# Is it possible that Joe Biden is really that stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 1, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410 "2007-12-01T02:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/21 "2007-12-01T06:43:55Z")
Taranto’s got some sort of balls calling Biden ignorant when the first line of this article reads: > [@](#): > > Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a friend in Joe Biden. You can think what you want about Biden and his policies, but to suggest that he’s a friend of Ahmadinejad simply because he opposes a US invasion of Iran is ridiculous. It’s not much different from those who called people opposing the Iraq invasion “supporters of Saddam.” Of course, Taranto continues showing his true colors further down the page when he describes war hero John Murtha as a “poster boy for Iraq defeatism.” The _Wall Street Journal_ employs some of the best journalists in the country. It’s a pity so many of its op-ed writers are complete idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/22 "2007-12-01T13:18:11Z")
[QUOTE=Plan B] > [@Frank](#): > > I hope, I really hope, the irony burns the snow off my car by morning. Are you facing north? What are you talking about? 😕 [/QUOTE] He’s trying to change the topic to something else. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/23 "2007-12-01T13:46:33Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] You can think what you want about Biden and his policies, but to suggest that he’s a friend of Ahmadinejad simply because he opposes a US invasion of Iran is ridiculous. It’s not much different from those who called people opposing the Iraq invasion “supporters of Saddam.” [/QUOTE] Word. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/24 "2007-12-01T16:35:27Z")
[QUOTE=Plan B] Is it possible that Joe Biden is really that stupid? [/QUOTE] Finally! Joe Biden came up with an original idea. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/25 "2007-12-01T16:53:23Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] Finally! Joe Biden came up with an original idea. [/QUOTE] I bet that seemed funnier at the Republican Coffee Klatch. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/26 "2007-12-01T18:13:32Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] I bet that seemed funnier at the Republican Coffee Klatch. [/QUOTE] It’s been funny anywhere in Delaware since 1987. [QUOTE=Wiki] - Biden was forced to withdraw from the 1988 Democratic Presidential nominations when it was alleged that he had failed a 1965 introductory law school course on legal methodology due to plagiarism. “Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., fighting to salvage his Presidential campaign . . . acknowledged ‘a mistake’ in his youth, when he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school. Mr. Biden insisted, however, that he had done nothing ‘malevolent,’ that he had simply misunderstood the need to cite sources carefully.”[55] Biden withdrew from the race September 23, 1987, and reported the law school incident to the Delaware Supreme Court. The court’s Board of Professional Responsibility cleared him of any allegations.[56] \* Biden was also accused of plagiarizing portions of his speeches, notably those of British Labour leader Neil Kinnock and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Biden was forced out of the Presidential race after the Michael Dukakis campaign released a video showing Biden using one of Kinnock’s speeches without properly attributing it. Biden called the charges “much ado about nothing;”[57] it was also revealed that Biden had used and properly cited the Kinnock speech on several other occasions, although he failed to do so on the one instance recorded by the Dukakis campaign.[58] [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/27 "2007-12-01T18:47:18Z")
Really? On this Board? You really think you need to explain the connection between Biden and plagiarism? I knew what you meant I just didn’t think it was particularly funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/28 "2007-12-02T00:12:01Z")
Really? On this Board? You really think you need to explain the connection between Biden and plagiarism? I knew what you meant I just didn’t think it was particularly funny. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/29 "2007-12-02T12:06:34Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] The question is- is Bush stupid enough to invade Iran? [/QUOTE] [According to news accounts](http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002611347.html), that emergency war funding bill the President is screaming at Congress to give him contains a request for: > [@](#): > > $88 million to modify B-2 bombers so they can drop a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, a conventional bomb still in development that is the most powerful weapon designed to destroy targets deep underground. > [@](#): > > Previous statements by the Defense Department and the program’s contractors, along with interviews with military experts, suggest the weapon is meant for the kind of hardened targets found chiefly in Iran, which Bush suspects of developing nuclear weapons capability, and North Korea, which already has tested a nuclear device. So I think the answer to that question is, “Hell fucking yes he is!” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/30 "2007-12-02T13:28:24Z")
Fortunately the military is unable to do so. The Iraq war has strained the military to the limit and then some. An invasion of Iran would require the draft to be reinstated, which would be a death sentence for Republican party politics. Since party politics trumps everything else in the Bush administration, the invasion will not happen. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/31 "2007-12-02T13:44:14Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Fortunately the military is unable to do so. The Iraq war has strained the military to the limit and then some. An invasion of Iran would require the draft to be reinstated, which would be a death sentence for Republican party politics. Since party politics trumps everything else in the Bush administration, the invasion will not happen. [/QUOTE] How about an air campaign? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/32 "2007-12-02T14:01:22Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] How about an air campaign? [/QUOTE] Possible, but suppose the Iranians respond by invading Iraq to engage US troops? ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/33 "2007-12-02T14:06:36Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Possible, but suppose the Iranians respond by invading Iraq to engage US troops? [/QUOTE] If they try to engage American troops conventionally it will be over in about twenty minutes. A more likely scenario is a nuke exploding in NY harbor. Won’t that be fun? Maybe then we could finally impeach his Bushiness. Most likely the idiots in this country would rally around him though. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/34 "2007-12-02T21:28:21Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] If they try to engage American troops conventionally it will be over in about twenty minutes. A more likely scenario is a nuke exploding in NY harbor. Won’t that be fun? Maybe then we could finally impeach his Bushiness. Most likely the idiots in this country would rally around him though. [/QUOTE] Actually, a more likely scenerio is that they launch insurgent style attacks on the US forces in Iraq. According to some CIA estimates, the odds of Iranians having a nuke in less than five years are _nil._ So, if the Iranians were to nuke the US, it would be long after Bush was gone. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/35 "2007-12-02T21:54:40Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Actually, a more likely scenerio is that they launch insurgent style attacks on the US forces in Iraq. According to some CIA estimates, the odds of Iranians having a nuke in less than five years are _nil._ So, if the Iranians were to nuke the US, it would be long after Bush was gone. [/QUOTE] They would just buy one from N Korea or AQ Kahn, put it on a freighter bound for NYC. Next thing you know property values in New Jersey go way down. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/36 "2007-12-03T00:40:25Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] If they try to engage American troops conventionally it will be over in about twenty minutes. [/QUOTE] In whose favor? ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/37 "2007-12-03T00:58:59Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] In whose favor? [/QUOTE] You’re joking right? Is this a bad joke or another example of liberal defeatism? Kind of reminds me of how the Afghans were going to repel our invasion. BTW, now that I have an interpretor helping me out, how’s global warming going up there in Saskatchewan? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/38 "2007-12-03T01:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=Plan B] You’re joking right? Is this a bad joke or another example of liberal defeatism? Kind of reminds me of how the Afghans were going to repel our invasion. [/QUOTE] I note that the U.S. is still fighting in Iraq 4 1/2 years on, and that the U.S. and Canada are still fighting in Afghanistan 6 years on. Further deponent sayeth not. The irony comment was referring to the fact that changing the subject is not a purely Democratic tactic; it’s a political tactic. One which your side is equally as skilled at. > [@](#): > > … how’s global warming going up there in Saskatchewan? You are a fucking idiot, aren’t you? Global warming does not mean it’s never going to snow again anywhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/39 "2007-12-03T01:11:05Z")
Frank that was a pretty stupid comment. Notice I said if the Iranians tried to engage us conventionally. If they did that we both know they would be summarily defeated. We have never had a problem defeating the Iraqi military. What we have a problem doing is occupying the fucking place. Two very different things. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410/40 "2007-12-03T01:16:34Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] They would just buy one from N Korea or AQ Kahn, put it on a freighter bound for NYC. Next thing you know property values in New Jersey go way down. [/QUOTE] Let’s see, North Korea is being watched by _everybody_ to make sure they don’t slip one out. Not to mention that they’re the _only_ nation to have a “fizzle.” Getting a nuke from them wouldn’t be easy or smart. [Khaaaaaan!](http://www.khaaan.com/) is under house arrest and is rumored to have severe health problems, so I don’t think he’d be able to get a nuke down to the local DHL office, though he _might_ be able to telecommute and provide assistance that way. I’m _still_ not seeing any reasons to get my panties in a bunch over Iran. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-that-joe-biden-is-really-that-stupid/428410.md?page=3)