shelbinator.com

Columnist Mark Shields reminds the liberal base that Joe Biden has been “one of the strongest and most consistent critics of the Bush policy.”

For those of us who have covered him during his Senate years and during his aborted 1988 presidential campaign, this was a different Joe Biden.

Gone, for the most part, was his earlier proclivity when asked, “What time is it?” to launch into the history of watch-making and why Switzerland was its home. As he has mostly been in two disciplined debate appearances, at the Monitor lunch Biden was short-winded and straightforward.

What about Democratic presidential candidates who talk about not leaving any residual troops in Iraq?

“They don’t know what they’re talking about is the honest-to-God truth.”

Asked if the option of U.S. military strikes against Iran is realistic, Biden answered, “No,” and added, “The one thing that would unite the Iranian people is to bomb Iran.”

By my lights, Joe Biden was wrong in voting to give George W. Bush the authority to invade and occupy Iraq. He has been since one of the strongest and most consistent critics of the Bush policy, especially of its lack of planning, too few troops for the mission and defective intelligence. He still has the best teeth in politics, a quick wit and a streak of candor.

Why did he end the reporters’ session some 20 minutes early? To get back to a Senate vote on making it easier for unions to sign up workers, he admitted, because organized labor — which matters to him and his campaign — wanted him to.

A recurring, and mostly deserved, slam on political candidates is that they are too rehearsed, too programmed, too given to parroting their talking points. Not so Joe Biden — he is not pre-packaged.