Michael Scherer at Swampland at Time:
During this morning’s East Room event, Vice President Joe Biden turned to President Barack Obama and said into his ear, “This is a big f#%king deal.” The private comment was picked up on a live mic.
Moments later, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs endorsed Biden’s comment, via Twitter.
And yes Mr. Vice President, you’re right…
(And yes, I admit to taking great pleasure in writing the headline of this post.)
Ben Smith at Politico:
As usual with his endless string of gaffes, if that is what he said, he’s not wrong.
UPDATE: It’s easy to be convinced in advance of what you hear on an audio recording, and I’d stress the “appears” above, as it’s not utterly clear. I’ve asked Biden’s spokesman the moment as well.
Peter Suderman at Reason:
One more way in which the Obama administration takes after its predecessor: Vice-presidential F-bombs (and no, I don’t mean “frak”). Joe Biden dropped a live one at the health care signing ceremony this morning, and the microphones caught it. Whoops! Does the FCC know?
And you know what? Biden is right. Fox News is trying to make a fuss about the VP’s f-bomb, but let’s be grown-up about this. Signing health care reform into law is a big f**king deal.
I suppose the pushback will be that the VP’s language was somehow inappropriate. Nonsense. When then-Vice President Dick Cheney told Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) on the Senate floor, “Go f**k yourself,” that was inappropriate.
Biden, in contrast, is endearing.
History made twice over: The Democrats finally realize their socialist dream and Greasy Joe drops what may now be the most famous political F-bomb in American history. Try as I might to be outrageously outraged, I can only laugh — partly at the constipated look on The One’s face as he says it and partly at the idea that this was Biden’s whispered piece of wisdom to the president at the moment of liberal nirvana. Imagine a drunken uncle offering something that stupid as a toast at a wedding, say, then multiply it by a million. That’s what you’re watching here.
Give him this, though: He’s right. Gibbs knows it, we know it, and once the public realizes that this trainwreck is going to bleed us dry, everyone else will know it too. A very, very big f***ing deal indeed. Exit question: Weren’t these Jefferson’s exact words after watching Washington sign the Constitution?
Joe Biden Uses Accurate Grown-Up Language To Describe Thing
This is the whole point of Joe Biden.
Michelle Kung at Wall Street Journal:
How fast are Americans when it comes to making a quick buck? Just hours after Joe Biden let loose with an f-bomb that was caught by an open microphone following President Barack Obama’s signing of the health bill into law this morning, his exact exclamation — “This is a big f— deal” — has already become a t-shirt (caution, salty language ahead if you click on the link) available for sale in sizes running from S to 6X. It’s unlikely there will be profit-sharing for Biden. Then again, there probably won’t be political fallout for the Vice President, either. Biden is so gaffe prone that he can basically say whatever he wants at this point and, like a crotchety old relative at a family gathering, people chuckle and chalk it up to Joe being Joe — and make a t-shirt.
UPDATE: Greg Sargent
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