Joe Biden blurts out that he will be Barack Obama's 2012 running mate

A standing joke: Joe Biden

Joe Biden just can’t keep his mouth shut. OK, I know that’s not exactly breaking news. But at a time when Democrats are supposed to be focussed on the November 2nd mid-terms and Barack Obama has not even announced he will seek a second term, did Biden really need to declare that he’ll be on the 2012 ticket?
Here he is shooting from the lip to the New York Times:

“I tell you what, there’s real trust, that’s why he’s asked me to run again,” Mr. Biden said Monday, dropping this tidbit at the end of a 40-minute conversation, just before he dashed off to his third fund-raiser of the day. “Look, he said, ‘We’re going to run together, are you going to run?’ I said, ‘Of course, you want me to run with you, I’m happy to run with you.’ ”

Biden, legendarily verbose and self-regarding, is a standing joke in Washington. Scratch that, in America. Here’s Jay Leno last week:

President Obama announced that his new chief of staff would be his longtime aide, a man named Peter Rouse. Obama said one of the most popular phrases around the White House is, “Let Pete fix it.” That’s the most popular phrase. Second most popular phrase at the White House? “Tell Biden I’m not here.”

One of the more amusing bits in Bob Woodward’s recent book was when Biden tells Obama he wants to speak to him about Afghanistan and the president turns him down. The hapless veep was reduced to loitering at the entrance to the West Wing to catch Obama as he came downstairs so he could catch him by surprise and give him the benefit of his unwanted wisdom.
The veep is apparentlyso delusional that he thinks he could be elected President in 2016, despite his disastrous efforts in 1988 and 2008 and the fact that he would then be, er, nearly 75 (though to be fair his porcelain gnashers – which have their own website – and nylon hair plugs are considerably younger). “No, I won’t. I won’t rule that out. No,” Biden said last year when he was asked if he would rule out a 2016 presidential run.
The NYT piece on Biden was slyly hilarious. Check this out from Walter Mondale, lauding Biden :

“He’s the one everybody wants — every candidate out there, when you ask them, ‘What can I do for you?’ they say, ‘Can you get Joe Biden?’ ” said former Vice President Walter Mondale, who appeared recently with Mr. Biden at a rally for Mark Dayton, the Democratic candidate for governor in Minnesota. “He seems to understand working people, he’s got the ethnic background, he puts a lot of emphasis on his faith and his family, and people are comfortable with him.”

Walter Mondale?! The man who was Jimmy Carter’s veep and lost every state in the union except for Minnesota in 1984? The man who went on to lose in, er, Minnesota in a 2006 Senate race even though the incumbent Democrat, Paul Wellstone, had just been killed in a plane crash and there was an outpouring of grief and appreciation for him? Blimey, I think I’d rather have Osama bin Laden saying nice things about me.
Note, by the way, Mondale’s comment about Biden’s “ethnic background”. Nice point, eh? The Democrats need a white guy in certain parts of the country. Good thing a Republican didn’t say that.
I loved, near the end of the NYT piece, Biden’s plaintive “I hope they think I’m smart” response when he was asked about what voters think about him. I’m sorry to break this to you, Joe, but…