Mike Kinsley famously said that a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth. If that's so, Biden made a big one yesterday: "The answer I’ve got to say is yes," he said on "Meet the Press" when asked about his willingness to be Barack Obama's running mate, breaking a rule that commands all possible veep candidates to mince around the subject of their own desirability with as much false modesty as a Jane Austen coquette. He went on:
Of course [I would say yes]. If the presidential nominee thought I could help him win — am I going to say to the first African-American candidate about to make history in the world that, 'No, I will not help you out like you want me to'? Of course . . . I'll say yes.
I tend to love Biden all the more for this kind of no-bullshit stuff, but I was a Biden fan to begin with.
--Eve Fairbanks