Ryan Zings Biden; Press Still Curious About "Chains;" Axelrod Refuses to Say if Biden Will Be On The Ticket

Let's start with Ryan. Funny:

GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan took a shot at Vice President Joe Biden Thursday over his latest gaffe.

"It is great to be here in North Canton, or as Joe Biden might say, it's great to be here in Nevada," Ryan said as he opened an address at Walsh University in North Cantor, Ohio.

Yesterday former Democratic Governor of Virginia, Douglas Wilder, called out Biden for his language:

Wilder said he felt Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have made a better Obama running mate and called on Biden to "cool it, back up" and admit that he was wrong.

Jay Carney now claims Wilder "doesn't have a point."

The media is sort of skeptical of Carney and his endlessly-repeated claim that "They gon' put y'all back in chains" was about Wall Street regulations, but he continues to skate because no one in the media is willing to say what was wrong about the remark. Carney is permitted to pretend he doesn't know what the remark meant because no one in the media has the balls to say what they think it meant.

How about: In a country in which one party is constantly attacked for making implicitly-racial appeals to whites, Joe Biden is similarly not permitted to make an odious, over-the-top suggestion to blacks that Republicans wish to reinstitute black slavery?

No one can even mouth these words. They're too afraid to even use words like "black" and "slavery." Even when using these words to describe someone else's import.

At least they're too afraid to do so when talking about a Democrat. They're not at all afraid to be quite specific in their charges against Republicans.

This bothers me: Axelrod changes the subject and tells a joke when asked if Biden will be on the ticket.

It bothers me because I don't want Obama making some popular decision. I like him right where he is.

The joke he made was about Sarah Palin. Of course, this is the exact same joke that Jay Carney told when he was asked about it, so you know they're each coming up with this independently and it's not a gamed-out talking point or anything.

All right. David, it's Sam Stein," said the Huffington Post writer to Axelrod. "I''m guessing you're not taking John McCain's advice to drop him and put Hillary Clinton? But a more serious question --"

"Far be it from me to denigrate Senator McCain's advice on vice presidential nominees," Axelrod joked, making a reference to McCain picking Sarah Palin for the Republican ticket in 2008.

Nevertheless, Axelrod did not rule out the suggestion, and did not definitively state President Obama's position on the issue.

The article notes that Axelrod goes on to praise Biden effusively, but then wonders.... Perhaps too effusively? Like you might praise someone as you're preparing to fire him?

Related: Are Obama's multiple references to Seamus part of his attempt to have a serious national discussion?

UPDATE [DiT]: Wilder Cavuto video below the fold

via TheH2. They're hogging all the video on the internets lately

posted by Ace at 04:44 PM

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