Joe Biden's 1988 gaffe and his explanation: ''I exaggerate when I'm angry''

San Diego Union Tribune ^ | August 23, 2008

[nwrep]

I can't wait for this tape from early in his 1988 presidential campaign to turn up:

Most of Mr. Biden's statement was in response to a report in this week's issue of Newsweek magazine on a tape recording made by the C-SPAN network of an appearance by Mr. Biden at a home in Claremont, N.H., on April 3. It was a typical coffee-klatch style appearance before a small group. The network regularly records and broadcasts such events as part of its coverage of the Presidential campaign.

The tape, which was made available by C-SPAN in response to a reporter's request, showed a testy exchange in response to a question about his law school record from a man identified only as ''Frank.'' Mr. Biden looked at his questioner and said: ''I think I have a much higher I.Q. than you do.''

He then went on to say that he ''went to law school on a full academic scholarship - the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship,'' Mr. Biden said. He also said that he ''ended up in the top half'' of his class and won a prize in an international moot court competition. In college, Mr. Biden said in the appearance, he was ''the outstanding student in the political science department'' and ''graduated with three degrees from college.''

Mr. Biden acknowledged that in the testy exchange in New Hampshire, he had lost his temper. ''I exaggerate when I'm angry,'' Mr. Biden said, ''but I've never gone around telling people things that aren't true about me.'' Mr. Biden's questioner had made the query in a mild tone, but provoked an explosive response from Mr. Biden.

That's from the New York Times; hat tip to Mickey Kaus.

Does this matter that much? Does it disqualify Biden from being veep? Of course not. I post it because I think he's gonna be a gaffe machine if chosen, and people who only know him from coverage of the past two weeks aren't hearing much about his history of gaffes, just that he's blabby.

[Mike Darancette]

I hope he gets mad a lot.

[TigersEye]

Gosh, if I had a lower IQ than Biden I would expect to be living in a chain link run in the back yard.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Of all the people, this is the best he could come up with?

You can offer many people the job but you can only pick among those who accept it.

Maybe Biden is the best among those who are willing to hitch their wagon to the Obama-star.

[beezdotcom]

Well, what makes you think people aren’t asking that NOW?

They probably are, but some measure of that was unavoidable. Obama's task was to pick someone who would make that discussion as ludicrous as possible - and I think he did a reasonable job. I imagine if Amy Winehouse were eligible, she might have been a better choice...

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Shooting fish in a barrel.