A sweet moment at the tail end of last night’s all-military episode of Colbert. I can’t tell if Colby’s being sarcastic or not in asking him to give Bush some credit. On the one hand, the audience is full of vets and maybe he thought it’d be a nice nonpartisan gesture. On the other hand, this is the same guy who used his White House Correspondents Dinner appearance a few years ago to dump on Bush to his face for 20 minutes. Regardless, Biden rises above it and delivers … not quite a tribute, exactly, since it’s no great shakes to recognize that Dubya cares about the troops, but an acknowledgment at least of Bush’s basic humanity and good intentions. Given the tenor of leftist criticism from, oh, say, 2003 through 2008, that actually does qualify as great shakes. And it’s due mainly, I think, to how graciously he’s behaved as an ex-president. The “Miss Me Yet?” stuff is fun but chiefly a byproduct of disgust with Obama rather than nostalgia for Bush. What Dubya’s truly earned for himself is the realization that he’s not the Bushitler and never was. He’s a human being. Again, great shakes.

Two clips for you here, one of the interview and the other of a cute gag Biden did for the show. He has his jackass moments like anyone else, and we dump on him plenty in the glorious name of partisanship, but he’s a hard guy not to like personally. Exit question: Colbert wonders if it’s time for a parade for the troops. Is it?