Joe Biden his time... back in Delaware?

Well, the press has itself a new John Kerry - a punching bag who will get every little thing he says micro-analyzed - and it's Delaware Senator Joe Biden. However, Biden, who earlier today jumped into the presidential race, brings a lot of this on himself, too.

Earlier today (well, now, yesterday), Biden, in an interview with The New York Observer, described fellow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Ouch.

To his credit, Biden appeared on The Daily Show tonight to explain what he meant. "What got me in trouble was using the world 'clean.' I should have said 'fresh.' What I meant was he's got new ideas," said Biden.

Fair enough, but what about "articulate"?

Biden is simply a boob. Hey Joe, give John Kerry a call and ask him how to give an interview or tell a joke, and then do the exact opposite of what he says.

Hey Senator - if you have to explain what you meant by what you just said in an interview, you probably should have chosen different words.

Like Kerry's botched joke last fall, this is probably, in the end, much ado about nothing, but it's not the way to start off a presidential campaign.

His words of kindness weren't reserved for Obama, either.

On Hillary Clinton:

Referring to Hillary's proposal to cap American troops and to threaten Iraqi leaders with cuts in funding, Biden said, "From the part of Hillary’s proposal, the part that really baffles me is, 'We're going to teach the Iraqis a lesson.' We’re not going to equip them? O.K. Cap our troops and withdraw support from the Iraqis? That’s a real good idea."

Biden opined that Hillary's plan, would be "nothing but disaster."

On John Edwards:

Biden seemed to have plenty of bottled-up vitriol for Edwards. In the Observer interview, referring to Edwards' idea that 40,000 troops be immediately withdrawn from Iraq, Biden said:

"I don’t think John Edwards knows what the heck he is talking about. John Edwards wants you and all the Democrats to think, 'I want us out of there,' but when you come back and you say, 'O.K., John'" -- (according to the article, Biden used the refrain "John" in a mocking, derisive manner) "'what about the chaos that will ensue? Do we have any interest, John, left in the region?' Well, John will have to answer yes or no. If he says yes, what are they? What are those interests, John? How do you protect those interests, John, if you are completely withdrawn? Are you withdrawn from the region, John? Are you withdrawn from Iraq, John? In what period? So all this stuff is like so much Fluffernutter out there. So for me, what I think you have to do is have a strategic notion. And they may have it—they are just smart enough not to enunciate it."

Okay, then!

I can't say I completely disagree with Biden on Clinton or Edwards, but on a day where the media should have been focused on Biden's entry into the race and the substance of his comments, he proved hard to understand because of the foot in his mouth.

One thing is clear - today Biden picked up right where he left off in 1988 - trying to overcome stupid, self-inflicted distractions.

It can only get better from here, Senator.