B.S. Stands For "Biden Says"

Jonah Goldberg:

Well, as I suspected, my email box runneth over with agreement from — admittedly self-selecting — readers who caught Biden's relentless dishonesty last night. Alas, I don't think it matters. The conventional wisdom last week was that debates are meaningful only if they produce a soundbite that the press can replay over and over again. That didn't happen last night. Moreover, just from watching a few snippets on the tube this morning and a quick surf of the web, Biden's glib deceptions didn't much interest the press. Jake Tapper saw no reason to single out Biden. Bernard Goldberg (no relation) said on F&F that Biden had a greater grasp of the facts, which may be objectively true but he also has a much greater grasp of nonsense he just makes up as he goes along.

And, again, I never said that Palin was pure. My point is that Biden showed himself to an exceptionally facile liar. He makes stuff up with great passion, conviction and seeming command of the substance. So it just bugs me when people say he's better on the substance. I could be a great physicist if I'm not held to a requirement to be factually correct;

"Well, Gwen, that's an interesting question. As we all know the hamster spinning at the earth's core runs in a counter-clockwise direction. Let me repeat that so everyone understands. That hamster does not run in a clockwise direction, that would be madness. It's counter clockwise. That's why our lakes and rivers don't simply turn into a fine mist, and why our atmosphere doesn't simply spontaneously combust. This is something that my dear friend John McCain just doesn't understand. And it saddens me."

Anyway, you can be absolutely sure that if the situation were reversed this point would be made over and over again by the press. But since it will go down the memory hole, it just doesn't matter. Joe Biden is a mater of the substance and Palin is a rookie who did better than expected. That's how this debate will be remembered, alas.