WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Joe Biden planned to spend Wednesday focusing on his official announcement that he was running for president, but the Delaware Democrat instead found himself defending remarks he made to the New York Observer about his Democratic opponents.
In the article published Wednesday, Biden is quoted evaluating presidential rivals Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, former Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. His remarks about Obama, the only African-American serving in the Senate, drew the most scrutiny.
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man." (Watch Biden's comments and Obama's reaction Video)
Biden issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, saying: "I deeply regret any offense my remark in the New York Observer might have caused anyone. That was not my intent and I expressed that to Sen. Obama."
Biden also spoke to reporters in a conference call Wednesday afternoon and said the remark was taken out of context.
"Barack Obama is probably the most exciting candidate that the Democratic or Republican Party has produced at least since I've been around," Biden said on the call. "And he's fresh. He's new. He's smart. He's insightful. And I really regret that some have taken totally out of context my use of the world 'clean.'"
Senator Joe Biden didn't just put his foot in his mouth with these comments about his fellow Democratic challengers. Biden created his own full course meal of crow here. Of course, his mouth has been a problem for Biden's presidential ambitions. He was caught plagerizing speeches from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock during the 1988 presidential campaign. There are even stories during the '88 presidential campaign that Biden plagiarized legal briefs for his first year law school writing class. But there is more in the CNN story on Biden:
Biden has made other questionable comments. In a June 2006 appearance in New Hampshire, the senator commented on the growth of the Indian-American population in Delaware by saying, "You cannot go into a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. Oh, I'm not joking."
Two months later, responding to a question in an August interview on Fox News Sunday, Biden was asked how a "Northeast liberal" could compete against more conservative southern candidates.
"Better than everybody else. You don't know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast liberal state," Biden said.
He repeated the comment during a visit to South Carolina in December 2006 at an event before the Columbia Rotary Club, according to a story published in The State newspaper. The State reported that Biden referred to Delaware as a "slave state that fought beside the North. That's only because we couldn't figure out how to get to the South. There were a couple of states in the way."
Biden can't keep his mouth under control. That is not just a serious problem for a presidential candidate, but also for a sitting president. We've seen enough of this with President Bush and his "Bushisms."
The last thing the Democrats need will be Joe Biden creating his own "Bidenisms" during the 2008 presidential campaign. Then again, this will make for an entertaining Democratic primary.
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