Vice President Joe Biden denied it to the nth degree, but Politico said it had five sources to confirm its story 鈥� that during an offline discussion with House Democrats on Aug. 1, the loquacious Mr. Biden not only agreed with a characterization of tea party voters as 鈥渢errorists,鈥� but actually chimed in, saying, 鈥淭hey have acted like terrorists.鈥�
Mr. Biden鈥檚 mouth has drawn flak plenty of times, including later this year when he argued that, unless Congress passed President Obama鈥檚 American Jobs Act, 鈥淢urder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, all crime will continue rise.鈥� Actual FBI crime numbers show violent crimes and most property crimes on a steady year-over-year decline.
But the terrorist comment 鈥� which came amid a debt-limit showdown that was driven by tea party-friendly congressional freshmen 鈥� didn鈥檛 have that 鈥淎w, shucks, that鈥檚 just Joe鈥� feel of past gaffes. This one had more bite.
Then again, Biden was riding a roller coaster of colorful rhetoric from Democrats at the time. Comments included Rep. Emanuel Cleaver鈥檚 鈥淪atan sandwich鈥� quip about the debt deal, and Rep. Luis Gutierrez accused Republicans and tea partyers of 鈥渟lash and burn lunacy鈥� before declaring, 鈥淭he arsonists must be stopped.鈥�
