target for Republicans in the months leading up to the November presidential election? It sure looks that way at the moment.

Already this week, Team Romney has accused Mr. Biden of injecting race into the campaign, because he told a largely black audience that the GOP would “put y’all back in chains.” And on Friday, the "super PAC" American Crossroads is releasing an ad that mocks Biden for all manner of verbal slips, from the “chains” remark to his assertion that “jobs” is a three-letter word.

“Some people say Joe Biden should be dropped from Obama’s ticket, but we say Joe should stay,” says the narrator in a sarcastically earnest tone. “Joe Biden, America’s greatest vice president, when we need him most.”

Take the No. 2 person on a national ticket, highlight their gaffes and inapt word choices, and splash that against a background of photos in which they look goofy. Hmm. It’s almost as if Republicans are mirroring the way Democrats attacked Sarah Palin in 2008.

Conservatives are gleeful about this turn of events. Over at RedState, editor Erick Erickson judges the American Crossroads ad a home run.

“This is staggeringly awesome. Go give them some cash so they can get that ad up everywhere,” Mr. Erickson writes.

At HotAir, conservative Ed Morrissey mulls over a report that Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked to replace Biden on the ticket. He finds that questionable and then raises what he calls the rhetorical question that’s been on everyone’s minds this week. Or at least the mind of everyone who’s enthusiastic about the addition of Rep. Paul Ryan to Mitt Romney’s ticket.

Can you imagine the Ryan-Biden debate coming up? Unfortunately for the White House, everyone can imagine what the outcome will be, at least,” he writes.

Therein may be the impetus of the current bash-Biden boomlet. Four years ago when the talkative then-senator was plucked from the Foreign Relations Committee to run as VP, many Democrats were worried about his tendency to produce gaffes in bunches, like grapes. But then John McCain tapped Ms. Palin, and the rest is history. The media focused on Palin’s perceived faults. Biden looked statesmanlike by comparison.

Aaron Blake makes this point on The Washington Post’s political blog The Fix today.

“In large part thanks to Palin, the debate over Biden’s utility on the Democratic ticket is four years late,” writes Mr. Blake.

In 2012, Representative Ryan promises to be a different sort of veep opponent. His plan for Medicare might poll poorly, but nobody’s charging that Ryan is inarticulate. Next to him Biden appears older (because he is), chattier (he is that also), and perhaps more prone to say stuff he wouldn’t if he thought about it just a second longer.

But here’s another question: Does that matter? Biden’s not going anywhere. In the modern era, sitting VPs just don’t get replaced. In part, that’s because such a heave-ho would make the incumbent US chief executive look desperate. In part, it’s because VP candidates just don’t have that much effect on a ticket’s chances.

Seen in that context, Republican attacks on Biden may just be attempts to sow dissension in the opposition ranks.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Is Joe Biden dragging Obama down?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Decoder/2012/0817/Is-Joe-Biden-dragging-Obama-down
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe