Top of the Ticket

Political commentary from Andrew Malcolm


"Gimme a #$%^&#@ break," says VP Joe Biden

Vice President Joe Biden is likely the nation's No. 1 fan of Amtrak, as for years he allegedly took it back and forth from Delaware to his job in Washington in the Senate, which he started when President Obama was just 11 years old.

Biden doesn't do that anymore, of course. He travels in gas-guzzling, armored Secret Service SUVs now and resides in the vice president's official D.C. home most nights.

But Friday the excited new VP showed up with a bunch of other officials at Washington's Union Station to announce the spending of $1.3 billion in economic stimulus money by Amtrak, which according to Biden's figures, carries fully 80,000 passengers per day.

Former Delaware Senator and current Democratic vice president Joe Biden smiling by a microphone

Wow. 80,000. That's as many people on an entire rail network as go to a single NFL game. Or perhaps a third of the folks traveling the Santa Monica Freeway in one day. But it's a lot for Delaware.

At 28 million Amtrak passengers per year (minus Biden's trips), that works out to about $46.43 economic stimulus per passenger in coming months.

Anyway, Biden's Friday appearance is likely to be remembered more for what was not contained in his formal remarks.

The vice president saw an old congressional friend who, apparently unbeknownst to Biden, was standing near an open microphone. The friend greeted Biden as "Mr. Vice President."

And Biden replied, "Gimme a break." Except he also said the fudge word before break.

Now, besides being a delicious candy, "fudge" or its TV equivalent "bleep," are ancient words that have surged into American public discourse in recent times.

That's thanks most recently to Illinois' Democrat Rod Blagojevich. The ex-governor was allegedly caught on federal wiretaps using the candy word many times while discussing the sale of his nomination to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat. As federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald read the partial transcripts aloud for cameras in December, he said "bleeping" or "bleep you" instead of $#%^&*#@ or $#%^ you.

Before Rod, Vice President Cheney mentioned the yummy chocolate candy when he suggested that Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy do something to himself. Cheney later explained that he felt Leahy merited the fudge at the time, but the ex-VP thought they'd mended that wound. Which is a mixed metaphor but everyone got the idea anyway.

President Obama is on audiotape mentioning several varieties of fudge as he recorded his book, "Dreams from My Father," allegedly mimicking a foul-mouthed childhood friend. And, of course, another open microphone several years ago captured now former President George W. Bush describing a certain nearby newspaper reporter as an obscure orifice of the human body.

We're forced to record all this Churchillian political repartee here now in the interests of this bleeping bipartisanship that's supposed to be seizing that $#%^&#@ swamp called Washington.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press    H/T to Jimmy Orr over at the Vote blog.

Comments () | Archives (11)

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Gimme a ... break! If the veep wants to talk like an adult I'm not going to tell him to stop. It's tiresome always having microphones and cameras around to catch every tiniest misstep of the great. We have a president who inhaled, for heaven's sake. We are seeing joined-up thinking coming from the White House. Let's accept that some things are going to be different. Let's see who he declares an unnecessary war on before we judge him too badly.

Move along,now. Nothing to see!

Please--that's "Give me a frakkin' break!" Don't you watch BSG?

It's the most useful word in the English language. It's a noun, a verb, and adverb, and adjective. It can be conjugated! No other word gets the point across quite the same way. It's perfect.

Well, the main thing is that it's time to pay back the unions and other democrat supporting special interests. Amtrak is a money pit, but that's not the point, now is it. The "good ole boys" are moving on even if it buries this country.

Wow, big deal, a man actually used a profanity! Come on, grow up, we all live in the real world and politicians have more to swear about than most of us.

Or are you too f***ing precious to handle "industrial" language?

These people are still FRAKKIN' human, and will tend to spout FRAKKIN' foul words every once in a while!

What an *&%$#* idiot! He needs to keep his pie hole shut and take a back seat.

Let me get thsi straight, it is okay and we should make excuses for Joe Biden usng the F-word, but it is not okay for Bob Knight to let the Shi- word sli out? Thatcertainly sounds fair and balanced to me, Iguess if you understand that the press isn't one-sided.

Yeah, right!

I think He is GREAT , he is honest and a true man.
If any of the news media would like to cause our country further grief instead of doing their job it becomes quite obvious now that they are paid off by their boss to put up stupid titles and headlines. WE ARE SICK OF IT !!!!!! Do you get that !!!!!!!!! You moronic news people write total trash and report almost nothing of the truth .
Tacle a real problem -- WHY do CHURCHES pay no TAXES , Yet they are protected by my soldiers .

say the WORD church and see if your post is accepted , only if you believe in GOD .

Biden is a sinister buffoon,unfit for any leadership position. A consumate hypocrit masquerading as an average good natured Joe.He is in fact the tool of
the big labour union bosses and conspiers with Reid and Pelosi to deprive workers of their secret voting rights.Fortunately,he is also afflicted with acute
verbal diahrea and an irresistable propensity to put his foot in his mouth wich garantees he will fail miserably.


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