# I pit Vice President Joe Biden **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 28, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293 "2011-01-28T13:22:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/21 "2011-01-28T16:45:06Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Agreed. Plus c’mon, it’s Biden. This is a gimme pit. Work harder. Agreed. You may as well pit Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/22 "2011-01-28T16:52:34Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Short of throwing down a smokebomb and vanishing in the ensuing confusion, there wasn’t really anyway for him to avoid the issue Any faithful reader of The Onion knows that this isn’t outside of Biden’s powers: [Biden To Cool His Heels In Mexico For A While](http://www.theonion.com/articles/biden-to-cool-his-heels-in-mexico-for-a-while,17996/) But the timing is bad since his band has to play at the upcoming SuperBowl anyway: [The Joe Biden Band](http://www.theonion.com/articles/the-tuckscreen-cant-wait-to-see-joe-bidens-band-pl,18845/) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/23 "2011-01-28T16:57:40Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Nah, skilled political speakers are perfectly capable of responding to a question without actually answering it in so many words. Biden, much as I respect his other abilities, doesn’t have much of that particular skill. Pols at press conferences can do this pretty well because there isn’t much chance for a follow-up to press them on the issue. But on a one-on-one interview with Jim Lehrer, Biden’s not getting away with a non-answer, at least not without looking painfully clueless. Plus, its kinda silly to label a more-or-less accurate description of well known US policy as a “gaffe”. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/24 "2011-01-28T17:07:37Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > If his government was thrown over for a Muslim dominated one… Do you think [something like](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution) that could ever happen? > [@gonzomax](#): > > …we would not be pleased. No, we won’t be pleased, and as the U.S. flags get burned in the streets, we’ll probably cry all over again: “What did we ever do to deserve this?” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/25 "2011-01-29T15:51:48Z")
Biden had the perfect opportunity. Because he is often thought to just say stuff without thinking, he could actually say something against Mubarak without it being a big deal at all. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/26 "2011-01-29T18:30:21Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > They know he’s a bastard, but he’s the bastard they’ve poured a lot into, and he’s kinda on their side. > > It seems that American foreign policy never learns this life lesson. Just keep supporting any pro American bastard, no matter how tyrannical, like the Shah. As long as he’s on their side, they look the other way to the excesses. It only ever causes severe Anti American backlash, which seems totally contrary to their interests. They’ve done the same, again and again, sheesh. My understanding of the Egyptian-American relationship is that it’s never really been about fostering pro-American feelings amongst the population of Egypt. It’s rather been about us giving Egypt a lot of money and in exchange Egypt agreed to not continually invade Israel. During the Cold War it was also desired that Egypt try to remain mostly neutral between Soviet/American spheres of influence (well, it was desired by _us_ they be pro-American, but barring that neutrality in which they took money from both sides was better than them being a Soviet satellite state.) The fear is that if Islamist reactionaries seize control in Egypt they won’t be amenable to the current status quo relationship. In which case what benefit is there of any relationship between us and them at all? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/27 "2011-01-29T19:11:03Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > The fear is that if Islamist reactionaries seize control in Egypt they won’t be amenable to the current status quo relationship. In which case what benefit is there of any relationship between us and them at all? Okay, not amenable to the current status quo. But is it binary? Current status quo or “Death to the American Satan!”? If there’s any real estate between the two conditions, some fence-mending wouldn’t necessarily be a BAD idea… ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/28 "2011-01-29T19:14:58Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > No tower, huh? Damn… > > Biden is like Prince Phillip - an important support figure for the ruler but should not be left unattended in public for too long. The Washington Monument is like a tower… ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/29 "2011-01-29T19:55:35Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Okay, not amenable to the current status quo. But is it binary? Current status quo or “Death to the American Satan!”?. The Muslim Brotherhood is generally considered the strongest opposition group in Egypt, and the most likely to take over if Mubarak goes down. And they’d probably be worse then the status-quo in the view of the US, Israel and people that’d like to see a modern democracy in Egypt, though its kind of hard to tell since they’ve never been able to gain much power in Egypt to show what they’d do with it if they had it. But in anycase, fear of the Muslim Brotherhood setting up a theocracy in Egypt is probably the main reason the US doesn’t throw Mubark to the wolves. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/30 "2011-02-03T20:15:23Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > They know he’s a bastard, but he’s the bastard they’ve poured a lot into, and he’s kinda on their side. Yup, and lord knows that’s never come back to bite us in the ass before. I mean, boy, would our faces be red if something ever surfaced like, say, a picture of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein. Hah! Or could you imagine if the U.S. had supplied funds that had helped fund the start of al Qaeda? Wouldn’t \*that \*be embarassing! ---
**Author:** ![Shin\_Ji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Shin\_Ji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shin_Ji)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/31 "2011-02-04T07:11:07Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > if a dictator marched into the White House wearing an “Ask Me About Oppressing the Masses!” t-shirt Let me just say, that sounds like a t-shirt I would wear the hell out of. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/32 "2011-02-04T07:49:07Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > From a practical standpoint, though, what happens if we do start calling him a dictator and sucking up to the anti-Mubarak people, and then he survives this? Our relationship with him then gets flushed down the toilet. And there’s probably not much we can do to make a democratic government in Egypt like us.. . .we’ve supported Mubarak for 30 years now, and the Egyptian people know it. We’ve already backed a horse, and it’s too late to change it now. Before declaring tonight’s winner of best supporting mixed metaphor, I’d like to say a few words about sustainable commercial deep-ocean fishing. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293/33 "2011-02-04T11:13:55Z")
I liked McCain in a Fox interview calling democracy movements in the ME a virus. Why would he say that out loud? Chomsky must’ve slipped him a c-note. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-vice-president-joe-biden/569293.md?page=1)