VP Joe Biden Bows To Jon Stewart On Daily Show, Riffs On Senate Democrats

Vice President Joe Biden poked fun at his boss and the media on The Daily Show last night, coming onto the set by bowing to host Jon Stewart.

Biden was in good spirits for the interview, his sixth appearance on the show but the first time a sitting vice president has been on.

The vice president joked about Amtrak and explained the discrepancies with the stimulus money (more on that in a later post), but the closing segment was the most interesting, when Stewart asked, “How much of the majority do the Democrats need to pass something?”

Biden praised the diversity of his party, which has moderates, liberals and conservatives, along with one socialist (Sen. Bernie Sanders).

“The truth of it is, and this is neither good nor bad … the Republican party has
nothing but hard core conservatives, there’s no moderates left,” Biden said.

He added, “The good news about a big tent is a lot of people get under it, the bad news is the bigger the family the harder to get agreement.”

He said Republicans have effectively forced Democrats to get to 60 votes on “everything we’ve wanted to do … just to get to the vote.”

Stewart laughed and asked why the Democrats couldn’t block the Republicans when they held the power:

“The Republicans never had 60 votes, it always strikes me that when the Republicans are in the majority, it’s let’s have a straight up or down vote and they get it done, and when the Democrats are in the majority they’re like ‘I’m drowning!’ It’s completely baffling to my eyes as I watch it.”

Biden deadpanned: “Yeah, well, you make a good point.”

We clipped the interview. Here’s part 1:

Here’s part 2: