Joe Biden continues to dazzle and amaze

More than any other politician out there Joe Biden has defined his career by a willingness to go on television and speak at length about anything. Despite this -- and over thirty years in the Senate -- Biden continues to be "gaffe prone" when it comes to talking in the presence of a blinking red light.

Sometimes Biden's gaffes are long-winded and plagiarized. For the purpose of a blog in a low-attention span world those gaffes are no fun. Other times his gaffes are short, punchy and to the point. The kind of gaffes we appreciate over here at jsb.

Appearing yesterday on one of the Sunday morning gab-feasts he loves so, Biden unleashed the good kind of gaffe when, in response to the moderator's question about his prospects of winning a Democratic primary in South Carolina, Biden reminded the world that "my state was a slave state."

Factually correct -- Delaware was a slave-holding border state during the Civil War -- but what made his comment so jarring and unusual was the pride he affixed to this declaration of past Delaware oppression. The kind of pride usually reserved for a grandparent listing the accomplishments of a grandchild.

While Biden has often been accused of not thinking before he speaks, when we go to the videotape it is clear he did pause and think for a moment before answering the question.

If one were to apply the "Macaca" standard of deconstruction to what Biden said one might come away thinking this was a naked ploy to attract the votes of Southern whites by assuring them that a Delawarean knows how to keep the black man in his place.

But, because it was Biden speaking, I am inclined to think it is just another case of him knowing not what he says. Luckily for Biden, I won't be the only one inclined to think that way.