Joe Biden: Brilliant Tactician?

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: In The News

(AP Photo)

By now we all know about Joe Biden's "oops" moment. But what if it wasn't an oops at all? The New Republic's "The Plank" points out that National Review's Bill Kristol suggested on "Special Report with Brit Hume" that Biden's "clean" comment was actually a shrewd move. Really. Here's the quote:

I think it's a very clever move by Senator Biden. . . . if he had just announced his candidacy, he'd be like the ninth Democrat in the race, who would care? He'd be on page A-7 in the papers, we would not be discussing him here…

That's true, I guess, as far as it goes. But still: All publicity ain't good publicity, is it? Is Michael Richards, for example, really all that better off these days?

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by edcf23 February 2, 2007 7:12 PM EST: Two days before Joe Biden "announced", I e-mailed him and expressed the need for him to seperate himself from the field at the outset. His Obama slip of the tongue has succeeded in doing just that. Now the public will hear him articulate a foreign policy that is workable. Hillary, Obama and the rest of the field will follow in his wake. This man is a true leader, I've watched him work in the senate. You can't help but be impressed by his strength of conviction. I hope and pray he wins in 08, for the good of the country.; Reply to this comment


by ronmwanga February 1, 2007 11:37 PM EST: I think Bill Kristol is a bit wacky with all of his Iraq War plans going by the wayside. Well, yes, Biden does get attention. and, yes, there is no other place to make a bigger splash than in the Observer, that salmon-colored weekly read by tout le chattering class.

But does he want to be remembered for that? In a Democratic Primary? For an ultra-idealist, Kristol is surprisingly cynical of human motives.; Reply to this comment

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