Biden perfected the art of the smirk or something
The audience’s embittered helplessness no doubt explains the success of Jon Stewart, who gives public expression to his viewers’s emotions as he sneers and pops his eyes while playing clips of politicians acting absurdly or dishonestly. For the first time, with Biden’s over-the-top performance, the enraged yet impotent TV audience—liberals, anyway—found expression for its pent-up frustration not in a comedian, but in a politician himself. In some meta-reversal of roles, the debating Biden became Jon Stewart lampooning the debate after it took place.
Look at it like this. President Obama is the ego trying to maintain rational, respectable appearance while navigating the rough seas of partisan instinct on the one hand and presidential authority on the other. Romney is the remorseless super-ego, issuing punishing criticism, accompanied by stern reminders of the nature of American virtue, every time Obama opens his mouth or makes a move. In Thursday’s debate, Biden proved himself a first-rate American id.
Biden’s near-comical expressions of anger, outrage, and disbelief opened a valve. He was doing, in public, in the sacred forum of a vice-presidential debate, what so many people do in the privacy of their own homes, or in the raucous atmosphere of a bar, when they watch such a debate. He was going nuts with frustration in the face of what he considered to be phoniness and untruth.
Blowback
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Actually, I think Joe just wanted to show off his new dentures.
Pork-Chop on October 13, 2012 at 4:48 PM
No thanks. That rabbit hole you went down is way too deep.
Baerwulf on October 13, 2012 at 4:50 PM
The smirk only played well to energize his base, but he already had them. What Biden needed to do was debate well enough to pick up some of the 8% that defected to Romney after the first debate. He failed to do so.
The left can continue to bask in the glow of Biden’s “smack down” on the Republican, but the morning after election day they’ll wake up to the horrifying realization that they should have focused the top issues rather than a 90-min bash session and Big Bird – both of which mean nothing.
Eschelon on October 13, 2012 at 4:56 PM
From the link:
Remember how ballistic the BDS crowd went over Chimpy Bush’s smirking? Just did a Google search on the words “Bush Smirk” and got 1,360,000 results.
And many Leftist sites had regular Bush Smirk features. Salon, for instance, had “Smirk From the Past”, and HuffPos even chronicled “the most inappropriate Bush War Smirk of 2007″. And of course, http://smirkingchimp.com/ is still up and running. Today’s exciting edition features a headline piece by the beloved William Rivers Pitt of DU, orgasming over how Biden won the debate:
lol, Pitt has been wrong before.
Getting back to the linked article, here’s one of the comments. Pure Gold.
Del Dolemonte on October 13, 2012 at 4:58 PM
Del Dolemonte on October 13, 2012 at 4:59 PM
I doubt his malarky-eating grin snags any true undecideds.
G. Charles on October 13, 2012 at 4:59 PM
And I love the way Democrats are trying to defend it with descriptions like “passion” and “energy” as if they know instinctively how bad it looked to independents and women, who they desperately need to prevent from defecting to the other side.
The fact that liberals are talking about Biden’s demeanor and failing to cite examples of the “substance” that Biden supposedly won on tells you all you really need to know.
Caiwyn on October 13, 2012 at 5:02 PM
The thing is, he smirked or mugged or muttered at everything. That isn’t comedy. Tourette’s patients show more discrimination.
Seth Halpern on October 13, 2012 at 5:08 PM
Sorry Democrats. Biden blew it. It was appalling – especially to women.
forest on October 13, 2012 at 5:11 PM
Seriously? Yeah, just keep telling yourself that.
People were disgusted with Al Gore then for the unprofessionalness of it all, and he was sighing for the *exact* same reason Biden was laughing.
inviolet on October 13, 2012 at 5:13 PM
Going all Joaquin Phoenix on David Letterman may be fine and even an excellent career move, but it is insulting to the American public in a serious forum such as a VP debate where issues concerning the nation’s very survival are being discussed.
Besides, smirking wasn’t all he did. He LIED through his hat BEFORE he ate it on national television.
Say It Ain’t So, Uncle Joe: Fack-Checking Joe Biden
M2RB: Roger Daltrey
Resist We Much on October 13, 2012 at 5:14 PM
I’ve read at least 20 different comments, from women, on various blogs or social media saying specifically that Biden reminds them either of a long-divorced husband or annoying male coworker who cuts them off, dismisses everything they say and treats them like they aren’t worth listening to. They were furious, actually.
I was surprised at this and I’m a woman. It was a visceral reaction I guess.
inviolet on October 13, 2012 at 5:16 PM
You can say that again.
Missing the letters i, o, and t there, champ.
James on October 13, 2012 at 5:18 PM
Biden has perfected the Tommy Udo style of debating.
RickB on October 13, 2012 at 5:23 PM
What “substance”…the two wars he voted for, but said he didn’t? Or the embassy security fiasco?
pseudonominus on October 13, 2012 at 5:28 PM
My wife reacted especially badly to Biden referring to Ryan as “my friend”. A caller to Limbaugh said the same thing about his girlfriend an her friend. That one blew right past me with all the other clowning he was doing.
forest on October 13, 2012 at 5:29 PM
As Levin said, they had a ridiculous looking old man with fake teeth, fake hair, a botched face lift looking and sounding as irritating as he could be – and they now have to pass this off as being on purpose.
Marcus on October 13, 2012 at 5:36 PM
The hell.
S. Weasel on October 13, 2012 at 5:41 PM
Maybe if he had said something of substance … .
davidk on October 13, 2012 at 5:53 PM
Great read
Schadenfreude on October 13, 2012 at 6:11 PM
“Doc Ostrow: Morbius was too close to the problem. The Krell had completed their project. Big machine. No instrumentalities. True creation.
Commander John J. Adams: Come on, Doc, let’s have it.
Doc Ostrow: But the Krell forgot one thing.
Commander John J. Adams: Yes, what?
Doc Ostrow: Monsters, John. Monsters from the Id.
Commander John J. Adams: The Id? What’s that? Talk, Doc!
[Doc slumps and dies]
Commander John J. Adams: Doc?
Commander John J. Adams: [sadly] Oh, Doc. Doc.” –Forbidden Planet
vityas on October 13, 2012 at 6:19 PM
No one is talking about anything Biden said.
They are talking about whether Biden is a a-hole or not. You call that a victory?
Moesart on October 13, 2012 at 7:01 PM
As a woman working in a male-dominated field, I certainly recognized – and was repulsed by – Biden’s smirking condescension.
But what really got me was the blatant phoniness of it all. The smiles and chuckles and guffaws were all so forced, and the sotto voce fake concerniness he trotted out at the end was some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen.
My takeaway: Joe Biden regards his liberal Democrat base with such contempt that he thinks they’re stupid enough to fall for that. Maybe they are. But I’m not. And I’ll be voting in November.
Gilda on October 13, 2012 at 7:32 PM
You have to love what they are saying in the comments section. Most of them don’t see that Biden was a big turn off. One went so far as to claim that Biden managed to get rid of his “crazy Joe” title.
tbrickert on October 13, 2012 at 7:50 PM
I’m not a woman, nor am I a gay man, and it doesn’t surprise me!
Excellent post.
Joe’s obnoxious, dismissive behavior is definitely a man thing – women in general simply do not carry on like he did. I’m thankful that they don’t!
Anti-Control on October 13, 2012 at 7:58 PM
haha nice reference!
Anti-Control on October 13, 2012 at 8:02 PM
Biden perfected the art of acting, sounding and looking like a braying ass without any prosthetic devices.
OxyCon on October 13, 2012 at 8:06 PM