Before the election we were preached to about how inflammatory President Trump was. Joe Biden was going to be the adult in the room. Vox did a piece on his foreign policy bona fides and spewed this miasma:
Biden is a creature of the American foreign policy machine. From his years serving as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his time in Congress and later as point person on key aspects of Barack Obama’s handling of the world as vice president, Biden knows what it’s like to have his hands on the controls.
He was definitely held out as the magic elixir of the worlds problems. He is cool under pressure and knows how to handle all of the vipers in the room. That is why I was a little surprised (not really) by his answer to a question posed by longtime democratic fanboy George Stephanopoulos.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Director of National Intelligence came out with a report today saying that Vladimir Putin authorized operations during the election to under — denigrate you, support President Trump, undermine our elections, divide our society. What price must he pay?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: He will pay a price. I, we had a long talk, he and I, when we — I know him relatively well. And I– the conversation started off, I said, “I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared.”
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You said you know he doesn’t have a soul.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I did say that to him, yes. And — and his response was, “We understand one another.” It was– I wasn’t being a wise guy. I was alone with him in his office. And that — that’s how it came about. It was when President Bush had said, “I looked in his eyes and saw his soul.”
I said, “Looked in your eyes and I don’t think you have a soul.” And looked back and he said, “We understand each other.”
I will leave the question of whether this really happened or not alone. It sounds like a hazy wishful testosterone dream to me, but whatever. My question is this, is Joe just digging through the alphabet soup in his head and stringing words together that seem to fit, or is there some super hidden genius that I am missing?
Its almost like he didn’t think this would get back to Putin, like he and George were just talking off the cuff. This was not some calculated response to a question that may have international implications. It looks like a very large unforced error.
And we have old Vlad’s reaction. His response to the President was to “Stay Healthy.” That could be taken in a couple of ways. It could be a threat, or he may be giving a knowing wink on Joe’s health. He probably meant both. In any case, the Russian ambassador has been recalled to Moscow which puts a pretty fine point on the whole thing. I think this will result in a few less chaperoned interviews in the future.