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Joe Biden: Brilliant Tactician?

By Brian Montopoli

February 1, 2007 / 3:17 PM EST / CBS 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?