Yes, Joe Biden has seen The Onion

January 28, 2011 1:18 PM

Satirical periodical The Onion has long used Vice-President Joe Biden as a running gag for a series of articles depicting the VP as a tattooed party animal often at odds with the law. The articles have been among the most popular on the site. Today, the real Joe Biden responds, calling the series "hilarious" while also correcting The Onion; Joe has a '67 Corvette, not a Trans-Am.
posted by 2bucksplus (21 comments total)

Today, about a less important news, on PBS' NewsHour Biden said about Mubarak: "I would not refer to him as a dictator,"
posted by CitoyenK at 1:28 PM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

I believe he does think it is hilarious. He actually has a great sense of humor and I don't get tired of seeing his too good to be true teeth on display.

Unlike a certain would be political celebrity I can think of who never meant a word of it when she said her spoofer was funny.
posted by bearwife at 1:33 PM on January 28, 2011

Today, about a less important news, on PBS' NewsHour Biden said about Mubarak: "I would not refer to him as a dictator,"

Lest anyone think Biden a foil:

BBC, June 2009:

Justin Webb: Do you regard President Mubarak as an authoritarian ruler?

President Obama: No, I tend not to use labels for folks. I haven't met him. I've spoken to him on the phone.

posted by anarch at 2:00 PM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

(link)
posted by anarch at 2:01 PM on January 28, 2011

Whenever I see him on TV, I always confuse him with a talking light bulb.
posted by I love you more when I eat paint chips at 2:12 PM on January 28, 2011

I LOVE the Onion/Biden series. Way better than real life. I like imagine running into him in some hole in the wall tequila joint in Guadalajara...except he'd want to bum 20 bucks off me.
posted by Xoebe at 2:18 PM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Way better than real life.

Not a chance. I met Joe Biden when I was in high school - I was in DC on a high school trip, the purpose of which was to, I don't know, instill some sense of civic duty in our hearts and minds. Being in high school, I had a surplus of Attitude, and since I didn't know any better at the time, I figured the best way to let everyone know about it was through my YoMega brand yo-yo (the yo-yo with a brain). I yo-yo'ed my way through most of that city; walked the dog in the Smithsonian. Shot the moon at the Nat'l archives. One day, I was minding my own yo-yo business on the steps of the Capitol while our group waited for the buses to show up and take us to the next historic monument. Biden saw us standing there, so he sat us all down to have chat with us. I obviously couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the Senator, or maybe I was still a little miffed about the Anita Hill thing that was only very recent history, so I kept yo-yoing. YoMega's are tricky; they're dead easy to get to sleep, but then they snap back up without much warning, and if you're not ready you can do real damage to your metacarpals. Biden, not one to be put off even a little by an unreceptive audience member, simply asked if he could borrow my yo-yo, and then kept on talking until the buses arrived, yo-yoing the whole time. When it was time to go, he handed the yo-yo back, shook my hand, and flashed that smile (so notably displayed at the Vice Presidential debates) that said "Don't pull anything like that with me ever again, punk."

And now I get to tell everyone who will listen about the time the Vice President touched my yo-yo.
posted by logicpunk at 2:41 PM on January 28, 2011 [101 favorites]

I am young, and I mostly remember Dan Quayle from Murphy Brown, but I seem to recall everyone thought DQ was dumb. Do we want that in our VPs? Is this some sort of response to the scary Darth Vader-like quality of Dick Cheney? Do we want to return to the idea of an idiot doing whatever it is, exactly, that the Vice President does? Inquiring minds... are inquiring.
posted by jenlovesponies at 2:45 PM on January 28, 2011

Slow news day I guess. Good thing there aren't any major international protests going on against multiple governments or anything like that.

It is indeed OUTRAGEOUS that Joe Biden took 30 seconds on the record to reply to a reporter's question about such frivolity. He should have gotten all up in her grill and been like: "What the hell you asking me bout that bidness for? You need to be asking me about the Egyptian people's frustrations over government corruption, economic stagnation and lack of political freedom, not about my fictional yet lighthearted proclivity toward fast cars and loose women. Ho, please."
posted by jeremias at 2:48 PM on January 28, 2011 [7 favorites]

Ah, I loved my YoMega. I used it for a related purpose: nothing was better for alleviating nervousness during a science fair than an intensive yo-yoing. You could rock the cradle for a full minute with that thing, though you had to keep a careful eye out for the roaming judges or you'd end up explaining Euglena metabolism with a tangle of string badly palmed in your left hand.
posted by chortly at 3:06 PM on January 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

“Let me get this straight: You want to interview the vice president about stories about him in The Onion?” Mr. Carney asked, sounding at once amused and dumbfounded by the request. “Well, I’ll give you credit for trying.”

Apparently Yahoo News succeeded where the New York times failed.
posted by Dr. Eigenvariable at 3:10 PM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Whenever I see him on TV, I always confuse him with a talking light bulb.

You're thinking of Rusty Venture.
posted by FatherDagon at 3:10 PM on January 28, 2011

Do we want to return to the idea of an idiot doing whatever it is, exactly, that the Vice President does?

Strangely... kinda, yeah. I want the VP to do whatever it is the VP does. It's a lot better than the Puppetmaster.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 3:13 PM on January 28, 2011

They tried something similar with W. back in the early days of the Bush administration, painting him as cultured, courageous genius. They retired the gag once it became clear exactly what kind of a president he was going to be, but not before running one of the Onion's all-time classics: Bush Regales Dinner Guests With Impromptu Oratory On Virgil's Minor Works.
posted by Iridic at 3:21 PM on January 28, 2011 [6 favorites]

This news story is 3 months stale- the linked article about Biden's reaction was first printed in the New York Times on November 10th last year (an actual slow news day).

The Yahoo copy of the story is reporting the date as today. I wonder if Yahoo was shut down late last year and nobody noticed.
posted by efbrazil at 3:52 PM on January 28, 2011

I wonder if Yahoo was shut down late last year and nobody noticed.

At least mefi's own jscott noticed
posted by ymgve at 4:20 PM on January 28, 2011

Strangely... kinda, yeah. I want the VP to do whatever it is the VP does. It's a lot better than the Puppetmaster.

Me too, it's such a relief to know the VP doesn't think himself above the law and empowered to run all sorts of covert BS (water torture, and CIA agent outings and the creation of doctored evidence for the purpose starting a war).

Cheney, I think had a fierce vengeance to him. Against the Dems, the American people and most obviously the media. All going back to 1974, when his hero, and boss, Richard Nixon was forced to resign the presidency in disgrace.

He must've nurtured that black funk for decades, thinking through his mind all the things Nixon could've done to avoid having to step down, all the executive powers he could've claimed for himself, all the leeway he could've wiggled about in and damn the torpedoes and what was right or the Constitution or American values. Or the cries of indignation.

For Dick Cheney at the end of the day it was all bumpkis. There is only one thing that matters: Power. And if you have it, you use it, and you protect it. And anything is game in order to hold on to it,

ON the other hand Biden, is more of a traditional VP, but I think Obama obviously works close with him and seeks his counsel and they have good relationship. And for all his good natured qualities and he LUVS him the ceremonial meet and greet stuff, he just loves meeting people and being jolly, Biden is no fool. You'll be hard pressed to find a more rigorous student of foreign policy in the Federal government, and he's shrewd. And he likes to ride the train and just all around rocks.
posted by Skygazer at 5:44 PM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

And to hell with sitting down with the guy and having a beer. I'm pretty sure the guy will do shots with you all night.
posted by Skygazer at 5:51 PM on January 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

not enough Gore
posted by clavdivs at 6:35 PM on January 28, 2011

Biden, during the 2008 campaign, remarked "I just love GRABBIN' her!" about his wife. I have since appropriated it for use around our house.
posted by werkzeuger at 7:27 PM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Biden is the perfect vice president. He loves to hear himself talk, but also doesn't take himself very seriously.

And to hell with sitting down with the guy and having a beer. I'm pretty sure the guy will do shots with you all night.

Joe don't drink. But Onion-Joe will make you swallow the worm, 'cause it gets you wicked high if you smoke a Marlboro right after.
posted by gjc at 7:41 PM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]