Biden trips on his tongue

Joe Biden officially enters the nomination race and immediately draws blood. Unfortunately for the Senator it's his own. His careless remark on Obama's cleanliness was immediately pounced on by both the media and both sides of Blogtopia, creating a feeding frenzy of speculation and analysis on how his words were intended to be taken. Whatever he meant, and Biden insists the remark was benign, the focus on his poor choice of words has undercut any opening message he hoped to put forward.

I won't shed any tears over it myself. I'm not a Biden fan. He's always struck me as more of an opportunist than a man of any firm conviction but it does raise the specter of a Democratic Party entering the 08 campaign already bloodied by their own side. Of course, as Steve Benen points out, this will also likely be true for the Repubicans as well so maybe they'll cancel each other out. Who knows at this point? A lot can happen in the all too many months that loom ahead.

The incident does make this much clear. It's going to be a very long silly season.