Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Bye, Bye Biden
Everyone knew that Joe Biden's mouth would get him in trouble: With the Observer site crashing because of so many sites linking to the story, take the excerpts from the TPMCafe:
I would have thought there might have been one or two other African-Americans who were articulate and bright and clean before Obama -- but that's just me.
Well, at least Biden didn't rip this line off from Neil Kinnock, so I guess there's progress.
UPDATE: Thank you, Gawker!
UPDATE II: Josh Marshall links to an actual soundfile of Biden's comments. The audio lends some ambiguity, but the phrase "first sorta mainstream African-American" still sounds patronizing -- and forget about the whole "articulate" stuff. However, this Commenter at Kevin Drum's blog accurately -- and, ahem, articulately summarizes the "articulate" problem.
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The first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy..."“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
But—and the “but” was clearly inevitable—he doubts whether American voters are going to elect “a one-term, a guy who has served for four years in the Senate,” and added: “I don’t recall hearing a word from Barack about a plan or a tactic.”
I would have thought there might have been one or two other African-Americans who were articulate and bright and clean before Obama -- but that's just me.
Well, at least Biden didn't rip this line off from Neil Kinnock, so I guess there's progress.
UPDATE: Thank you, Gawker!
UPDATE II: Josh Marshall links to an actual soundfile of Biden's comments. The audio lends some ambiguity, but the phrase "first sorta mainstream African-American" still sounds patronizing -- and forget about the whole "articulate" stuff. However, this Commenter at Kevin Drum's blog accurately -- and, ahem, articulately summarizes the "articulate" problem.
Labels: Barack Obama, Democratic 2008 Presidential, Joe Biden
