Biden cracks up at the vice presidential debate

By Charles Hurt

Thursday, October 11, 2012

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  Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan ... more >

Say whatever you want about last night’s debate, there is one thing we can all agree on. Joe Biden sure was happy.
How happy was the vice president? He looked happier than Bill Clinton with a bottle of Viagra and an intern.


All night long, Mr. Biden was just grinning like a jackass eating some cactus.
Republican Paul Ryan was over there talking about the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran. Mr. Biden smiled so wide, it looked like his dentures might pop loose.
Mr. Ryan started talking about the crushing, double-digit unemployment in Mr. Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa.
Mr. Biden just started grinning like a possum in a trashcan giving us alligator mouth.
Mr. Ryan studiously warned of the grave importance of getting “this debt and deficit under control to prevent a crisis.” Mr. Biden couldn’t mask the hilarity. He started chuckling audibly.
Then Mr. Ryan began painting a drastic picture of President Obama and Mr. Biden cutting $800 billion out of Medicare. Pure Biden sniggering.
Mr. Ryan warned how Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden want to throttle small businesses with a 44.8 percent tax rate, drawing shuddering laughter from the vice president.
At one point, Mr. Biden got so worked up he offered a joke of his own about “death panels” in Obamacare. It cracked himself up good.
When Mr. Ryan somberly pointed out that the Obama campaign had acknowledged distorting the Romney campaign’s tax plan, Mr. Biden blurted into laughter.
And when the much younger congressman explained how he and Mr. Romney are seeking “big bipartisan agreements” between Democrats and Republicans in Washington. Mr. Biden lost it. He began laughing hysterically, his shoulders shaking it was so funny. Full blown guffaws.
If President Obama overdosed on Valium last week, Mr. Biden apparently got into the Ecstasy last night. He was on the laughing gas.
I mean, really? What’s not to laugh about in the go-go Obama economy?
There are 23 million Americans unemployed today. We are $16 trillion in hock to the Chinese and others. Gas costs more than $5 a gallon in California, and coal mines are shutting down. A half-dozen states are on the brink of bankruptcy.
Who’s not laughing these days?