You’ve probably already noticed this quote from Sen. Biden (D-DE) in which he manages to call either all previous African-American presidential candidates or possibly all other African-Americans in public life dumb, ugly and corrupt. The actual quote has him calling Sen. Obama (D-IL) “you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

It’s only fair to remember that only months ago we had Sen. Biden saying Indian-Americans were a veritable tribe of 7/11 owners. “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

The only thing more ridiculous than the 7-Eleven was his subsequent explanation in which he claimed that he was celebrating the fact that Indian-Americans were no longer ghettoized into high-paid, high-education jobs in engineering, computer science and medicine but were expanding into convenience store entrepreneurship. Sort of breaking through the glass floor, you might say.

I know that Biden is not a popular guy in many parts of the liberal blogosphere. But I think he’s actually extremely knowledgeable on foreign policy matters. But I think at this point you have to say that Biden suffers from what one might with real generosity call chronic racial grandpaism. That is to say, the penchant for making comments that are not only racially offensive but also extremely silly and the sort of things that are sometimes excused or at least passed over from men, say, over 80 on the reasoning that they’re from a different era and why get into it. Actually, the clock has probably even run out on that excuse when you figure that a man who is 80 today was forty in 1966. But however that may be, excuses that fly in the retirement community or family reunions just doesn’t cut it in a man who aspires to the presidency. (Really can’t wait to see him speak at the Arab-American dinner, can you?) Atrios is right. The shortest presidential campaign ever.

Late Update: TPM PO writes in …

Something struck me: Senator Biden was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 at the age of 29. I would suggest he’s not so much a grandpa as he is a well-meaning, 1972-era liberal. You know, the kind that say Negro when trying, in an honest, well-meaning, earnest way, of complimenting ‘those people.’

[With the qualifier that he’s good guy, with some personal tragedy and good deeds under his belt to mature his empathy, and so on.]

Fair enough. I had thought of adding into the original post that there doesn’t seem to be any animus in these comments. But that’s context not an excuse for someone in Biden’s position.

Later Update: TPM Reader TW responds …

I think it gives Biden way too much credit to say that he’s just a well-meaning 1970s liberal. Recall his recent speech at a Rotary Club meeting in South Carolina, where he basically said he wishes Delaware had been part of the Confederacy.

It sounds to me like he’s just a bigot.

But for a comma?

Two TPM Readers offer a contrary explanation of the Biden comment.

TPM Reader DS …

OK, I’m not a big Biden fan, so I wouldn’t be disappointed to see him drop
out. But I have to say this: what if the Observer punctuated casually? That is, what if there is supposed to be a comma before ‘who,’ making it a non-restrictive relative clause:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American, who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Thus he would mean Obama is both

a). the first mainstream African-American candidate for president

and

b). articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy

but not necessarily that he is the first African-American candidate to have these properties. This would be patronizing and stupid, but not the breathtakingly offensive sentiment suggested when the comma isn’t there.

In speech, it’s not always clear whether a speaker is using a restrictive or a non-restrictive relative, but in writing you have to decide which was meant, and use a comma or not. What if the Observer chose poorly?

Anyway, I thought that was worth offering. Thanks for your good work.

and TPM Reader MD …

I think what we have is a case of a missing comma and a slightly-less-than-adroit extemporaneous comment from Sen. Biden. He said this: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy… I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” If you insert a comma after “who” and before “is,” the quote becomes an instance of Biden’s delineating Obama’s positive qualities, not one in which Biden denigrates all African-American (people, politicians, whatever) who have preceded Obama. I am a writer by trade and have listened to a lot of Biden on TV. I think the more likely occurrence is that the comma was omitted in transcription from spoken word to written word than that Biden, either intentionally or subconsciously, slurred African-Americans.

Thoughts?

My sense is that this is only partially exculpating at best. Even with the comma it’s really condescending bordering on racist. And it would still probably mean that Biden’s mouth presents a clear and present danger to Democratic electoral prospects no matter what he meant. Ending his candidacy wouldn’t be preemption, just legitimate self-defense.

Biden clarifies comments about Obama.

Indictment of alleged Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes really, really, really close.

Pataki likely not running.

Uh-oh. Audio of the Biden interview available. Coming in a minute.

Late Update: Okay, here’s the link to the actual audio of the Biden interview. Biden still uses a series of words that are arguably racially charged ones in the context — ‘mainstream’, ‘articulate’, etc. But there was a debate going on below about whether the transcription of the interview — not including a key comma — might have changed the meaning of Biden’s words. And when you listen to the audio of what Biden said, I think it’s clear that it’s a misleading transcription.

Listen and let us know what you think.

Later Update: Also, a number of people have focused on Biden’s use of the word ‘clean’. This is one I don’t get. This seems clearly to mean he’s not tainted by corruption, which seems unobjectionable, not ‘clean’ in other senses of the word. Still, I think that Dems looking at this have to see this statement as not a landmine but a friggin’ minefield, open to a series of very problematic and not unreasonable interpretations, even if some of the key points weren’t nearly as bad as they were portrayed in the Observer transcription. In other words, if you’re a Democrat evaluating presidential candidates, would you want to be in the middle of this debate over commas in October 2008? Didn’t think so.

Still Later Update: TPM Reader TC checks in from Texas … “The debate shouldn’t be comma or no comma. There’s clearly a period after “African-American.” In fact, the interviewer interjects his own “yeah” during the pause after “African-American,” which is followed by another pause, after which Biden continues with “Who’s bright . . . .” I don’t like Biden much (I can’t think of anyone who loves to hear himself talk quite as much as Biden), but there’s no “gotcha” here at all.”

Bush is sending more troops — but the ones already there don’t have the equipment they need, a new Pentagon report says.

Quick clarification: it was unclear in our prior post, but the audio of the interview with Biden was actually made available by The New York Observer in response to questions about Biden’s phrasing.

Biden responds to The Politico about the quote firestorm here.

Late Update: For what it’s worth, Biden, when pressed, actually told reporters he believes he “was quoted accurately” in his interview. I think that just means that these are the words he spoke in the interview. His press folks are certainly wise enough to tell him not to get in an argument about commas if he doesn’t want to hop out of the fryinig pan into the fire. For our part, I stand on what I wrote below: The transcription of the interview was misleading when judged against the audio of what Biden actually said. The difference in punctuation was subtle but the difference in meaning was not. Transcriptions get put together quickly. And usually a comma added or omitted doesn’t make a big difference. But this wasn’t one of those times. It made a big difference. Listen to the audio and see whether you agree. — jmm

Statement out from Biden: “I deeply regret any offense my remark in the New York Observer might have caused anyone. That was not my intent and I expressed that to Senator Obama.”

Late Update: Obama has one out too that came just before Biden’s.

We note her passing with sadness and great respect: Molly Ivins, dead at 62.