Obama's clean and articulate running mate

[joannemerriam]

According to metafilter posters, Obama's office sent out the text message announcing Biden as his pick at 3 a.m. Cheeky.

I've been reading up. Here's some of the stuff I've run across that I found interesting:

• A 2001 New Republic profile. Biden's admirers spin his undisciplined chatter as a kind of John McCain-esque straight talk. Their shining example is the way, in 1992, Biden told Slobodan Milosevic to his face that he was "a damned war criminal and should be tried as one." Washington insiders "like people to speak in this kind of thought-speak where you talk for three minutes and don't say anything," says his former longtime chief of staff, Ted Kaufman. "That's not Joe Biden." But Biden's mouth does him as much harm as good. " He gives Castro-length speeches," says one exasperated Senate staffer. In Democratic caucus meetings, he is famous for declaring, "I'll be brief," and then talking the room into a stupor.
• The Biden video that McCain's camp has put up is misleading, in that Biden's comment about running with McCain was from a 2005 Daily Show interview where Biden was saying that he wanted McCain to run as Democratic VP candidate with John Kerry (at 2:42 - end), and asked him to do so (which McCain had denied and then retracted his denial - remember that flap?).

• The McCain camp will probably make hay on the whole experience thing from this.
• He drafted the Violence Against Women Act.
• He was apparently a total dick to Anita Hill, but I'm still so sick of that issue I can't bear to read about it.
• He owns one house, in Delaware, and commutes by train to Washington. Also, he's certainly well-off, but he's the poorest Senator in the U.S. (or was in 2006).
• The private side of Biden - he talks about his first wife and his daughter dying in a car crash on ABC News. "You feel guilty when you realize you want to live."
• The Guardian weighs in. Then there's this famous and rather excruciating moment, in which Biden, speaking with an Indian-American supporter, says: "In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." Biden's intent is surely not racist here: his tone of voice, and choice of interlocutor, suggest he's celebrating Delaware diversity in a drily humourous way. ("I'm not joking" is Biden-speak for "I am joking.") But still, talk about a gift to your critics.
• Jon Stewart interviews Biden in 2007:

JS: I have a challenge for you today, Sir. A challenge. Your son is in the National Guard, am I right?
JB: That is correct.
JS: Are you willing to announce, right here right now, in front of our viewing audience, that you are willing to have your son leave the National Guard and come support America by working for Mitt Romney?
[audience laughter]
JS: Are you willing, sir, right now, or perhaps are your family not patriots?
JB: Well, I, uh, I think it's a noble service and, uh - my son's the Attorney General of the State of Delaware and I'm worried if I say yes, he'll indict me.
JS: Does he have that power?
JB: He does have that power.
JS: Can you ground a person who has the power to indict you?
JB: Can't do it. I just uh. My mother has an expression - she always says, "be careful how you treat your kids, you might need them someday," and I need this kid right now, so, uh, whatever he wants.
JS: Is there anything in Delaware the Bidens don't control?
JB: Yes, me. My mouth.