Jack & Jill Politics

RealClearPolitics’ VP Watch said that Chris Bowers’ analysis of Biden as a VP pick amounted almost to a Netroots endorsement. Bowers said:

Maybe my support for Biden is mainly a testament to how poor the crop of potential candidates is than anything else. After all, being preferable to Evan Bayh isn’t really saying much of at all. I think he is about an equal choice to Dodd, even though Dodd has displayed a bit of a progressive bent lately and is always on message (he does, unfortunately, have a recent scandal). Kaine is a reinforcing pick, but it is hard to swallow him as an effective governor, or an effective national campaigner. Sebelius might be a bit more reinforcing than Biden, but she is also untested as a national campainger.

Oh really? Biden has a history of racially insensitive and offensive remarks. Google “Biden + Racism” and you get over 440,000 results documenting his racist bloopers, if you will – oops! Besides the lack of a “change” message in choosing a veteran senator from a northeast blue state who also voted for the Iraq War (why not go on and pick Clinton?!), let’s just jog past a few of Biden’s classically hilarious racist indiscretions to date, shall we?

January 2007

Biden says of Barack Obama‘s success on the primary campaign trail:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy…”

Fox News covered his weak and shuffling defense of his remarks below.

July 2006

Biden brags about his strong relationship with the growing Indian community, saying: “You cannot go to a 7-11 or Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian Accent. Oh, I’m not joking!”
Too bad he didn’t say that with Apu’s accent. Really, is his racist comedic timing up to the task?

August 2006

Biden’s talking points about Delaware highlight the fact that DE was a slave state with a large black population. Who says slavery’s out of style, y’all? Wonkette said it best: Joe Biden Hearts Slavery, Attention. He talks about it here on Fox News Sunday:

From Rod 2.0:

Listen to Sen. Joe Biden charm the mostly Republican audience at the Columbia (SC) Rotary Club:

Delaware, he noted, was a “slave state that fought beside the North. That’s only because we couldn’t figure out how to get to the South. There were a couple of states in the way.”

The crowd loved it.

Oh but there’s more!

October 2007

CNN’s Political Ticker (and the Free Republic of course) on another silly little Biden gaffe:

In what the Washington Post is describing as a “stumble,” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said in an interview with the paper Wednesday that Washington’s high minority population is one of the reasons for the city’s education problems.

Explaining why schools in Iowa are performing better than those in Washington, D.C., Biden told the Post, “There’s less than one percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than four of five percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you’re dealing with.”

“When you have children coming from dysfunctional homes, when you have children coming from homes where there’s no books, where the mother from the time they’re born doesn’t talk to them — as opposed to the mother in Iowa who’s sitting out there and talks to them, the kid starts out with a 300 word larger vocabulary at age three. Half this education gap exists before the kid steps foot in the classroom,” the Delaware Democrat added.

The paper reports Biden’s campaign quickly sought to clarify the remarks, saying in a statement that the senator was not making a “race-based distinction.”

Um, right. Black people just aren’t very good parents unlike the nice white folks in Iowa. If only Delaware could get rid of all the black people, why — education scores would pop right up, is that it? Biden so crazy…

It’s the diminishing, patronizing, great-white-burden, good-for-you! style of racism that is so repugnant to me and should be to the Obamas and their supporters. But for me, it’s the pandering, opportunistic, cynical flavor of Biden’s racism that makes it extra-special. Selecting Biden would be a great way to turn off the black voter base that the Democratic party will need to win this election.

If this guy were a Republican, Democrats would be hanging him out to dry. All he needs is a Confederate flag to complete the picture. We’re talking major Macaca moment potential here. And yes, as hilarious for George Allen as that was, is Obama ready to sign up a VP with a record of racism comments, including one aimed straight at himself during the primaries? I doubt it.